Talk:History of Australia (1788–1850)

Terra Nullius

The concept of "terra nullius" is an important one in the history of Australia and is referenced already in the Timeline section ("1835 - the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, issued by the Colonial Office and sent to the Governor with Despatch 99 of 10 October 1835 implements the doctrine of terra nullius upon which British settlement was based."). I think it's important enough to mention in the lede and made this WP:BOLD edit[1] which was promptly reverted with the comment "Australia was never officially proclaimed to be terra nullius.". This is semantics - "terra nullius" means uninhabited land (literally "land of nobody") and Australia (well the New South Wales colony - which at the time included everything bar WA and Tasmania) was declared previously uninhabited, officially, in 1835. The reference used in the timeline section states: "This document implemented the concept now known as terra nullius upon which British settlement was based".... so even though the document didn't use the exact phrase "terra nullius", it formally established the same concept. The term "terra nullius" for this kind of land claim only came into common use in the late 1800s, so it's an unreasonable requirement that documents before that time must use that exact phrase. Tobus (talk) 10:26, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

The problem is trying to fix a date in which the doctrine of Terra Nullius was "officially proclaimed". The doctrine was never officially proclaimed, it was just a post hoc justification used by some legal scholars to explain the fact that the colonial officials simply assumed that the Crown had given them the right to dispose of the land of the NSW colony as they saw fit. It's true that the commentary from the Powerhouse Museum states that Bourke's 1835 proclamation "implemented the doctrine of "terra nullius". But this is demonstrably wrong. The governors of NSW had been issuing land grants since 1788 without asking any Aboriginal Australians whether it was ok by them. It you want an authority for this look at the Mabo decision per Dawson par 36: "Upon any account, the policy which was implemented and the laws which were passed in New South Wales make it plain that, from the inception of the colony, the Crown treated all land in the colony as unoccupied and afforded no recognition to any form of native interest in the land." Bourke's Proclamation was just another in a long line of executive acts regulating land use in the colony. It's real significance is that Bourke was trying to give Aboriginals some protection against squatters. (A battle he lost). If you want the first proclamation of a notion which was later turned into the idea of Terra Nullius have a look at the instructions to Governor Phillip. I've been meaning to add this to the articles about Terra Nullius in Australia for some time. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 12:16, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

I have corrected and summarised the information on the Proclamation of Govenor Bourke in the timeline section. I have added Banner's Why Terra Nullius? Anthropology and Property Law in Early Australia (2005) as a source.--Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 10:07, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Establishment and consolidation of colony

Hello all

I have replaced a lot of unsourced content with sourced content from History of Australia. I have also replaced some original research based on primary sources with content based on recent scholarship.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 06:03, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

Expansion of NSW and Establishment of Further Colonies

Hello all

I have replaced the Timeline with two new sections: Expansion of the Colony and Establishment of Further Colonies. The timeline was mostly unsourced and was inadequate to provide a proper history of Australia from 1788 to 1850. Some of the Timeline was properly sourced and I have incorporated these parts into the text.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 06:23, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

Introduced diseases and frontier violence

Hello all

I have significantly expanded these sections based on more recent scholarship. The previous section on frontier violence was largely based on Reynolds (1991 and 1999). I have copied over the relevant section from History of Australia which is based on a wider range of more recent scholarship.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 04:29, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

Politics and government

Hello all

I have expanded this section, adding material based on recent scholarship. Most of this new content is from History of Australia.

Happy to discuss. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 00:14, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

Culture

Hello all

I have significantly expanded this section using scholarly sources. I have removed one image of a painting from 1860 which is outside the time frame of this article.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 05:47, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

Education

Hello all

I have significantly expanded this section using scholarly sources. I have removed some content which was outside the time frame of this article.

Happy to discuss. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 04:53, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

@Aemilius Adolphin: You've left numerous no-target errors. DuncanHill (talk) 15:22, 28 July 2024 (UTC)