Akhtar Azhar

Colonising Australia (1788-1901) Episodes should be a part of an introduction to any new migrant who arrives here to settle permanently. Most of the migrants, like me of the Indian subcontinent, at the time of arrival had no knowledge of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island people, their rich cultural heritage, their unique agricultural practices which were necessary to survive in this peculiar fauna and flora. The Britishers had no clue and initially, they did not try to learn how the residents of 60,000 years survived. Consequently, the new settlers were nearly going to face famine. New migrants like me arrive in this country believing Australian history commences from Europeans' arrival. A great majority of us, the migrants, fail to comprehend why the people of the First Nation have been left behind economically, politically, and socially. We do not realise that colonisation annihilates one's identity. The colonised people once lost their identity becomes lost people and every new generation of those people feels lost. In British India, the House of Commons passed a law that anyone who does not speak English in India will be considered illiterate. A country having one of the oldest languages on this planet was deemed illiterate.  This series of Colonising Australia would give a bird's eye view of the suffering, humiliation, and inhuman shackles in which First Nation people had to endure. Until 1967 they were not included in the Australian census. The First Nation people are still facing enormous discrimination, though things are improving at a slow pace. Akhtar Azhar (Ozzie)