WHY DID BRITAIN WANT AN EMPIRE? Research three countries that were part of the British Empire and answer the four questions to find out key information:

Questions Example: Country 1: Country 2: Country 3: Australia

1. When did the country become and cease being a colony?

1829 colony founded1851 became a self-governing colony 1901 independence

2. Why was it an important country to the British Empire?

Convicts were sent there from Britain.

3. Identify one impact of British rule (positive or negative) on that country.

Land was taken from the native Aborigines by the British. The Aborigines were offered 15% of its value when it was sold.

4. Identify one fact about the relationship between Britain and the country today.

Australian soap operas are popular in Britain.

Taking Australia: Adventure or invasion?

Objectives:

• To identify what impact the British had on Aboriginal Australians. • To explain why different groups have had different ideas about the

treatment of Aboriginal Australians. • To assess the impact the British had on Aboriginal Australians, comparing

the long term and short time impact.

1) Describe what you can see

2) Explain what the picture is suggesting about the native people of Australia.

3) What can this picture tell us about the period of history that we are

____________________________________________________

Time for a bit of background:

Aboriginals had lived in Australia for 1000s of years.

1770: 500,000 Aboriginals

200 nations, 200 languages.

Hunter-gatherers.

Nomadic.

1900: 90,000 Aboriginals.

Task: How did the impact of the British change over time?

The largest group, or nation, of Aboriginal Australians living near to where the first British colony was set up in 1788 was the Darug people. The first colony was set up at Botany Bay, Sydney. The natives the British found were hunter-gatherers who killed wild animals in order to survive. Within three years of white settlement, about 90% of the whole nation had been killed, mainly due to diseases brought over by the settlers. One exam-ple of the diseases that killed so many was Smallpox. Pemulwuy, a member of the Bidjigal nation, was one of the first leaders of the resistance against the British who began to farm and mine that land the tribes lived on. Pemulwuy organised tribes living in the area to carry out at-tacks on British settlers and their property. He actually killed a British man he believed had killed 4 Aboriginal Aus-tralians. In retaliation, the British killed several people from Pemulwuy’s tribe. There was a massive hunt for Pemulwuy, but he avoided cap-ture for 12 years. He was once shot seven times during a battle-but didn’t die, leading to rumours that he couldn’t be killed by British guns. In 1802 he was shot dead, his head was cut off and sent to London with a letter saying he “was a terrible pest to the colony, but a brave and independent character.

Between 1869 and 1969 approximately 100,000 Abo-riginal children were taken from their families. They became known as the “Stolen Generations.” This was an attempt by the British to strip Aboriginal Australians of their heritage and cultural identity, and make them more European by “civilizing” them. Children were taken from their families to go and live in white Christian homes, and their grief-stricken par-ents made to work for white settlers. The children were forbidden to speak their own lan-guage or take part in their traditional rituals. They had to get special permission to marry when they were older, as well as to move from place to place. In 1900 the population of Aboriginal Australians had declined to about 90,000. In 2012 the population stands at around 500,000, making up about 2.5% of Australia’s population. There are huge differences in life expectancy, education, employment and health when compar-ing Aboriginal Australians to white Australians. In 2013 Aboriginal Australians are 11 times more likely to be in prison, and twice as likely to be a victim of violent aggression. Their wages are 40% less than white Australians. 20% of Aboriginal Australians are unemployed, whereas 7% of White Australians are unem-ployed.

Using the supporting information copy and complete the following table (make sure you leave plenty of room to write your answers if you are working on paper):

Information What happened? How would the Aboriginal Australians feel?

How would white British/Australians feel?

Dar

ug P

eopl

e

Pem

ulw

uy –

Fre

edom

Fi

ghte

r?

Th

e St

olen

Gen

erat

ions

Abo

rigi

nal A

ustr

alia

ns

toda

y

PART TWO: 20 MINS

Task: Conclusions

Use the information that you have discovered this lesson to write a Newspaper article explaining what has happened to the Aboriginal Australians since the arrival of the British.

Task: Self/peer assess –

Use the criteria (final page) to assess your work! Alternatively, you could take a picture and send to a friend for them to mark! Write down yours or your friend’s feedback below.

Before you finish… have you met the lessons objectives? How do you know?

MARKING CRITERIA

Level What you need to include :

Appr

oach

ing

Describe You have described how the arrival of the British changed the lives of Aboriginal Australians. You have identified how different people saw the arrival and impact of the British.

You have given two examples to back up your points.

Mee

ting

Explain

You have explained how the arrival of the British changed the lives of Aboriginal Australians.

You have explained why different groups have different ideas about the treatment of the Aboriginals.

Exce

edin

g

Analyse & compare

You have assessed the impact the British had on Aboriginal Australians, comparing the long term and short time impact.

You have referred to at least two different time periods.

You have used detailed examples, comparing and contrasting the different examples and given reasons for the differences.

Objectives Explain what makes an Empire Assess the motives for building an empire Evaluate the most important motive to build an Empire

What qualities does an explorer need? (page 9) 1. Research each of the explorers and list their most important qualities; for example determination.

Follow the route of a GREAT explorer – Circle the option you think they would choose!

How did you feel on your first day of

school?

Scared

Not bothered

Excited

What would your ideal

holiday be?

With family somewhere familiar

Somewhere new with friends

Somewhere you have always dreamed of, on your own if necessary

How do you feel about

long journeys?

Don’t want to leave the UK thank you very much

Happy to go with Easyjet as long as they have the sandwich filling I like

Any method of transport to my destination will do.

What is your reaction if you

see a place you have

never been to before?

Get me home ASAP

As long as they speak English I will be okay

It will be fun to have a look around and try to communicate with the natives

What do you do once you’ve been on a trip or done something exciting?

Catch up on any TV that I have missed while away

Meet up with some friends and show them what I bought whilst away

Invited round everyone I know and give a photo slideshow of everywhere I have been

Why would Britain want an Empire? Read through the options below. Decide which ones would be real reasons for wanting an Empire and HIGHLIGHT them. Rank them in order of importance. 1 being most important reason.

Categories: Trade (buying and selling) Jobs Religion Exploration Military (army or

navy) Power Education

Many British people wanted to civilisethe native people

British merchants were importing goods from all over the world

Captain Cook wanted to discover new lands Britain exported £ 141 million worth of goods in 1842

Australia and Canada had huge areas of uninhabited land

Sugar could be imported and then sold to Holland and Germany

The Royal Navy was the largest in the worldThe Empire provided a market for British goods

Britain had 6,000 traders and 100,000 seamen Missionaries were sent out to every part of the Empire

Meat, wool, silk, spices, gold, rice, chocolate, diamonds.

Britain wanted to export its language, laws and customs

Some imports from the colonies started new industries

Raw materials from the colonies could be processed in Britain

Australia and Canada would be useful in solving the unemployment problems in Britain The empire could provide ports for the Royal Navy

Britain was the workshop of the world“Go ye therefore and teach all nations”

Britain was a net importer of food by the Eighteenth century

France and Germany were also keen to build empires

Rule Britannia Botanists and explorers were supported by the Royal Geographical society

The British thought they were morally superior to the natives Britain wanted to rule the world

The British though that the people of Africa were godless

Many young men were bored with the daily grind in Britain

The population of the empire could provide thousands of men for the British army Colonies offered cheap natural resources .

The empire was exciting and interesting Lancashire cotton mills depended on the Indian market

The Indian civil service and the army provided plenty of job opportunities

The colonies had to buy British goods and nobody else’s

India had 200 million Hindus,60 million Muslims, 6 million Sikhs and 2 million Buddhists

The British government became rich by taxing the profits of the British traders

Objectives Explain how and why Britain lost or won their colonies. Assess whether the British Empire was a good thing. Evaluate whether the British empire was a good or bad thing.

Wars of the Empire Read through the country fact files. - Summarise what happened in each country. - Colour code good events and bad events. You can add these to the table if you wish.

Based on the information from the fact files, list as many reasons as you can to explain why some people around the world believed that the British Empire was a bad thing. For example: Paying taxes but having no representation, this was bad because…