After the British colonisation, many Aborigines died. Many were massacred and a lot died because they had no immunity to the diseases brought to Australia by the British.

Today, only 3 % of the Australian population is Aboriginal and around half of them live in the outskirts of towns in bad conditions, others work on cattle ranches. In the north of Australia, some have managed to hold on to their land and still hunt and gather “bush food” (fruits and berries from nature).

The Australian Aboriginal Flag

The flag was flown for the first time in 1971. It’s made up of three colours; black, red, and gold. Black is a symbol of the Aboriginal people, red is the symbol of the earth, and the golden circle in the middle is a symbol of the sun.

The stolen generations

In the years from 1910 to 1970, many Aboriginal children were taken away from their families. Some were adopted by white families, but many grew up in institutions where they learned to “forget” their own culture. The children were given new names, and were forbidden to speak their own languages. Many Aborigines and their families who experienced this suffer from depression, anxiety, or alcohol abuse.

In 2008, the Australian state apologised to the stolen generations.