While many poorer Asians were prepared to come, their governments had now turned against hasty exportations to foreign lands. But for this reaction, Australia would probably now be a Eurasian society. Premier Waterhouse had envisaged an inexpensive pastoral settlement on the Victoria River, supported by a few troopers. By the time a reply came from the Colonial Office in the government had changed, and the Ayers—Hart government decided on a planned settlement on the section of northwest Arnhem Land nearest to the Indies.
Captain John Hart, who took the lead on the territory, had none of the grand vision of Wakefield. He primarily wanted a self-supporting colony. Because settlement would be concentrated in a limited ideal location, investors could be induced to buy blocks before settlement.
This would allow the government to delay settlement until there was money to pay for it, and the system would be self-supporting from the start.
However, all the fund would be used to survey and establish the new colony, thus correcting a flaw in the original experiment.
Migrants were expected to flood in naturally from Asia. In the event, all the problems experienced in founding the parent colony recurred. In George Goyder overruled all objections and chose Port Darwin — a magnificent harbour but with a hinterland too uneven for a concentrated settlement. Almost all the preliminary land buyers were speculators hoping to gain from the pioneering effort of others.
The self-supporting system had failed. Having handed over the territory, the main concern of the Colonial Office seems to have been to protect the Aboriginal inhabitants. They are the traditional custodians of the land and waters surrounding Darwin. Over 80 Aboriginal languages are still spoken in the Northern Territory.
Around half of the land in the Northern Territory is owned by Aboriginal people, including famous national parks suck as Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta, which are leased back to the government. The first attempt to settle in northern Australia which was a part of New South Wales at the time occurred in , followed by later attempts in and Settling the area was difficult due to its isolation, limited supplies and harsh conditions which often resulted in starvation, illness and failure.
In the early s northern Australia was taken under the control of the South Australian Government. Finally, in a northern settlement was successfully established. Following this success, Alice Springs was founded to the south in The s saw the discovery of gold in the Northern Territory.
Over the years, many substances have been mined in the Northern Territory including copper, tin, manganese, wolfram, mica, bauxite, uranium, oil and gas. It uses the colours black, white and ochre. On the left-hand side of the flag is a white Southern Cross against a black background. The farm stations were particularly dependent on Indigenous labour, but paid barely subsistence wages in the knowledge that Indigenous people had few other choices. The rapid pace of development and non-Indigenous expansion gave rise to violence on both sides.
The police, played a strong role in controlling this violence, though usually by taking the side of the non-Indigenous developers. Unlike other settlements in Australia at the time, the difficulties in accessing the region effectively deterred the establishment of missions in the Northern Territory. The Hermannsburg Mission was not founded until Shortly after arriving, these Lutheran missionaries rounded up Indigenous children for schooling, using rations as persuasion.
The growing number of mixed-descent children in the Northern Territory and the sexual exploitation of young Indigenous women by non-Indigenous men began to cause public concern. The government's immediate response was to take these children away from the communities in which they were living and place them in the care of missions.
This was the first step in legal segregation of Indigenous people based on whether they were 'full-bloods' or of mixed descent. By , the 'half-caste' population was estimated at The significant number of mixed-descent children since settlement was due to the few non-Indigenous women living there. However, it was not until this period that non-Indigenous people feared being out-numbered by a mixed-descent population. For the government, the answer lay in a policy of segregation through reserves and compounds.
The Chief Protector, a position created under the law, was appointed the 'legal guardian of every Aboriginal and every half-caste child up to the age of 18 years'. When the Commonwealth took control over the Territory in , it confirmed these laws. This would provide the means through which segregation could be legally achieved. In town areas, compounds were established to contain all Indigenous people.
They were required to undertake farming to make their compound self-sufficient. The first of these, the Kahlin Compound, was set up outside Darwin in Those living in rural areas were removed to stations, which were under the control of a Superintendent. Similarly, they were trained in industrial and farm work. In , the Chief Protector's powers were extended. Under the Aborigines Ordinance , all Indigenous females regardless of age were under the total control of the Chief Protector unless they were married and living with a husband 'who is substantially of European origin'.
To marry a non-Indigenous man they had to obtain the Chief Protector's permission. During the s, the pace of removals increased rapidly. An immediate result of this was severe overcrowding in places already in poor condition. The proposal was declined because it threatened the availability of cheap domestic labour from the Compound.
Instead, in , a new building was occupied next door for the girls and younger boys. It was known as the Half-Caste Home.
Within four years, the Half-Caste Home had also reached critical overcrowding levels, with 76 inmates living in a house large enough for one family. In , the boys were moved south to Pine Creek. Meanwhile, at The Bungalow, 50 children and 10 adults were living in three exposed sheds. Referring to conditions at The Bungalow, a newspaper gave the following report in At the Alice Springs bungalow the appearance of everybody and everything convicts the Home and Territories Department of the progressive destruction of 50 young promising lives and souls.
When conditions there reached crisis point in , the children were moved to a temporary home at Jay Creek. This 'home' consisted of a corrugated iron shed and two tents for staff. The children suffered from a severe water shortage, extreme cold in the winter and lack of protection from the rain when it came. In , the Commonwealth Government set up an inquiry into Indigenous affairs in the Northern Territory.
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