Part 6/10:
A common pitfall in contemporary discussions is a failure to appreciate the harsh realities faced by Indigenous Australians prior to contact with European settlers. Many Indigenous peoples lived in conflict, with societal structures that involved practices deeply embedded in their realities. The impact of diseases brought by settlers, and the brutalities of tribal conflicts that predated colonization, must also factor into discussions of historical context.
Conversations around various landmark events, such as the Mile Creek massacre, reveal them to be horror stories entwined with more widespread human violence of the time. However, these instances need to be considered in a broader context of how similar acts of violence played out in countless societies throughout history.