This thesis presents a narrative of Aboriginal economic responses in the 19th century to
the colonisation of the Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions of New South Wales. It
explores the competing claims of articulation theory and dependency theory about the
intersection of colonial and indigenous economies. Dependency theory claims that
settlers destroy the indigenous mode of production to permit the expansion of their own
economic system. They exploit indigenous labour which then becomes dependent on
capitalist sources of subsistence. Articulation theory, as modified by Layton (2001) to
recognise the bi-directional nature of contact, posits that the rate of capitalist penetration
into indigenous economies is variable and that the non-capitalist mode of production may
be preserved to create a self-supporting source of labour. The contrasting theories are
assessed in this thesis by determining the contribution different strategies made to
Aboriginal subsistence. Historical evidence is used to assess each strategy. The main
source of information is from Alexander Berry's Shoalhaven estate, where Aboriginal
people lived from settlement in 1822 until they were moved to a reserve in the early
1900s. The analysis suggests that contrary to previous research, Aboriginal people
gained the majority of their subsistence from fishing, hunting and gathering until 1860.
Strategies that depended on the colonial economy such as farm work, trading, living with
settlers and stealing made only minor contributions to Aboriginal subsistence. After
1860, European land use intensified and Aboriginal people were further alienated from
the land. The contribution of hunting and gathering contracted as a result. Dependency
on government assistance increased, particularly after the foundation of the Aborigines
Protection Board in 1882. Fishing remained an important source of food and cash.
Maritime resources were not commercially exploited to a significant extent until the
closing years of the 19th century when Aboriginal people were provided with boats and
nets to assist their efforts. The historical evidence demonstrates that articulation theory
offers a more realistic approach than does dependency theory when analysing the
intersection of colonial and indigenous economies. This is because articulation theory
can predict variable outcomes. The variable outcome suggested by the Shoalhaven and
Illawarra data are that hunting, gathering and fishing economies have the resilience to
withstand the colonial encounter if sufficient resources are made available.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218584 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Bennett, Michael, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. School of Resource, Environmental and Heritage Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Michael Bennett |
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