Reconciliation
Indigenous people lived in harmony with each other and the land that supported them for many
thousands of years. However, when European settlers arrived, their numbers declined rapidly.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not treated as equal citizens by the
Europeans. Many were murdered, and others died from new diseases brought into their country.
For a long time they were poorly treated – they were not allowed to vote, they were paid smaller
wages than their fellow workers and they were often forced to live in settlements and given none
of the rights of other Australians.
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