The making of australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The making of australia - Essay Example To arrive at the beginning of the understanding, the life of aborigines of Australia depicted by Grimshaw is helpful. The rustic lifestyle of aborigines was found to be in equilibrium wherein confrontation between men and women was minimal. The cultural significance of giving birth to a child had been well understood to its grass root by the aborigines. The baby’s birthplace entrenched its niche in the social and physical world. The governments’ approach towards the pregnant women convicts and the care provided by the governments in the period of colonization and settlement could be seen as the aborigines’ basic attitude towards child nurturing. The economic status of aborigines was well depicted in the book by Grimshaw (1994). British elite group of women had around sixty eight essential materials like head bands, swaddling cloth etc, at the time of delivery for making a pregnant women to give birth to a child; even a poorer woman of British had forty to forty-five essentials. But Aboriginals had very little preparation for giving birth. The encounter between two sets of women reveals some of the ways in which British technological superiority and cultural arrogance were to determine future relations between the two groups. On several occasions, Aboriginal women used Government House and its well-guarded grounds as a refuge from attacks by their men, a function which the British upper class were pleased to perform in the name of chivalry. Here also, the game of chivalry was enjoyed by the British elite society, which fuelled the latent barbaric instinct in aborigines. The physical strength and the way Aboriginal women acted upon during and after delivery amazed many upper middle class British women and even Aboriginal men frown on their own women for doing lengthy walks and strenuous work during and after delivery. Aborigines’ treatment of male role in