How did European settlement beginning in 1788 affect Aboriginal land and sacred sites?

European settlement in Australia, which began in 1788, fundamentally disrupted the lives of Aboriginal peoples by initiating the systematic dispossession of their land and the desecration of their sacred sites.12

As British colonial expansion pushed inland, it directly conflicted with traditional Aboriginal land tenure and economic activities. Settlers, particularly pastoralists, appropriated vast areas of land for sheep and cattle grazing, often "squatting" on territory without legal authorization. This expansion forced Aboriginal peoples off their traditional lands, preventing them from maintaining their traditional ways of life, such as hunting and gathering.213

The arrival of the settlers also led to the desecration of sacred sites and property. This process was driven by a fundamental cultural gulf and the colonial view that Aboriginal peoples were "parasites upon nature," a perspective that justified the seizure of their hunting grounds. These actions were frequently accompanied by violence, including massacres and forced dispersals, as settlers sought to secure territory for colonial development. Ultimately, the loss of land and the destruction of sacred sites were central to the profound material and cultural impoverishment experienced by Aboriginal peoples under colonial rule.243