The dispossession of Indigenous Australians in the economic history of sustainable mutton fish (abalones) harvesting tells a twofold tale of colonisation by both British and Chinese settlers. In this aspect, Chinese immigration was, as far as Indigenous Australians were concerned, not much different in character from the British invasion in 1788 in the way it destroyed their traditional livelihood and disconnected them from the maritime environment of mutton fish harvesting. Both British and Chinese settlements were uninvited events in Australian history which saw the Aboriginals become displaced people in their own land.

Reference

Cruse, Beryl et al. Mutton Fish.