Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous people of Australia who have lived on this land for thousands of years. They have a strong spiritual belief that closely ties them to their homeland of Australia. As Europeans settled in Australia and started to gain control over the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, they started to view the Indigenous through the lense of scientific racism and Social Darwinism, which gathered an opinion for them to either accustom in the white community or to die out. This outlook towards the Indigenous communities resulted in families being torn apart as children were taken away and put into missions that would teach them behaviours acceptable in the white society which had a great impact on …show more content…
These children who were forcibly removed became known as The Stolen Generation. Children were the centred focus of the policy as it was believed that they were able to adapt more into their white society rather than adults. To Europeans, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were classified as flora and fauna of Australia, they were viewed as disadvantaged and a threat to their society. They believed that the Indigenous people would receive a better education and learn proper behaviour if they were to be brought up in their kind of lifestyle. The main reason of the removal of these children were to ‘breed out’ their race and prevent the passing on of culture and language (NSDC 2015). Aboriginal children who were half white were more prone to being removed because it was believed that their background and whiter skin colour would be easier for them to assimilate to the new environment. They were moved to missions or adopted by non-Indigenous families where they were treated like slaves (Australians Together n.d.). The missions where the children were taken were operated by churches to care for the Aboriginal children and teach them the Christian religion as well as prepare them for the workforce (AIATSIS n.d.). The reason for the white Australians stealing Aboriginal and Torres …show more content…
It had impacted their sense of belonging, their culture and how they progress through life.
The treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were harsh and inhumane. In 1948, a Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by the United Nations that documented the fundamental human rights for all people in any nation around the world. The treatment of the Indigenous people carried out by the Australians broke many of the articles mentioned in the Declaration such as the second article of the document,
“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” (United Nations 1948)
The treatment of Indigenous people were unfair and differed from basic rights Australian citizens possessed as it disobeyed the Declaration of Human Rights published by the United
Throughout the early 20th century, the Australian public was led to believe that Aboriginal children were disadvantaged in their communities, and that there was a high risk of physical and sexual abuse. Aboriginal children were being removed in order to be exposed to ‘Anglo values’ and ‘work habits’ with a view to them being employed by colonial settlers, and to stop their parents, families and communities from passing on their culture, language and identity
The fighting of World War Two saw numerous atrocities against not only human rights but also indigenous rights. This dark chapter in history inspired the formation of the United Nations which created a list of things that humans are entitled to, called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite this Aboriginal people in Australia did not enjoy the same rights and freedoms as many white Australians. Aboriginal people were denied the right to own land, reproduce and the right to be paid for work. Eddie Mabo played a significant role in improving the civil rights movement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders by fighting for Indigenous land rights against the high court of Australia.
Australian Government tried to isolate “full-blood” Aboriginals and interbreed them with the white settlers so try and wipe out the aboriginal race and make Aboriginals live in and act like the new white settlers. Children were taken from their families to be placed into Christian missionaries to be brought up as Christians like the white people from England who settled here
These include freedom of opinion, thought, association and freedom from arbitrary detention and are all about treating others fairly and being fairly treated yourself, and making genuine choices in daily life. Wilson says ‘Respect for human rights underpins the democratic processes of our society and is the cornerstone of a society that respects individuals and voluntary community collaboration’ (Tim Wilson, 2014). Despite this, the control the Australian Government exercised over its people in WWII encroached on all of these universally recognized human rights, and it was in 1948 after the atrocity of WWII that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was internationalised.
As the English population began to increase, Aboriginal people were moved into missions in 1810, so the population could be manages and they were taught the European ways so they could be used as low paid labours, border lining slaves (Creative Spirits, 2002). When the Aboriginal people failed to move to Christianity and ‘civilised’ life, the Europeans thought it was due to the lack of intellectual ability because they didn’t understand the “complexity and holding power of the traditional culture and religion” to the Aboriginals (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 77). The separation of Aboriginals from the community into missions was known as segregation. In the early 20th century, the Indigenous Australians all throughout the nation were exposed to the ‘protection legislation’ which in turn, denied them of their basic human rights as well as the freedom that was demanded by every other Australian. Aboriginals were increasingly moved of farms where they worked like slaves and put into government or church controlled reserves where they were expected to die out (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 79). On the Australian census at this time, Aboriginals were still considered as
The assimilation policy that removed Australian Indigenous children or children of Indigenous descent from aboriginal communities began in the late 1800s. This formally ceased in the 1970s but some would argue that it continues to this day. This essay will present evidence including the stolen aboriginal children's experiences in life and what changed in their life from when they were home to where they were taken. It is hypothesised that the Stolen Generations have had a live much tougher than most and should be fully reconciled for the damage done by the Government. It will also examine the Government's roles have been and how they have changed from during the period of stolen generations to their current standpoint on the reparations of the stolen generation.
The Stolen Generations occurred from the 1910’s through to the 1970’s and became more prominent when the Australian government changed the Protection policies, that allowed state governments to have control over some aspects of the Aboriginal peoples’ lives. The assimilation policies were put into place during the 1930’s and meant that native Australians were expected to abandon their culture. As part of both of these policies, the children of Aboriginals were taken away from them and put into either institutes or foster home with European parents. This is where they learned the ways of a ‘white’ Australian and were told to forget all aspects of their culture; these children that were taken away became known as the Stolen Generation. Being
The “Stolen Generation” was caused by the Assimilation policy. Children under fourteen years old were taken away from their parents and placed in “training homes” such as the “Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls”. It was easy for the governments to defend their decision to remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children due to the destitute conditions of the reserves. In 1939 the “Exemption Certificate” was introduced.
At the turn of the twentieth century the systematic forced removal of Aboriginal children from their mothers, families and cultural heritage was commonplace. There were several reasons that the government and white society used to justify the separation but the prevailing ideology of nationalism and maintaining Australia for the ‘whites’ was the over-riding motivation and justification for their actions[1]. Progressive sciences such as anthropology espoused such theories as eugenics, miscegenation, biological absorption and assimilation which legitimated governmental policies relating to Aboriginal affairs[2]. It was
Human rights are the rights of humans, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or religion. We should all have this in common as we are all part of humanity. However, Indigenous people did not always have these rights (Ag.gov.au, 2015). Aside from basic human rights, Indigenous people also have their own rights specific to their culture. Before 1967, Indigenous people had different rights in different states and the Australian federal government did not have any jurisdiction over Aboriginal affairs until Australia’s constitution was amended for this purpose in 1967 (Moadoph.gov.au, 2015). Between 1900 and the present time, there have been significant changes to the rights of Indigenous Australians. The effects of the European Settlement on the Indigenous people of Australia have been devastating. When white people began arriving in Australia, the Aboriginal people believed them to be ghosts of ancestor spirits. However, once they realised the settlers were invading their land, the Aborigines became, understandably, hostile (Slater & Parish, 1999, pp.8-11). In 1788, the total Indigenous population was believed to be between 750,000 and one million. By 1888, the Indigenous population was reduced to around 80,000 Australia wide (Korff, 2014). The three main reasons for this dramatic decline were the introduction of new diseases, violent conflicts with the colonisers, and settlers acquiring Indigenous land (Digital, 2015). In 1848, the Board of National Education stated that it
It is believed that Canada was in violation of the human rights when they forced the aboriginals to get assimilated into a Eurocentric society. There were instances of children being forced from homes into Christian schools. This was violation of human rights ( Asch 98).
Although many of these children were later adopted and had experienced an extensive education, the emotional and social cost was too high. The heartache experienced was detrimental to the growth and to their very survival. The ‘Stolen Generation’ has had significant effects upon the Australian history and culture and destructive effects upon the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples affected.
The Effectiveness of the Law in Achieving Justice for Indigenous People In relation to Australia, the term ‘Indigenous peoples’ refers to two distinct cultures of people who inhabited the land prior to European settlement – The Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders. This population declined dramatically over the 19th and early 20th century due to the introduction of new diseases from European settlement, Government policies of dispersal and dispossession, the era of protection, assimilation and integration causing a cultural disruption and disintegration of the Indigenous peoples. In the 20th century the recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples land rights and human rights have been
The stolen generation is a term to describe aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from families by federal and state governments and by church missions. The aim of this was to bring aboriginal children up in white families and teach them to reject their original culture, therefore if they continued successfully there would eventually be no indigenous people remaining.
“The Stolen Generation” was the kids of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were taken away from their families by the Australian Federal,