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Aboriginal And Strait Islanderss

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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

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