Aboriginal People In Australia

The Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people are Australia’s first people. They’re the Indigenous and traditional owners of our beautiful land. However, until the last few decades, this hasn’t always been recognised. The Indigenous people of Australia have faced colonization, oppression, the Stolen Generation, and all kinds of disrespect to their cultural heritage.

The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,

Archaeologists believe that aboriginals first came to Australia about 45, 000 years ago and were the only population of humans in Australia until the British invasion. There are about 500 different aboriginal groups each with their own language and territory and usually made up of several separate clans. The aboriginals of Australia are marginalised in today society. This marginalisation began right back during the British invasion where they were evicted from their own country, the stolen generation occurred and their health care, education, employment and housing was severely limited. Aboriginals generally live in poor conditions and choose unhealthy lifestyle choices

Surrounding the Great Barrier Reef are the aboriginal inhabitants and Torres Strait Islanders. Their connection goes back for 60,000 years. There are 70 tribes across the Great Barrier Reef relying on the reef but are experiencing major problems, pollution and mining.

To begin with, a clarification must be made. Although for the purposes of this assessment I will be using the term Indigenous Australians, it is not the most appropriate term to be using, as the technical definition of indigenous is ‘originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native’ (‘Indigenous’, 1987). The more correct term would be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Indigenous populations have been the carers and custodians of Australia and the Torres Strait for a period in excess of 60,000 years before being

Prior to European invasion and settlement, Aboriginal Australians enjoyed a non-sedentary lifestyle that concentrated upon maintaining and sustaining their country, relationships and ecosystems. Anderson et al (2006) state that ‘Precontact health care systems’ were focused upon the inter-relationships of land, people, the living and non-living entities and creator beings. If the land was not cared for, it got sick, and so would all other beings related to the land, including the people (Anderson et al, 2006). Tenure of management was dictated by law, passed down through the Dreaming and Ancestors, and was practiced to ensure balance and to maintain health. The balance ensured a variable access to nutritional diets high in protein and

There is little said about aboriginal people in early Australian history books. What we do know is that the view of Non-Aboriginal people was very ethnocentric. The opinion was that Aboriginal was that they were savages and

One of the great untold truths of Australian history has been the courageous contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the Australian Defence Force. For decades this contribution was unacknowledged and their sacrifices were unmentioned at official ceremonies.” Alistair Nicholson, Reconciliation Australia (2014).

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have had many impacts on their culture since European settlement in Australia. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were seen to be savages with no civilisation and as such Australia was seen as ‘Terra Nullius’. With European settlement Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders saw a loss of their land and culture, labour exploitation, introduced diseases, change of diet and a loss in their rights as a citizen and as a human being. Many laws and policies were introduced which controlled an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders life, many things for which we take for granted today. Things such as residence, employment, marriage, social and daily life were all restricted. Most notably was the laws introduced that allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to be forcibly removed from their families.

The incidence rates varied depending on the type of cancer. Non-indigenous people had higher rates for:

Throughout the 20th century, the Aboriginal people were subjected to 4 policies introduced by the Australian Government that affected their rights and freedoms. When the first policy was introduced the Aboriginal people went from free and able to control their own destinies to completely being controlled by the government. 100 Hundred years later the Aboriginal people were able to fully embrace their culture and customs. In the following response I will be talking about the policies of Protection and Self-Determination as I feel these were the most important to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a variety of ways.

- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples inhabited the land of Australia for many thousands of years

Aborigines are believed to have lived in Australia for between 60,000 and 40,000 years, their early ancestors coming from South-East Asia. Precise population details for the period before European colonisation are unavailable, but it is estimated that there were between 300,000 and 1,000,000 Aborigines in Australia when European settlers first arrived in 1788.

The Aborigines are the indigenous people of Australia. According to their traditional beliefs, the Aborigines have inhabited Australia since the beginning of time, but most modern dating techniques have placed the first native Australians at closer to 60,000 years ago, based on carbon dating of fossils and knowledge of geological changes in the region. Sea levels have fluctuated throughout history and were 200 meters lower at the time the ancestors of the Aborigines were thought to have made their way to Australia. This still left large expanses of open water that had to be crossed- up to 100 km- indicating that these people had developed some sort of sea-faring technology long before any other people. The Aboriginal