Aboriginal Political Movement in Australia

It is a commonly known issue in Australia that as a minority group, the people of Indigenous Australian ethnicity have always been treated, or at least perceived, differently to those of non-Indigenous disposition. This can be applied to different contexts such as social, economic, education, or in relation to this essay – legal contexts. Generally, Indigenous Australians face issues such as less opportunity for formal education, less access to sufficient income, more health issues, and higher rates of imprisonment (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service

With the arrival of large numbers of immigrants, there was also a strong negative impact on Aboriginal people. Some Aboriginal people had to leave the residence because of poor housing conditions. The shortage of housing and poor housing conditions have forced many Aboriginal people to choose unsafe housing and unsecured housing in the communities. What the aboriginal people want is what we have, to protect and freely exercise their cultural lifestyle and language. In our contemporary framework, their cultural elements can be preserved and explained, they have faced hundreds of years of social and political discrimination against discrimination and racial discrimination. They wish to be able to access to power, resources, status and meaningful decision-making capacity. In addition to these things, Aboriginals wish to be seen differently as well, not “different” in a negative way. They wish that they can have the right to protect

The rights and freedoms of Aboriginals have improved drastically since 1945 with many changes to government policy, cultural views and legal rules to bring about a change from oppression to equality. Unfortunately on the other hand, some rights and freedoms have not improved at all or have even worsened.

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

Stan Grant’s speech ‘Racism and the Australian Dream’ (2015) effectively reminds the Australian population of the racism and harsh inequalities indigenous Australians have faced in the past and still face today. In reminding us of this reality, Grant engages us to discover issues of civic participation in Aboriginal people and in doing so perpetuates a need for social change. More?

The Australian freedom ride was strongly inspired by the American civil rights movement, particularly in segregation of public amenities in country towns but this movement also wanted to draw public attention to the substandard ways indigenous people were living in rural communities. The Aboriginal Freedom Ride of 1965 was a civil campaign influenced by the US civil rights movement. The campaign was led Charles Perkins, an Arrente man born in Alice Springs, who was a third year arts student at university. He was elected president of the newly formed Student action for Aborigines (SAFA). At midnight on the 12th of February 1965, Perkins invited a large group, approximately 35 students that are of white and indigenous culture to

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

Several key events and people influenced the journey and results of Aboriginal voting rights. Many major contributions towards the indigenous voting rights can be described as international criticism, Aboriginal Protests and Political conflicts. Male Aboriginal Australians were recognised as male people, and therefore could vote in state elections, It was expected to stay this way. However, the ‘white Australia policy’ in 1901 caused many Aboriginal Men to lose their state voting rights and banned them from enrolling in federal elections, According to (hgj) The “electoral officials had the power to decide who was an ‘Aboriginal Native’ or not.” After several years of discrimination, in 1934 Indigenous Australians took a stand in a day of mourning for indigenous rights. Another powerful argument for Aboriginal Australians was their world war efforts from 1914 to 1918. Many white Australians that fought with the Indigenous Australians believed that if “they are good enough to fight and die for their country then they are good enough to vote in elections” As a result of this effort, 1945 marked the year that all male Aboriginal war participants were granted Federal election voting rights. It is important to remember when and how the

Through my life, I have seen several different approaches to Indigenous people’s rights and importance in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to visit Ayers Rock and undertake a tour which allowed me to see Aboriginal culture in art and drawings as well as hearing Dreamtime stories from guides. I have also witnessed family friends who have been severely racist and disrespectful of Indigenous heritage and history. I also was lucky to work with some Indigenous students who were in Reception during my Professional Experience 1, and I was able to see first-hand how a culture clash can affect a student’s behaviour. I feel that even before entering this course, I have had the privilege of being able to observe both positives and negatives

Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within

During the ongoing visits on ‘The Freedom Rides’ around the many towns like Bowraville, Boggabilla and Moree, the students had observed the kind of segregation and refusal of service the Aboriginal people faced in places like pools, clubs and shops. In reference to the image in source 3, the itinerary showed the expected dates for stops, demonstrations and surveys and when they would return back to Sydney which would altogether take place over 2 weeks. The students filmed and filed reports to the ABC of the kind of treatment and racism Aboriginal people received, for instance their living conditions and locations which Charlie Perkins in source 4 describes as ‘at river banks, shanties, huts or at the end of a road where there’s (a) rubbish tip’. The main reason of their filming was to show people the truth on what was happening in country towns and to not believe what the news covered Australia to be; that racism did not exist. The publicity gained from The Freedom Rides raised awareness of the racism in Australia and influenced the 1967 Referendum and other campaigns in the future with similar purposes.

protest for their rights. For example, civil rights movements were essential in supporting the Aboriginal People. The Australian Aboriginal Rights Movement aimed to gain full citizenship for Aboriginal peoples. This effort in Australia was one of the largest civil rights movements in the last one hundred years across the globe. These Australian Aborigines suffered from significant racial oppression and dispossession. The Aboriginal Movement was defined by student protestors such as Charles Perkins, who displayed the power of public protest through the Freedom Ride of 1965. The Freedom Ride focused on enlightening the world on the discrimination the Aboriginal people faced each day, so the Aboriginals could ultimately become equal with the whites in Australia, Progress was also made through the political process with the Commonwealth 1967 Referendum, which led to a review of two discriminatory provisions regarding the Aborigines in the Australian Constitution. However, the Freedom Ride was more influential in ending many social and economic inequalities for Aborigines than the Commonwealth Referendum because it shone a light on the struggles Aboriginal people faced, served as a lesson to the Aborigines on how to resist discrimination, and created momentum for making real changes in Australian society that benefited the Aborigines.

Charles Perkins was a very influential person during the 1960s and managed to achieve and lower discrimination and segregation through Freedom Rides. The freedom rides was a movement which raised awareness about discrimination that existed towards the Indigenous Australians by the white populations. Charles Perkins had three aims for leading the Freedom Rides, he hoped that through their rides, he would draw the public’s attention to the state of Aboriginal lives.

In the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, where by British supremacy within Australia was actively felt, Richard Broome outlines the control practiced by white people over the Aboriginal population. Basing predominantly upon the Aboriginal Protection Boards acting under special legislation and the informal ‘caste system' , Broome powerfully illustrates the treatment and discriminatory effect of these two methods of control on Aboriginal people.

64, Commonwealth of Australia 2011). Policy then moved towards more assimilationist strategies in which attempts were made to convert Aboriginal Australians into ‘responsible citizens’ (Gilbert 2005, Haebich 2000). The protectionist and assimilationist policies share the core values that Aboriginal culture is inferior and on its way to an ‘evolutionary end’ (Gilbert 2005, p. 64).