Aboriginal Political Movement in Australia

Besides, as we have said above, it is a political protest in support of the rights of Australians natives, who have been suffering abuses and injustices since the XVIII century.

Throughout Australian history, there have been men and women who fought for the entitlements of the indigenous people. The most respected and recognised of these is Eddie Mabo, a Torres Strait Islander. Mabo stood up for the rights of his people from a very young age all the way to his death, in order to generate changes in the policies and laws of the government. Mabo battled for his right to own the land which he had inherited from his adoptive father, a fight which was resolved only after his demise. Despite this, Eddie Mabo became one of the key influential figures in the Aboriginal rights movement, as his strong will, determination, and intelligence allowed him to bring about change.

Indigenous Australians had been fighting for rights to their traditional lands since European settlement. The 60s and the 70s were a stage of greater national understanding of Indigenous Activism and saw noteworthy actions taken by groups in the land right struggles. Support was shown by official representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and even countries such as Russia and Canada. This helped to boost the profile of the embassy. The embassy became a centre for protest after achieving media attention nationally and internationally. Groups from the embassy went on protest marches and talked at community forums to go on and

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.

In 1976 the Fraser government passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Several state governments passed their own Land Rights Acts, which recognised aboriginal and Torres Strait islander claims to land and guaranteed them royalty payments from mining companies working there. Some laws enforced by the government became challenging for most indigenous people to abide by. Through the analysis of this information we understand the impacts the government and its laws had towards the indigenous society of

This report will cover the history of the Aboriginal Voting rights in Australia. The Aboriginals did not gain the right to federal voting at least 150 years after the British colonized in Australia. All citizens of a nation deserve equal rights.

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

EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CAMPAIGNS FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN AUSTRALIA IN THE PERIOD 1965 – 2014

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

In the 1970s, inspired by the Black Power movement in the U.S the Aboriginals people were very politically active. Aboriginal people demanded land rights for the areas that they had lived on since millennia. Land rights were considered the key to economic independence, and land the base to generate resource and employment. The Aborigines were big on stating they wanted land not handouts which most Australian’s assumed they wanted.

Although they have made social progress over the course of the 20th century, Aboriginal peoples still remain under-represented in politics (Biles, 2004). Canadian parties have recently nominated more minorities in winnable ridings, however the figures are still far too low (Pilon, 2001). Parliament is composed of only 2% Aboriginal people (Biles, 2004). In fact, Aboriginal peoples have never gained seats in the House of Commons that were in proportion to their overall population (“Plurality-Majority Electoral Systems”, n.d.). A democratic system cannot truly be democratic when an entire group of people are being so under-represented.

The first phase of the Post-World War II Aboriginal rights movement was focused on the political and civil rights of Australia’s Indigenous people. Because of this, issues of the law, citizenship, voting rights and the role of the federal government were important.

Prejudices, Government Policies and non-existent legal rights are just a few of the methods of oppression the Aborigines have faced. The very first method of oppression against the Aboriginals was the removal of their ownership of land and properties, when the white settlement first began. This lead up to the abuse of aboriginal labour and poor working conditions. The effort to ‘protect’ and ‘integrate’ natives into white society with the Assimilation Policy during the mid 1800’s is possibly one of the most severe methods of oppression used in this issue. Even throughout the First World War, Aboriginals were banned from joining the army to fight for their rightful homeland . The Australian Government did not have many Aboriginal Rights until the 60’s and 70’s. Before 1962, Indigenous natives did not have the right to vote and four years later, in 1966, poor working conditions that applied solemnly to the aborigines were finally protested and acknowledged. It was not until 1967 that the Commonwealth Referendum obtained permission to create new laws and rights regarding indigenous people. Some even believe, although highly doubtful, that the spread of new diseases by the Europeans was an attempt at potential genocide towards the natives.

This is not to suggest that the acquisition of a land base or even access to the benfits of land and resources is a precondition to self-government. For aboriginal peoples in urban areas, it is important that the right of self-government not be linked to a land base. However, equality of access to the full benefits of aboriginal rights, including land and resources with