In 1937 Conference of State and Federal Ministers of Native Welfare, the debate about the policy for indigenous people, the aboriginal issue has been divided into two populations, the ‘full-bloods’ and the ‘half castles’ (Hollinsworth, 1998). The first group was assumed would be die out eventually, and the second group can trained and absorbed into white family as a servant. In fact, Indigenous children kidnapping as servants was existed since European new arrival. And the removals and the blocking of return to Indigenous families was became common while the growth of ‘mix race’ people (Hollinsworth, 1998). In NSW, the legislation trying to remove the ‘mix race’ children from their family and placed them in foster care (Haebich 2000), while the prohibition of marriage and contact between racial categories has been legislated. Removed children are broken emotionally by told that their parent were dead out or abandoned them, and forced to neglect their own culture, as well as physically, as …show more content…
Another issue happened in 1953 in related with land right which is Britain government announcement of atomic tests on Anangu people’s land which has been called Maralinga. The land which Anangu people has been inhibited for long times became prohibited without warning, consultation, and knowing what would happen here (Yalata Aboriginal Community 2009). As the power of atomic bomb and inappropriateness of the protection, the unknown number of indigenous people cause of illness, which different kind of cancer are still effecting them and their nest generation. Another issue which as important as above is that land issue. After the atomic test the land remained prohibited, one of the reason of that is the land is no longer suitable for human being, as ‘the sick land’ (Yalata Aboriginal Community 2009). Even After the decade of ‘cleaning’ the land, it can never like what it originally
In the 1980’s the state and government drew back from pursuing more legislations or granting land rights from the indigenous land rights because of the shortage of popular support in different places of the country. The indigenous fear of losing from votes and it began to take over from the state and progress of the indigenous rights, but all of this changed in 1992 from a case called the Mabo case that took place with a High Court. This case was named after Eddie Mabo, who was an indigenous from the Murray Island in the Torres Strait. He was the head of a group of his fellow indigenous Torres Strait people called the Meriam people and lead them into the Supreme Court to challenge the Queensland government for their land rights and ownership,
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
Constitutional Recognition is about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people wanting to be recognised in the Australian Constitution. As the first people in our nation, they should be recognised and treated as equals. The Constitution is the founding legal document of our nation. It sets out the rules of Parliament and how lawmakers, government and courts operate. The Constitution was approved at Referendum by the people in the Australian Colonies between 1898 and 1900 and came into effect on the 1st of January 1901.
“When you sit in your own country, your spirits lift and you are again truly back to the land where things make sense and your life has meaning” – Galarruy Yunupingu.
‘Australia’ also showed how the government controlled how children of Aboriginal descent were brought up with language used such as “The mixed raced children must be dislocated from their primitive full blooded Aborigine, how else are we to breed the black out of them”. This presented again the reason as to why the Aboriginal children were taken away from their own cultures to be raised in something completely different.
The Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) was a law that changed Indigenous Australian lives forever. The act enabled the New South Wales Board for the Protection of Aborigines to essentially control the lives of Aboriginal people. It was the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) that had major provisions that resulted in the containment and suffering that Aboriginal people endured. This suffering included the practice of forcible removing Indigenous children from their families. These major provisions help us understand what the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) involved and the impact it has had on the daily lives and cultures of Indigenous Australian peoples today.
Terra Nullius was once apparent in Australian society, but has now been nullified with the turn of the century. With the political changes in our society, and the apology to Indigenous Australians, society is now witnessing an increase in aboriginals gaining a voice in today’s society. Described by Pat Dodson (2006) as a seminal moment in Australia’s history, Rudd’s apology was expressed in the true spirit of reconciliation opening a new chapter in the history of Australia. Considerable debate has arisen within society as to whether aboriginals have a right to land that is of cultural significance and whether current land owners will be able to keep their land.
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.
(This article provided the history of indigenous children removal in Australia. In addition, it also indicated that the development of related legislations in different states. The development of this history and the attitude of European were well expressed, therefore, it showed that why and how the indigenous children were removed from their family.)
Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms
The National Inquiry into the separation of the children concluded that 'between one-in-three and one-in-ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities in the period from approximately 1910 until 1970' (Wilkie, 1997). It was the 1960s, at the earliest, when the various 'protection' Acts were either abolished or discontinued.
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.
With globalization and colonization taking over almost the entire known world, native tribes who are indigenous to their lands are losing control of the lands that their people have lived in for ages to the hands of foreign colonizers who claim the land as their own. Now, indigenous people all around the world are struggling to reclaim the lands and rights that were taken away from them through non-violent social relations with national governments and large corporations. Anthropologists have recorded how indigenous people across the globe attempt to create relations with national governments to reclaim rights and lands that they once had before the colonization of their ancestral homeland.
Aboriginal Land Rights Aboriginal Australians have always had an eternal bond with the land. For the 50,000 years or more, they have occupied the continent; the land provided not only the basic needs, but also the spiritual beliefs. In the Dreaming, the forms of the land, mountains, rivers, landscapes and animals took shape and the spirit of ancestors resided in places that became sacred sites to the Aboriginal people. The land to these people were their most precious commodity. When white settlement began in Australia in 1788, the concept of terra nullius {the land belonging to no-one} was adopted by the British.
The Australian Government wanted to create a single, uniform white culture. Throughout the first half of the 20th century it was generally thought that the Aborigines would predictably die out. A now derogatory term, “half-casts”, referred to people who had both indigenous and white parentage. The accumulating population of half-casts quickly made it clear to the government that the “Aboriginal Problem” was not going to vanish.