Australian Aboriginal Impact

When the British arrived in 1788 roughly 500,000 Aboriginal people lived on the continent of Australia. Today only 270,000 remain. Governor Macquarie, tried to do what he described as “civilize” them, which meant

Indigenous Australians have faced many changes to their original life style, with numerous policies being brought in. These policies had an incredible affect on how the indigenous Australians lived. The policies inflicted on the indigenous Australians varied widely and had numerous impacts. The policies of assimilation, protection and integration had mainly negative impacts on the community, causing loss of identity, language and religion. The policies of self-determination and reconciliation, had mostly positive effects to the indigenous Australian community, creating a stronger bond between black and white Australians, encouraging the concept of closing the gap between indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians. These

Compare the effects of colonisation of Australia’s two Indigenous groupings: Australian Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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

These cultural concepts have all been threatened beyond measure in the last couple of centuries due to the invasion of Australia by European Colonists in 1788. Disposession, massacre and the forcible removal or Indigenous children from their families are just some examples of the atrocities committed against the Indigenous peoples and their culture. Following colonisation, systematic massacre of Indigenous people followed with the conscious introduction of new

As the English population began to increase, Aboriginal people were moved into missions in 1810, so the population could be manages and they were taught the European ways so they could be used as low paid labours, border lining slaves (Creative Spirits, 2002). When the Aboriginal people failed to move to Christianity and ‘civilised’ life, the Europeans thought it was due to the lack of intellectual ability because they didn’t understand the “complexity and holding power of the traditional culture and religion” to the Aboriginals (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 77). The separation of Aboriginals from the community into missions was known as segregation. In the early 20th century, the Indigenous Australians all throughout the nation were exposed to the ‘protection legislation’ which in turn, denied them of their basic human rights as well as the freedom that was demanded by every other Australian. Aboriginals were increasingly moved of farms where they worked like slaves and put into government or church controlled reserves where they were expected to die out (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 79). On the Australian census at this time, Aboriginals were still considered as

When European colonists settled in Australia they treated the Aboriginal people extremely different to that of their fellow white men. The Aboriginals were not seen as first class citizens through the European eye and as a result were victims of extreme oppressions and had nearly no rights or freedoms. Since then Aboriginal people have fought to be treated equally to the white men through various different ways. I will discuss the previous struggles faced by the Aboriginals, the Australian strife for equality and finally the level of success and degree of rights and freedoms given to Aboriginals in modern Australia.

The Aboriginies were documented as ‘the miserablest people in the world’ by William Dampier in 1688 (Brasch, 2007). The Indigenous people were perceived as an inferior cultural group prior to Australian settlement. This seed of hostility and arrogance was planted within the

European settlement had a negative impact on the Indigenous Australians and it provided a catalyst for the destruction of Indigenous society. The impact of European settlement on the Indigenous people of Australia was disastrous due to many things such as taking land that belonged to the Aboriginal people. Though there were some attempts to understand each culture, it led to various massacres and conflicts around Australia which had caused a decline in the Aboriginal population. Apart from the violence, the Europeans had brought diseases to Australia which wiped out generations at a time and had a dramatic effect on the

A huge part of the aboriginal culture and heritage was based on family relationships but many of the children grew up without knowing this. The loss of Aboriginality affected the children when they were grown up to be adults, if they tried to move back to their family’s community they were not welcome because they didn’t know how to settle back into an aboriginals life style.

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

The European invasion of Australia in 1780 impacted upon the lives of all the Aboriginal people that lived in and around the invaded areas. When Captain Cook landed in Australia, he declared it as Terra Nullius, and this alone gives a significant insight as to the mentality of the British and their willingness to acknowledge the Aboriginal people and the importance that the land played in their daily lives. As the invaders brought with them their laws, ideals, diseases, livestock and people, the need for land increased and settlers began to venture outwards from the main settlements, the frontier broadened and the Aboriginal population began to shrink. The encroachment upon the land meant that many Aboriginal people were now being forced

For over 200 years Aborigines have endured a long history of suffering due to the unpropitious effects of internationalism and western colonization; in Europeans attempt for cultural assimilation and taking their land to which has caused catastrophic consequences within individuals and the community as a whole by

The land and resources Aborigines depended on for survival were no longer available and they had to adapt to new ways of life. European diseases were introduced that the Aborigines had no resistance to, decimating the population and impacting the traditional close family structure. Most far-reaching, though, were the ethnocentric and racist attitudes of the European settlers regarding the Aboriginal culture and people. The repercussions of European colonization are still being felt today, especially on traditional family life. "All aspects of Aboriginal society have been directly affected by the arrival of British colonists…but it is arguable that traditional Aboriginal family life and the supporting kinship structures have taken the maximum disruptive effect…" (Bourke 104).

Australian Aborigines are thought to have the longest continuous cultural history in the world. Yet, within a hundred years, the near extinction of the Aboriginal culture almost occurred. This single event, the invasion of the Australian continent by European settlers, changed the lifestyle, the culture, and the fate of Australian Aborigines. Their entire lives were essentially taken away and they were forced into a white, European world where the lifestyle change could not have been any different. Aborigines in Australia today are struggling to deal with a past in which they lost touch with their culture and now are trying to regain some of that cultural identity.