Australian Aborigines And Their Crisis

For the Aborigines their spiritually involves everyday objects such as plants and animals which are connected to their ancestors. Their spirituality and beliefs are kept alive by passing on their knowledge through ceremonies and “Dreamtime” stories. The “Dreamtime” stories are how the Aborigines explain the beginning of the Earth and the foundation of their core beliefs. In most of the stories, ancestral spirits came to the Earth and as they moved along they created the plants, animals and even rocks. One the spirits did their job, they morphed into stars, watering holes and other objects. An example of these “Dreamtime” stories is the “Rainbow serpent” which is about a serpent who “pushed out the land to make mountains, she spilled water over the land to make rivers, lakes and billabongs. She also made the sun and fire, and all colours of the rainbow.”

Archibald Meston 1851-1924 – newspaper editor/writer – lived with aboriginal communities and learnt their languages and customs. Rascist – exotic others – although he wants good for indigenous peoples. The architect of the aboriginals protection and prohibition of the sale of opium act 1897 qld. Right to remove aboriginal peoples to reserves. In effect till 1970’s. employment, wages, - clear guidelines.

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

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have faced disadvantages in various areas, particularly housing. The disadvantages these people face now are the result of policies introduced by the European settlers, then the government. The policies introduced were protection, assimilation, integration and self-determination. It is hard to understand the housing disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people if their history is not known.

The Stolen Generation refers to the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and assimilated into European communities between 1880 and 1970. These children were made to adopt white culture in attempt to allow aboriginal people to “die out”, through forced rejection of their heritage and banning the use of their own language. Children faced physical, psychological and sexual abuse, sexual and labour exploitation, racism, grief, and suffering. Between 1 in 10 and 3 in 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taken by government, church, or welfare authorities and placed into institutional or foster care with non-Indigenous families.

Over the past 230 years, Aboriginals have protested in many different ways to gain rights, which they believe they are deserving of. Through aims of what they wanted to achieve, the processes they went through brought them disappointment over the poor results of some actions and pleasure over the success of others. Over those years, very few periods of protest have been as revelational or effective as the protests occurring between 1938 and 1972. During this period many different groups of Aboriginals have fought for the common cause of being recognised as people rather than interferences caught in the midst of Australians expansion as a nation.

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.

Reconciliation with the Indigenous People of Australia Reconciliation is not only an issue for the indigenous people of Australia, but for every Australian. The a major step in achieving this is for an official apology to be made by the Australian Government to indigenous Australians - especially those of the Stolen Generation. But as with any controversial issue in our society there are many differing views on the matter, in support and not in support of such a move. This essay will briefly outline these arguments subjectively.

Colonialism in Australia places a detrimental threat to the health of Indigenous Australians. Inherent in colonialism were scientific racisms, institutional racism and structural violence. These factors continues to persist in the fabric of Australian society today and limits the life chances of Indigenous Australians. This essay illuminates colonialism as a major contributor to the social marginalisation and low socioeconomic status experienced by indigenous Australian. An analysis of Aboriginal infant mortality rate, a health indicator highlights the difference between biomedical and sociological approach and the embedded negative impact of social marginalisation and low socioeconomic status on the health of Indigenous Australians. The

Aboriginals or indigenous Australians are the native people of Australia. Aboriginals were nomadic people who came to Australia about 40,000 – 60,000 years ago from Southeast Asia. Religion is a great part of Aboriginal culture. The essay answers these questions: What do Aboriginals belief? What is a Kinship system? What is Dreaming and Dreamtime? What rituals does Aboriginals have?

Throughout this unit I learned about the cultural loss that Indigenous Australians suffered, which lead to poor health outcomes along with poor social, emotional and mental wellbeing amongst Indigenous Australian population. Culture is part of our identity, which makes us who we are. Therefore culture is an important aspect of each individual. Culture is a unique way to make sense of the world; it is both material and ideological (Eckermann et al., 2010). Culture impacts all part of life including; health, illness and health care. It is important for health professionals to understand and work with the culture of Indigenous Australians to create a good health outcome. Through stolen generation, colonisation and the loss of land, language and community, the culture of Indigenous Australians faded. At the start of this unit, I wasn’t aware of all the damage that was done to Indigenous Australians and their community. I understand more about my culture as well as culture security and Aboriginal culture. I can understand what it feels to be separated from family and it feels as though some part of you is missing but to be separated from everything that is familiar and to be told that no one wants you is terrible. Now at the end of this unit, I still don’t fully understand the extend of the damage that has been made nor do I entirely understand what Indigenous Australians suffered and are still suffering but I do understand that this can be changed and that I can make a

Between 1890s and 1970s, children, in particular Indigenous children roughly between ages two to four were forcefully taken away from their parents. These children are known as “Stolen Generations”, one of the darkest chapters of the Australian History. The term “Indigenous” comes from the Latin word “indigena” which means “a native”. This term is used to refer to native Australians, both Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The removal of children begun in the early days of white settlement (European) then later became an official Australian policy until 1969.

The idea that Prehistoric Aboriginal culture is averse to change or is static is a belief shared by the minority. Although it can be said that Indigenous culture and our ancestral peoples share many similar or unchanged basic behaviour patterns, each society or culture can be distinguished from others by the certain configurative patterns or directives for why the Prehistoric peoples did or did not achieve things and how they were or were not achieved. This willingness to change and not be opposed to innovation and holding traditional values all the time, suggests that Prehistoric Aboriginal Culture was constantly changing. This essay discusses the concept that Prehistoric Aboriginal culture adopted a willingness to learn, change and grow through forms of art and culture, for both aesthetic and useful purposes. Secondly, the developing cultural intricacies will be deliberated, how hunter gatherer societies affected Prehistoric Aboriginal culture and how these complexities are the source of change for many Indigenous peoples through time.

Human rights are inalienable, no matter what ethnicity or culture one belongs to. Every human is entitled to their Human Rights. For a large period of time in Australian history Indigenous Australians were discriminated against, abused and denied their Human Rights. The Bringing Them Home Report significantly advanced the rights of Indigenous Australians as it began the reconciliation process which recognised the injustices which had been done to Indigenous Australians involved in the Stolen Generations, and set out a list of recommendations to create equality in Australia. Whilst an apology was given to the Indigenous Australians the concept of reparations still remains a major topic in the Bringing Them Home Report

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.