Fred Hollows Significance in Promoting Change for Indigenous Australia

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.

What began as mere admiration for my childhood optometrist quickly evolved into a fervent aspiration when I began working as an optometric technician at Eye & Vision Care. Having been myopic since the age of 6, I have always had an interest in the inner workings of the eye and decided to apply to this job, without any concrete career plans in mind.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am here to discuss the effects that Neville Bonner had on the land rights and freedoms of aboriginal Australians. Australia has a history of discrimination. This is proven by the amount of effort it took to change the rights of indigenous Australians. One of the most effective aboriginal Australian’s was Neville Bonner, who I will speak about today. Neville Bonner had a significant impact on the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples due to his involvement in parliament and his determination to live freely as an aboriginal. We will discuss throughout the speech Neville’s background and childhood, the changes he made to the rights of aboriginal peoples and who they impacted, as well as why he decided to make a difference to the lives of aborigines.

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.

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?

Only in recent years have we seen the recognition that the stolen generation deserves and the essential part it has play in the struggle of Aboriginal rights. Since the end of the stolen generation, numerous organisations and government agency has come out and said sorry for what happened for seventy years and as a result Aboriginal rights are becoming more apparent. The famous “I’m sorry” speech said by Kevin Rudd was the first Parliament apology to the Stolen Generation and was seen as a huge leap forward in the recognition of the Stolen Generation. The Bringing Them Home Report in 1997 was a strong campaign for The

C. (2009). Is ‘Close the Gap useful approach to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians?. Australian Review of Public Affairs, 9(2), 1-13.

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

I would like to begin this speech by recognising the owners of this land, the true ancestors of the country we call ‘ours’. To the Indigenous peoples of Australia, I acknowledge you, I thank you and most of all I apologise to you for the deep suffering and remorse you are put through. I am ashamed of this country’s treatment towards you. Past and Present.

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

The inequalities in today’s indigenous communities are still strongly evident. Heard, Khoo & Birrell (2009), argued that while there has been an attempt in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians, a barrier still exists in appropriate health care reaching indigenous people. The Indigenous people believe, health is more than the individual, it is

In modern day, it is time to recognize the misjudgments and shed light to Indigenes representation. A poem written by Jack Davis named “Integration” illustrates how Australia needs to improve from their black history and start to allow for “two worlds to combine” (Davis). Australia has created a distinction between these two worlds. They claim to show acceptance and therefore must carry their promises into reality and allow for two cultures to unite. The poet includes phrases in the form of reality. “There is no need for mocking” (Davis), this must be taken into strong consideration, especially by the Caucasian people. They have spent centuries mocking, judging and insulting the vulnerable. If they want to express their acceptance and acknowledgment, they must start to educate young minds, impact how they view Indigenes and represent them in positive ways even if there were some wrong actions. They seem to extract the smaller percentage of negatives and exaggerate them in a form to allow for white people to create a preconceived and racist view on Indigenes. Australia needs to represent themselves with a positive outlook and start to develop their actions that they have undertaken, such as saying an acknowledgment to Indigenes during school, work and in relevant times. It is vital to view and study the past to be able to learn from the recognized mistakes. “The past is done” (Davis), although the past won’t come back for them to act differently, they must choose to change their ways now. Choose to take away their bias minds. Take away their brutal words and actions, to develop a lasting combination of both cultures in which they represent in a positive and influential way. Indigenes have shown to be positively influential role models and figures that young and mature minds should aspire to be

Reconciliation is the process of building respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the wider Australian community. It is about understanding and respecting their culture and heritage and signifies ‘coming together’ to become one nation without racism and with equality for all. There are still vast differences in health, education, employment, and standards of living of the Indigenous peoples as compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Even today Indigenous peoples have a significantly lower life expectancy, up to 11.5 years for men and 9.7 years for women . The infant mortality rate for the Indigenous peoples is double the rate for non-Aboriginal Australians. Understanding these inequalities is the first step to reconciling the differences. Policies such as the stolen generation and assimilation policy destroyed Indigenous identity and culture and justified the dispossession of Indigenous people and the removal of Indigenous children from their parents. We can’t change the past but we can make a better future by understanding and learning from the mistakes of the past, reconciliation is about that. Many practical and symbolic strategies have been implemented over the last 50 years to achieve reconciliation such as ATSIC, Northern Territory Intervention and the Mabo decision. However, the most significant ones are the 1967 Referendum, Closing the Gap framework in 2008 and the ‘Sorry speech’. The aim is to improve the five dimensions of reconciliation: race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity, unity, and historical acceptance.

As a result, illnesses such as tuberculosis, small pox, and measles went uncured which led to the death of many Indigenous students (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2012). This was illustrated in Wenjack where it is mentioned how Chanie had developed a lung infection, tuberculosis, which he had failed to receive treatment for. It is noted by Boyden (2016) that “tuberculosis and similar diseases had taken thousands of Indian children’s lives” (p. 11). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2012) state how the high mortality rates of students caused devastation within families hoping their children would return home. As a result, they spent their lives grieving never knowing how their child died or where their body was placed. Thus, it is no surprise that the statistics demonstrate that the Aboriginal population has higher rates of premature death (Pederson et al., date). Unfortunately, neglect in Aboriginal’s health care still continues to occur to this day. In particular, Pederson et al. (date) mentions how poor economic and social conditions in the Indigenous community exist which contribute to these individuals viewing their health status as low. Additionally, the neglect in this population has resulted in a reduction in their social determinants of health. For instance, Pederson et al. (date) recognize how physical neglect has resulted in “poverty, poor housing and substance abuse” (p. 297). As a result of being neglected, the Aboriginal population is continuing to suffer which further leads to consequences in their health. Thus, Wenjack enables the reader to acknowledge how neglect continues to play a role in harming the lives on the Aboriginal

The bank crash of 1930 wiped out a young man's entire savings, destroying his dream of going to medical school. However, this didn't stop him from going on to revolutionize the medical profession.