The Impact Of Other Cultures On Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Culture

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.

Australia is one of the country that has grown to be the most diverse in the world. Many people come from different country, different ethnic background and different beliefs/religions. We want to enrich children’s experiences of diversity. At the same time we want our children to also experience, learn and explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander because they are the Australia original inhabitants.

“From the surface one may look upon Australia as being the ‘lucky county’ however when explored deeper Kayleigh Richmond came to the conclusion that this so called ‘lucky country’ isn’t all that ‘lucky’ for marginalized groups in Australia, the literature of these marginalized groups in Australia certainly substantiates this point”.

Discuss the Social Determinants the articles identify as issues which affect Aboriginal and Torres Srait Islander’s health. (6 marks)

Aboriginal family life has been disrupted and forcibly changed over the last two hundred years, as a result of the many segregation and assimilation policies introduced by Australian governments. Often a combination of the two was employed. The policy of segregation has impacted upon Aboriginal family life, for through this policy, Aboriginals were restricted and prohibited to practice their traditional culture, hence, resulting in the loss of their Indigenous identity and limiting the cultural knowledge for future Aboriginal generations. The segregation policy also achieved in disfiguring the roles of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a long and rich history in Australia. In the community in which I live, and hopefully will be working, many programs and events have been set up to support, encourage and maintain the qualities and efforts of the original owners of this land. Browsing through the council website, I was able to find information relating to the Aboriginal people who once lived in the western parts of Melbourne, they were the ‘Yalukit Wilum, a name meaning 'river camp' or 'river dwellers'.’ The council has provided links to a book written about their lives which details their cultural practices, their religious beliefs, their customs, key events in their calendar and other important information.

Race socially is a sensitive category with deep historical significance presenting many issues arising from the past. The Indigenous population inhabited Australia for over 50,000 years. However, upon British settlement and colonisation of Australia in 1788, dominance and control over the Indigenous population was established creating issues that shaped their native rights and title as traditional landowners. Upon colonisation within Australia, the British created a sum of sanctions of social jurisdiction disrupting the Indigenous population notion of ownership of origins and race. Cultural conformity to these guidelines constricted and ensured Indigenous groups adhered to these sanctions. Hence, Indigenous culture became constricted through

Demonstrate respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge, history, lived experience and connection to community and country through inviting an Aboriginal elder to the center to give a speech about the history, trauma, cultural safety issues of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community people and the impacts on them.

Recognition of Aboriginals in the Constitution to the Prime Minister, there has been growing momentum in the campaign for the referendum on this issue.

During the first half of the 20th century, the government wanted to create a uniform white Australian culture (Australians Together, n.d.). Thus they implemented the Assimilation policy wherein Indigenous people were to be ceased to exist while half-castes (half Indigenous and half another nationality) were encouraged to live with the White Community (Australians Together, n.d.). It was assumed that the implementation of the Assimilation policy was because they thought that the Indigenous people would enjoy living the Western way. However, because of this policy, the consequence for the Indigenous people were immense. Not only did they lose their cultures and traditions, they also lost their identity.

Being involved in the Reconciliation Action Plan working group has inspired and motivated my desire in developing mutual respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and values.

Due to colonisation the Aboriginal languages declined, from over 250 different languages spoken, today around 6Loss of land and culture affected Aboriginal people physically, mentally and spiritually. Losing the connection to their land also meant the loss of their hunter-gatherer lifestyle making traditional ceremonies meaningless. When tribes split up people began to lose their purpose and identity (Promote Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander cultural safety, 0 remain. Without language the connection to ancestors is also lost, impacting on the health and well-being of Aboriginal people

From first contact with colonisers from Britain in 1788, Aboriginals have been forced to defend their sovereignty over their self-determination as a free and independent culture (Briscoe 1993, p. 136). In the present day, attempts to scrutinise historical evidence have been made to identify to what extent the effect of British colonisation had on Aboriginal culture. The photo depicting the team of Aboriginal cricketers is an example of this historical evidence and thus, the subject of such scrutiny. Two separate stances have been taken to explain the catalyst of the near disappearance of Aboriginal culture: cultural assimilation and cultural destruction. The former stance is a process of how members of one cultural group assimilate

An indigenous person is someone who is native to the land, and naturally belongs to the land, originating from there. In regards to the Australian land, the indigenous people are the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders.

Therefore, it comes down to not only a question of welfare but also of cultural differences and whether the white population deemed the aboriginal way of life to be undesirable rather than the children’s living conditions. Jacobs (2009, p. 256) makes the assertion that the aboriginal conditions were judged in comparison to white middle-class, Christian standards and were not applicable to an indigenous context. For example, it was reported by Elkin, a contemporary academic who studied aborigine culture, that the aborigines showed no desire to join a mission and to partake in the ways of the white people, as farming, houses, and schools interfered with the aboriginals’ pre-existent lifestyle of nomadism (Elkin, 1951). Therefore, their perceived ‘inhumane’ lifestyle and their resistance to conforming to a white lifestyle arguably confirmed the held beliefs that the aborigine culture was detrimental and inhumane to the Indigenous children. This can further be seen in the aims set out in to be accomplished with the aborigines by Leake, Premier of Western Australia; these being humanising, civilising and Christianising (Prinsep, 1900-1901). This clearly indicates that the white settlers were working towards a goal with the aboriginals, and that perhaps this perceived inferiority affirms the HREOC’s (1997) assessment that ‘systematic racial discrimination’ did occur.