Australia’s Indigenous people, the Aboriginals, have had a rich, intricate history with European Australians since their first encounter in the 16th century. The relationship between these two populations has developed unfavourably over decades. For the majority of the 1900’s, their interaction was inequitable and discriminatory. Between 1945 and 2000, a substantial change in Aboriginal civil and land rights; and freedoms has occurred, improving the equality of Australia’s Indigenous people. Through numerous policy amendments replacing their initial 1869 Protection Act; the 1967 referendum and many government initiatives, the Aboriginal people of Australia were able to live freely without the discrimination of the 1900’s.
Policy Amendments
The rights and freedoms of Aboriginal people have been changed and corrected many times between 1945 and 2000 through various
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“The language of ‘assimilation’, with the underlying assumption that Aboriginal equality could only be achieved by the loss of Aboriginal identity, was abandoned.” This became known as the policy of Integration. Integration recognised the Aboriginals as a people with a traditional culture and a connection with the land.
In 1972 under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, the government policy for
Aboriginals became known as Self-Determination. It revolved around “the fundamental right of Aboriginals to retain their racial identity and traditional lifestyle or, where desired, to adopt wholly or partially a European lifestyle.”3 Once more, Australia’s Indigenous people were given the freedom to live their lives as they wished and had equal rights with the white population of Australia. Part-Aboriginals were also able to choose their lifestyle which led to an identity crisis and a reaffirmation of what it means to be Aboriginal.
Between 1945 and 2000, an era of change occurred. The policies that