Generational Trauma In Australia Essay

713 Words3 Pages

The Aborigines Act was one of the most horrific acts of hatred and racism to ever commence in history, and has affected generations of Indigenous Australians, and will continue to affect several generations of Indigenous Australians to come. It led to decades of generational trauma, an irreversible loss of cultural identities within society, and ongoing educational and occupational inequalities. Mistreated children often grow up to have children of their own, who are often mistreated due to their parent’s trauma. This is called Generational Trauma, which can impact several generations of children, often called a ‘cycle of abuse’, much like a ripple effect. In other words, Generational Trauma involves the transmission of trauma from one generation …show more content…

This is often caused by either a preconceived impression of this demographic by educators or employers, or a complete lack of resources to pursue better school or career experiences, this can be because of low finances preventing them from accessing the necessary resources, or a lack of understanding on the resources and information required to advance. When the Aborigines Act came into effect, many rumours and stereotypes were created towards Aboriginal Australians, claiming they were ‘dirty’, ‘barbaric’ and often ‘temperamental’ in order to justify their treatment of these individuals, creating the misconception that the State was saving the Aboriginal Australians from themselves. These stereotypes have created a preconceived impression of Aboriginal Australians, making employers and educators unwilling to give Aboriginal peoples opportunities that they might ‘abuse’, ‘misuse’, or ‘neglect’. The Aborigines Act also dictated the education of all Aboriginal Australians under the age of sixteen, leading them to often lack the knowledge to become employed in high paying jobs, this meant that these Aboriginal peoples could not teach their children how to achieve these jobs and educations, which caused a vicious cycle. Now, most Aboriginal Australian university students are only the first of second people in their bloodlines to receive that higher education, which meant they could not seek help from others in their family, as those others were simply not at that