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Rights of aboriginal australians
Rights of aboriginal australians
The aboriginal culture in australia
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They had their own traditional laws and customs and held a very strong and deep-rooted connection to their land. The British policy of the land being terra nullius, or “nobody’s land”, infringed the rights and customs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The concept of terra nullius robbed the Indigenous population of their right to have possession of their traditional and revered land. Mabo firmly believed it was not the white government’s responsibility to deny rights to traditional Indigenous land.
Australian History has been notably marked with themes of conflict among; culture, race and nation since the beginning of time. Similar to many other culturally diverse countries, Australia has slowly become two distinctly different races, disjointedly connected to create ‘one culture’ (Ward, R. 2017). Along this journey, there have been various significant political figures contributing to the recognition and progression of Indigenous issues within Australia. Namely one of the most determined and instrumental political warriors within the local and national Indigenous political domain is Rob Riley.
This correlates to the ideology of heritage and identity within Australia. Australia was known as terra nullius (land unoccupied) when European settlers colonised due to their belief that indigenous Australians were a different race similar to fauna (Byrne 2003). Jones and Harris (1998) expand on this notion with the idea that European settlers deemed themselves the first occupiers of Australian land due to their discourse surrounding the permanency and entitlement of land ownership. This Euro-centric construct of land ownership is discussed within the article with specific importance placed colonials concept of being an inheritor of the land rather than an invader and also the historical European concept of racial identities and their link to ‘the nation’ (Byrne 2003, p. 78). It was seen that because the indigenous Australians didn’t comply to the settler’s social construct of home, then the land wasn’t owned and therefore any remains were also free for the taking.
Explain three of the key features (or aspects) of Australian Indigenous Spirituality Dreaming- The dreaming is a big part of what aboriginals believe. The Dreaming is still present in a parallel spirit world that is called “everywhen”. This parallel world can be connected to the present world through rituals that celebrate the activities of the Spiritual-beings. These stories were passed down from generation to generation.
The Great Land Rush and the making of the Modern world, 1690-1900, written by John C. Weaver, discusses the distribution of land, its changing process, and the introduction of property rights in a market economy throughout various parts of the world – North America, South Africa New Zealand, and Australia among others. This essay will discuss the definition of property right, how it was implemented by the settlers onto new territories and the development there after. Through the analysis of Weavers dissertations, the essay will also draw similarities and difference of the way various colonial government treated indigenous people and other settlers; along with how settlers treated aboriginals and one another. The book takes into consideration how the Neo-Europeans gained and distributed land that they discovered.5 The process of how a land comes into ownership and the legislation around it is called property rights.5 Property rights where developed after it was realized that Neo-Europeans where excessively violent with natives over their land.5 Europeans would discover new lands and would use their native beliefs, and legislation as a tactic to gain control of the niche.5 this would harm the native people of that land as these practices of land taking where violent between settlers and natives.5 The settlers used property rights within their own people but had aggressive beliefs with the natives that resulted in gruesome wars between the two parties for the land.
The Australian Constitution written in the 1890s has recognised the position of Indigenous Australians in a discriminatory and racist manner. “Indigenous Australians” is an inclusive term used when referring to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders, also known as the “first peoples”. They are the people who were living on this continent for 125 000 years before the beginning of the British colonisation pre 1788.
Today Australia prides itself on being a place of fairness and equity for all its citizens. But the Australian Constitution still does not recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people of this land. Importantly, we now know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultures form part of the longest culture on Earth and evidence of their presence in Australia is now dated back over 60,000 years. It is only right that modern Australia should recognise and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture - past and present - in our Constitution to record their valued place as part of this country and our national identity. Most of the states - Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia have already amended their Constitutions to formally recognise Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people and nations of their jurisdictions.
South Sea Islanders did not have a major contribution to the convivial perspective in Australia due to the conditions faced by the South Sea Islanders. Their position on the gregarious hierarchy was very low as they were treated like slaves. The were optically canvassed as outsiders and called vilifying names to remind them of where they stand. They faced many discrimination as the Queensland system of labour discriminated against their race, this lead to farther discrimination. ASSI weren’t sanctioned in mainstream hospitals, withal experienced kindred disadvantages as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Kinship groups establish the idea of governing relationships to maintain interaction to keep cultural beliefs and languages alive. With the continuing effect of dispossession on Aboriginal spirituality, loss of identity and belonging are primary issues that were established from this concern. In source 1, it states “They should have been left with their people, with their beliefs, with their practices in their soil…” this demonstrates the post recognition of how the white invasion caused a loss of belonging, social behaviours, language and Aboriginal ritual and
Belonging to the land and to each other is fundamental to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their culture. Connections with the land, families, clans and communities are at the core of Aboriginality. It is through these connections that nurture belonging from which Aboriginal peoples identities and cultures emerge.
Value What does it mean? Australian examples (use textbook and think of your own) Cultural If a landform has cultural value, it means that it is important to a place 's culture and to people of different cultures who express their love for the landform through creative means like poetry. Uluru has cultural value, especially to the Aboriginal people in Australia as many of their dreamtimes stories refer to how Uluru was formed.
- To begin, the idea of a “family” was present in early cultures in North America known as aboriginals. Aboriginals believed the concept of family was a sacred and significant function within their culture. However, the understanding of what constitutes a family differed from our understanding today. Unlike the nuclear family, aboriginals placed more emphasis on an extended family (Gendered society, 142). In other words, a family unit consisted of the entire community helpful and protecting one another.
The concept of family and kinship for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is to live within an extended family system. What this means is that they include distant relatives. Family is a fundamental part to an Aboriginal society because they are the ones that teach you how to live, how to interact with the land, and how to treat people. Aboriginal people rarely call their family members by name, instead they use relationship terms such as mother, sister, brother, aunt or cousin.
The belief not only instils that Ancestor Beings formed the land or transformed into parts of the land, but also suggest that they are still present today. Entrenching the presence of the Dreaming into the convictions of adherents, that it is in existence wherever they hunt, travel or reside. The Aboriginal people do not appoint themselves as owners of the land, in fact they regard it as part of their society and it is their natural duty to respect and maintain the earth. The relationship to the natural world carries responsibilities for its survival and continuity. Each person carries special obligations to protect and preserve the spirit of the land and the life forms that are part of it.
Thus, when she realises that she has Aboriginal ancestry she finds a new beginning. All the years she has been told that she is Indian and now her mother recognises that “[i]t was just a white lie” (135). Sally then asks her mother a question that she has asked her and Nan so many times without getting an accurate answer, but this time her mother says the truth: “‘We’re Aboriginal, aren’t we, Mum?’. ‘Yes dear’, she replied, without thinking. ‘Why shouldn’t you kids know now?