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When Was The Australian Constitution Written In The 1890s

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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.
As early as the 1500s, there are numerous historical documents and travel journals written by Portuguese, Dutch and British explorers proving that Australia was a continent habited by people described to be living in the “purest state of nature, and may appear to some to be the most wretched on Earth; but in reality they are far …show more content…

(Michael Legg in “Indigenous Australians and International Law: Racial Discrimination, Genocide and Reparations “)
Throughout the time, due to the numerous immigrants and settlers from all over the world, the colonists’ ways of life were rapidly changing and the English laws were no longer applicable.
Therefore, in the need of independence, the Australian Constitution was written in the 1890s against a backdrop of racism that led to the white Australia policy and a range or discriminatory laws and practices that were not directed at Aboriginal people, but Chinese and other non-white immigrants to Australia.
Assumed the Indigenous people were a dying race, the federation did not see the need to make provision for them in the later Constitution update released in the 1901.
Instead they’ve continued to reduce their numbers by forcibly moving many Indigenous onto missions and government reserves and their children into white families, also known as the “Stolen …show more content…

In each of those cases, laws restricting and curtailing the rights of Aboriginals under the Constitution were defended.
A lot of misconceptions and controversy have risen along the positive outcomes of the referendum, as it didn’t bring the equality for Aboriginal people as it was expected. Instead it launched a “blame game” between the federal, state and the territory governments.
The census and negative media coverage have also revealed high incidence of sexual assault in some communities and gang violence in others as a result of extreme poverty and substance abuse.
A recent example, mentioned by prof. Larissa Behrendt in “The 1967 Referendum: 40 Years on…” was the Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Mal Brough who blamed the Northern Territory Government for not putting police into communities where violence out of control. Just as unhelpful was the response of Northern Territory Chief Minister Claire Martin in asserting that the problem was the Federal government’s failure to provide adequate housing and health and education

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