Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islanders Research Paper

Words: 1010
Pages: 5

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have fought a relentless battle for their rights and freedoms, nonetheless, progress towards equality began in the 1900s. For over 50,000 years prior to the arrival of European settlement, Aboriginal people lived in different nations and groups, each with their unique dialect, laws, beliefs, and traditions. European colonists and settlers who arrived on the 1788 First Fleet believed the land of the Indigenous people was free to claim, terming it “Terra Nullius”, land belonging to no one. Altering the Aborigine’s lives by forcing them off their land, resulting in starvation and deadly diseases. Children were assimilated into European life, and the Indigenous community experienced inhumane working conditions, …show more content…
Shortly after the European settlers arrived in Australia, assimilation, or the process of ‘outbreeding’ Indigenous Australians and absorbing them into white society began. Governments assumed that Aborigines would eventually adapt the manner of living, customs and beliefs of white Australians. The Bringing Them Home report said 1 in 3 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and put into white households or camps where they were forced to adopt the European way of life. Emphasising the severity of Indigenous people having their freedom taken. Children were forbidden to speak their native language and practise cultural traditions between 1910 and 1970, known as the Stolen Generations. It detailed the laws and policies that allowed children to be stripped from their families, with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse endured by children ranging from 0 to 14 years old. Survivors of the stolen generation lost connection with family, identity, land, language and culture, revealing the deprived rights of First Nations individuals. Furthermore, Aboriginal Australians were denied personal rights with a range of factors including employment, land, and freedom. Aboriginal workers received pay rates 50% lower than the state minimum wage, demonstrating the unfair …show more content…
On August 23rd, 1966, 200 Gurindji stockmen, domestic servants and their families walked off the property of Wave Hill Cattle Station in the Northern Territory for the harsh working conditions, low wages and inhumane treatment. They demanded an increase in wages and for the owners to return a portion of their homelands from the Vetsey Brothers. The struggles of the Gurindji people lasted for 9 years, bringing the issue of Aboriginal land rights to international attention. In December of 1976, the Aboriginal Land Rights Act passed the federal parliament, becoming the first legislation that allowed Aboriginal people to claim land titles and enabling them to regain their rights. Additionally, Vincent Lingiari, an Aboriginal Australian rights activist who led the strike of the Gurindji people, preached Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians to “not fight over anything” and instead “live happily together as mates.” Underlining the harmonised unity of seeing Australian culture as a whole. Moreover, integration worked to see the value of Aboriginal culture instead of covering it. Integration was a policy that recognised and appreciated the value Aboriginal culture had and the right of Aboriginals to retain their languages and customs, maintaining their own distinctive communities. Integrating them into