Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities

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Aborigines

Capsule Summary
Location: the continent and nearby islands of Australia
Total population: approximately 303,300
Language(s): 80%, Standard Australian English; 3%, Aboriginal English; 15%,
Aboriginal language not related to English.
Religion(s): Aboriginal spirituality and/or Christianity

The Aboriginal peoples of Australia are one of the two major Indigenous peoples governed by the Commonwealth and State/Territory governments of the nation state of Australia. According to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survey held by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1994 there are approximately 303,300 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia the majority of who are Aboriginal people. The majority of Aboriginal people speak standard Australian English as their first language. Many speak Aboriginal English as a secondary language and a mark of their Aboriginal identity. About 9,000 speak Aboriginal English as their first language. Approximately 15% of Aboriginal people speak an Aboriginal language as their first language and about 87% of Aboriginal people in Australia have identified as having no difficulty with English.

Archaeologists know that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for over 40,000 years with some archaeologists suggesting that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for approximately 100,000 years. The traditional beliefs of Aboriginal people have them coming from the land itself.

History

Distance and the lack of accurate sea charts lead to mainly accidental and brief encounters with the Dutch, French and English along the continents inhospitable western coast. Trade and cultural exchange occurred between the peoples of the Torres Strait Islands and the Aboriginal groups of what, is now known as the Cape York Peninsula with the only other regular visitors to the continent being the Indonesian fishermen from the Dutch-governed port of Macassar at the southern end of the Celebes. The Macassans visited annually using the northwest monsoon of December to February to speed their vessels to points ranging from the Kimberley's to the Gulf of Carpentaria along the northern shore of Australia. They came to fish for trepang (large sea cucumbers) and returned home on the southeast monsoon of March.

It was not until January 1788 that foreigners came to stay. The British established a penal colony at Port Jackson and thus the invasion of Aboriginal land was commenced.

Invasion

Dispossession and disease were the first tools used by the British to destroy Aboriginal people. Australian history is littered with massacres against Aboriginal people. Cultural markers such as language and religious pursuits were banned; law and authority figures were ignored or ridiculed all in an attempt to destroy Aboriginal societies. The establishment of legislation originally within each of the separate colonies and then later in the States and Territories of Australia saw Aboriginal people forced to live in compounds known as missions or reserves. The alternative was to accept conditions under which Aboriginal people were denied the right to contact with their families. On missions and reserves Aboriginal people were denied the right to education, employment and living locations of their own choosing. People who were offered certificates to exempt them from living on the reserves and missions were forced to report often and regularly to the local Protector of Aborigines and to be able to prove that they were employed and living away from any contact with other Aboriginal people.

Language

The Aboriginal peoples of Australia have developed a language generically known as Aboriginal English. In identifying as Aboriginal, people from particular areas of Australia use Aboriginal English terms such Murris, Nungas, Nyoongas, Kooris or Pallawah. It is through language both the classical languages and the contemporary, that Aboriginal people maintain Aboriginality, cultural identity as the Indigenous peoples of Australia.

Aboriginal Identity

Self-identification as an Aboriginal person as well as Aboriginal heritage and acceptance by other members of an Aboriginal community as Aboriginal are the ways in which a person is seen as Aboriginal.

Aboriginal Society

Aboriginal people along with Torres Strait Islanders make up approximately 3% of the overall population of Australia. However the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia also have the most rapidly growing population within Australia. The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less than 10 years of age. Aboriginal people have had their traditional authority figures denigrated by the dominant culture, and families have been splintered by policies, which saw children stolen from their families and communities. Addictive drugs such as opium where introduced to Aboriginal people early during colonization to keep people around places were they would be used as cheap labor. Missionaries are known to have used tobacco addiction to force people to live on missions and in more recent times drinking alcohol and sniffing substances such as petrol and glue have taken their toll on Aboriginal society generally. However Aboriginal people comprise many clans, language groups and communities- many families, extended families and communities and it is through supporting Aboriginal people to find family and community through programs such as Link-Up and the establishment of organizations to deal with health, legal and housing issues specifically for Aboriginal people that Aboriginal people are working to heal themselves.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC)

A major step in the healing process for Aboriginal people of Australia has been the founding of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). Established in 1990 ATSIC is the federal governments principal agency for administering Aboriginal issues. It is also an attempt to give Aboriginal people more control over their lives as it is comprised of a commission and State/Territory and regional councils of Indigenous Australians elected by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for a three year term of office.

The Commission was commenced at about the same time as the federal government held a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the process of reconciliation was formally embodied by an Act of the Commonwealth Parliament and the establishment of a Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Following closely was the commencement of the Human Rights Commission enquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children from their families. The High Court decisions on Mabo and Wik forcing the Commonwealth government to make landmark legislation in the area of land rights also occurred in the decade straight after Australia had entered its third century since the British invasion, which commenced on January 26, 1788.

Aboriginal Spirituality

Aboriginal spirituality teaches of "Ancestral Beings" who formed the environment including humans and dictated the rules upon which Aboriginal traditions are based. Only one group's belief suggests that Aboriginal Ancestral Beings came from anywhere other than Australia with that group's Ancestral Beings originating from the far north across the sea. All other Aboriginal belief systems see Aboriginal Ancestral Beings as having arising from the land itself and returning to the land.

Aboriginal people were highly competent in the survival pursuits of hunting, gathering and preparing food. Thus much time was made available for the consideration of more esoteric pursuits. The spiritual beliefs of Aboriginal peoples are commonly referred to as the Dreaming. Aboriginal people have never been nomadic as often portrayed in Western images and history. Nomadism suggests movement without thought or plan. Aboriginal people moved in clans around their designated country to manage resources and perform ceremonies.

Land Rights

Ancestral Beings guaranteed sustainable management of the environment by giving Aboriginal people the responsibility of custody of the land. However since the British invasion of 1788 the Indigenous peoples of Australia have had to live under legislation, which viewed their land as terra nullius, literally meaning "empty land." The High Court decision of June 1993 saw the end to this legalized lie and the establishment of a legal footing in the land and sea rights struggle. The High Court decision of June 1993 was the outcome of many years of political lobbying and legal maneuvering on behalf of five plaintiffs representing the Indigenous peoples of the island of Mer in the Torres Strait. One of the plaintiffs was Eddie Mabo and the High Court decision has become known as the Mabo decision.

The Mabo decision was followed in 1996 by the Wik decision were the High Court of Australia ruled that Native Title could co-exist with pastoral leases.

Before the High Court challenges of the 1990s Aboriginal people have instigated several other strategies to fight for their rights to land. The strategies have included going on strike. Aboriginal people of the Pilbara went on strike in 1946 but one of the better known cases of refusing to work under appalling conditions of exploitation for less than basic wages for rich and often absent pastoral leaseholders has been the Gurindji walk off from Wave Hill Station in 1966. The leaseholder was Vestey who was paid admirably for the land he freed for the Commonwealth government to lease to the Gurindji.

Urban-based Aboriginal people joined the Land Rights movement by establishing a Tent Embassy on the grounds of what was then Parliament House in Canberra. The Tent Embassy established in January 1972 drew international attention to the Aboriginal Land Rights movement and gave the world its first view of the Aboriginal flag. A striking black, yellow and red symbol of people, their land and hope the colors of the Aboriginal flag are used as designators of Aboriginality in jewellery and other forms of expression by Aboriginal people who see their struggle for identity rights second only to their struggle for land rights.

The Commonwealth Parliament of Australia has moved to a new building but the Aboriginal Tent Embassy still stands, a tribute to the fact the not all Aboriginal people have rights to land.

The actions of the Gurindji, the Tent Embassy and other political activities helped to force the Commonwealth government to establish the Northern Territory Land Rights Act of 1976, which would not have been possible if it had not been for the referendum of 1967.

Citizenship

As early as the 1930s Aboriginal people were organizing themselves into groups such as the Victorian Aboriginal Advancement League the purpose of which was to focus political activism. However, it was the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) established in the 1950s that spearheaded the citizenship campaign.

The Freedom Rides of the 1960s, which witnessed bus-loads of university students including Aboriginal activist, Charlie Perkins, traveling through northern New South Wales to publicize the second class status of Aboriginal people and the blatant racism to which they were subjugated was but one strategy supported by FCAATSI. FCAATSI also organized petitions and the face-to-face lobbying of politicians.

Until the Referendum held on May 27, 1967, the Commonwealth Government had no rights to legislate on behalf of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. The "yes" vote removed the constitutional provision excluding "Aboriginal natives" from being counted in the national census and gave the Commonwealth Government power to legislate in relation to Aboriginal Affairs. Simply put an impressive 90.77% of electors voted to change the Constitution of Australia to recognize Aboriginal people as "equal" citizens.

The passing of the 1967 referendum led to changes such as the control of missions shifting from churches and welfare agencies to community members. Education departments began to take responsibility for the schools and this led in most cases to improvement in the quality of teaching. Aboriginal people were now able to choose where they lived. Due to high unemployment in rural Australia, many Aboriginal families moved into major cities in increasing numbers.

Self-determination

Aboriginal people live in diverse social and economic conditions. Many believe that the right of self-determination is central to addressing the oppressed condition of many Aboriginal people. Self-determination is the capacity of Aboriginal people to end the situation of disadvantage, which they occupy in Australian society. Aboriginality is not a disadvantage; the racism directed against Aboriginal people both by individuals and institutions is what causes the disadvantage.

Aboriginal people have been deprived of basic human rights, treated as children, addicted to dependence on the state for survival. However, the efforts, initiatives and dedicated work of many Aboriginal people either working as individuals or under the auspices of an Aboriginal organization attest to the fact that Aboriginal people are capable. Aboriginal people are also determined to restore self-esteem, reclaim and maintain culture and achieve the recognition and rights, which are justly theirs.

Davina B. Woods

See also Assimilation: Forced and Voluntary; Mabo, Edward (Torres Strait Islander, Australia); Self-Determination

Further Reading

Bourke, Colin et al; Aboriginal Australia- An Introductory Reader in Aboriginal Studies, second edition, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1998

Brady, Maggie; Heavy Metal: The social meaning of petrol sniffing in Australia, Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press1992.

Horton, David; The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 1994

Johnston, E Commissioner QC; Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody National Report Overview and Recommendations, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1991.

Madden, Richard; National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey 1994- Detailed Findings, Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Catalogue No. 4190.0

Nyoongah, M; Aboriginal Mythology An A-Z spanning the history of Aboriginal mythology from the earliest legends to the present day, Glasgow: Thorsons, 1994.

Nyoongah, M; Us Mob - History, Culture, Struggle: An Introduction to Indigenous Australia, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1995.

Perkins et al; Recognition, Rights and Reform - report to Government on Native Title Social Justice Measures, Woden: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, 1995.

Roberts, J; Massacres to Mining - the Colonisation of Aboriginal Australia, Blackburn: Dove Communications, 1981

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