Indigenous Australians Sara Cousins

CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA 3. Indigenous Australians Sara Cousins

From the Monash University National Centre for Australian Studies course, developed with Open Learning Australia

In the third week of the course, Sara Cousins looks at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who have been living on the Australian continent for around 50,000 years. They have survived to claim their rights and a strong voice in society.

Sara Cousins is a research fellow with the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

3.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 3.2 Strong culture and survival 3.3 Reconciliation 3.4 Fight for social justice 3.5 Mabo, Wik and native title 3.6 Stolen Generations 3.7 Treaty 3.8 Future directions 3.9 Further reading

3.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Arrernte, Gurindji, Dhangu, Tiwi, Pintupi, Wik-Munkan – these are just some of Aboriginal languages that can be found throughout Australia, many of which are still spoken as a first language today. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are and always have been extremely diverse. In common, the Indigenous peoples of Australia share a strong cultural identity, and a spirituality that has as its essence an intricate relationship with the land and its ancestral beings.

Australia’s oldest inhabitants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, have been living on the Australian continent for more than 50,000 years. It is most likely that they migrated to Australia from South East Asia. The Indigenous population declined dramatically with the advent of European migration over two hundred years ago. The ensuing bloody battle for land and resources and the introduction of foreign diseases had a devastating effect on the population. The mortality rate was several times that of the Europeans and disease caused widespread infertility. The tragedy for all Australians today is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health continues to be extremely poor. Heading into the 21st century, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a life expectancy that is about 20 years less than the rest of the population.

3.2 Strong culture and survival

Through resistance and a continuous fight against oppression, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have survived to claim their rights and a strong voice in society. On 26 January every year, Australia Day is celebrated by Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as Survival Day. Large outdoor concerts showcase the considerable artistic and musical talent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The most recent and significant tribute to Indigenous culture was during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Nine hundred Indigenous community members from all over Australia performed ‘Awakenings’ and a smoking ceremony to welcome the world audience. Choreographed by Stephen Page, artistic director of the successful and internationally renowned Bangarra Dance Theatre company, the ceremonies and the symbolic and prominent part played by Indigenous Australians were widely acclaimed. The choice of sportswoman, Cathy Freeman to light the Olympic Cauldron prompted some to declare that white and black Australians had finally united in a spirit of true reconciliation.

3.3 Reconciliation

After ten years of effort by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation however, many are describing its work in trying to bring together non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians as ‘unfinished business.’ In May 2000 on the anniversary of the 1967 referendum in which over 90% of Australians voted to give the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal people, an estimated quarter of a million Australians walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge to show their support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their struggle for social justice.

3.4 Fight for social justice

Many significant battles for land rights, culture and heritage protection, legal recognition of customary law, self-determination and a voice in Federal Parliament have been won in the last few decades. Activists in the 1960s agitated for political recognition. Through the Freedom Rides through outback New South Wales and the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, they raised awareness of human rights and social justice issues for Aboriginal communities. The Racial Discrimination Act protecting citizens against all forms of discrimination based upon race and establishing a Race Discrimination Commissioner was enacted in 1975. After years of struggle by Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people, land rights legislation was finally passed in 1976 in the Northern Territory.

In 1984, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act provided a means for protecting sites of cultural significance. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) was created in 1989 with the primary function of formulating and implementing programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In 1991, The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody forced governments to respond to the epidemic of deaths occurring amongst the Aboriginal population as a direct result of incarceration. In 2004, both major Australian political parties announced their intention to

© National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, 2005. All rights reserved. 2 abolish ATSIC as the peak national body for Indigenous Australians. The form of its replacement is as yet not clear.

3.5 Mabo, Wik and Native Title

The most significant legal gain achieved by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in recent times has been the landmark 1992 High Court Mabo decision. The Mabo case won Indigenous people the recognition that they were the first inhabitants of Australia and that ‘terra nullius’ (or land belonging to no one) was a legal fiction. Eddie Mabo, a Torres Strait Islander from Mer or Murray Island, fought for and won the recognition within the European legal system of his peoples’ law governing land ownership and inheritance. The resultant Native Title Act 1993 imposed a scheme for determining the existence of ‘native title’ on particular land, but also validated past Commonwealth action in granting land regardless of the property rights of Indigenous people. The Wik people of western Cape York in Queensland were among the first Aboriginal people to come into contact with Europeans. Their High Court case in 1996, The Wik Peoples vs The State of Queensland, sparked considerable controversy when the majority of the court found that the grant of a pastoral lease did not necessarily extinguish native title. Read more.

Since the Wik case, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have faced a number of setbacks in the political and legal arena. The Howard government’s response to the Wik case was to enact the Ten Point Plan to amend the Native Title Act. The amendments were described by Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer as providing ‘bucket loads of extinguishment’ and were seen by many as unjustly discriminating against the property rights of Aboriginal people. The Howard Government argued however that the amendments were balanced and necessary to deliver certainty to pastoralists. Read more

3.6 Stolen Generations

The Australian Labor Government-commissioned Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in Federal Parliament in 1997. The inquiry, conducted by Sir Ronald Wilson under the auspices of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, took over 700 submissions from Indigenous people, church groups and governments. The report detailed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experiences in being forcibly removed from their families as a result of government policy. People affected came to be known as the ‘stolen generations’. A core recommendation of the report was that there should be a Federal Government apology to those affected by past government action. While state and territory parliaments passed bi-partisan apologies, the Federal Government maintained that an apology would lead to compensation claims. Read more about the debate. The issue continues to capture the public’s imagination through the actions of groups such as the National Sorry Day Committee and Reconciliation Australia. A feature film, Rabbit Proof Fence, about the true life experiences of three girls removed from their family in the 1930s in Western Australia won the Australian Film Institute award for Best Film in 2002.

3.7 Treaty

ATSIC and other groups are repeating earlier calls for a treaty between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people in Australia. Aboriginal people gained representation for the second time in Federal Parliament with the election of Senator Aden Ridgeway, however many are viewing a treaty as the only means of achieving legal and constitutional recognition of the inherent rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Read more…

3.8 Future directions

With the recent Yorta Yorta decision throwing doubt on the likelihood of being able to prove native title in southern Australia, some Indigenous leaders are turning away from government-funded schemes and legal battles. Instead, they are developing partnerships with the private sector to establish businesses and achieve economic independence from government. Noel Pearson, director of Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation has established Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships designed to bring together corporate leaders and philanthropists to help break the welfare cycle. This enterprise has been recognised by the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership Award.

3.9 Further reading

Indigenous organisations

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Research Institute, Canberra http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) Australian Government http://www.atsic.gov.au

Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) Australian Government http://www.tsra.gov.au/

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Website Government funded education portal/gateway http://www.natsiew.nexus.edu.au

Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Northern Territory http://www.batchelor.edu.au/

Reconciliation Australia Independent not-for-profit body http://www.reconciliation.org.au/

Indigenous Online Network University of South Australia http://www.ion.unisa.edu.au/

Indigenous culture

Deadly Sounds, National Indigenous Music Awards Vibe, Aboriginal communications, media and events management http://www.vibe.com.au

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) Based in Alice Springs, Northern Territory http://www.caama.com.au

Awaye! Indigenous Art and Culture on ABC Radio National Australian Broadcasting Corporation http://www.abc.net.au/message/radio/awaye/

‘Kam Yan’ – Indigenous Australia today, ABC TV Australian Broadcasting Corporation http://www.abc.net.au/ipu/kamdefau.htm

Aboriginal Art Online Aboriginal Art Online Pty Ltd http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/

Lore of the Land, reconciling spirit and place in Australia’s story Fraynework Multimedia http://www.loreoftheland.com.au/

Meet the Eastern Kulin Monash University, Melbourne http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/cais/ekulin/kulin.htm

Garma Festival, celebration of Yolngu North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory http://www.garma.telstra.com/

Yothu Yindi North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory http://www.yothuyindi.com

Aboriginal Memorial from Central Arnhem Land National Gallery of Australia, Canberra http://www.nga.gov.au/memorial

Land rights and native title

Mabo: the native title revolution Film Australia National Interest Program http://www.mabonativetitle.com/

ATSIC Native Title Unit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission http://www.atsic.gov.au/issues/land/native_title

AIATSIS Native Title Unit Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/rsrch

AustLII – Indigenous Law Resources Australasian Legal Information Institute http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation Independent national network http://www.antar.org.au

National Native Title Tribunal Commonwealth Government http://www.nntt.gov.au

Indigenous Land Corporation Commonwealth Government http://www.ilc.gov.au

MABO ten years on Australian Parliament, Library Internet Guide http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/SP/mabo.htm

Stolen generations

Bringing Them Home: the ‘stolen children’ report Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/stolen_children/index.html

Essays and commentary

‘The Nations of Australia’, Professor Marcia Langton The Deakin Lectures on ABC Radio National http://www.abc.net.au/rn/deakin/content/session_13.html

‘Our Right to Take Responsibility’, Noel Pearson Background Briefing on ABC Radio National http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s203074.htm

‘Different Views on Black Arm Band History’ Australian Parliament, Library Research Paper http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1997-98/98rp05.htm

Latest News, Indigenous ABC News Online http://www.abc.net.au/news/indigenous

Treaty issues

The Treaty Website AIATSIS http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/lbry/dig_prgm/treaty/hm.htm

Aboriginal Provisional Government Papers Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA) http://www.faira.org.au/issues/apg05.html

National Treaty Conference National Treaty Support Group http://www.treatynow.org