Treatment Of Indigenous Australians - Report Example

Treatment Of Indigenous Australians Name Institution History of The Treatment Of Indigenous Australians Over The Last Century Contents 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Treatment of Indigenous Australians 4 3.0 History impact Ethical Practice of Engineering 5 4.0 Communicating with Aboriginal communities and representatives as an engineer 6 5.0 References 7 1.0 Introduction The Australian government has a very bad reputation especially when it comes down to the treatment of indigenous people or rather their aboriginal citizens. First of all the indigenous people were chased out of their land, their culture was despised, and marginalized, others were abused and murdered. This can be referred to as stolen of their future generation. There is no clear or distict explanation or acceptable origin of the Australia's indigenous people. They are belived to have migrated from africa and settled in various parts australia through asia and even the mordern-day New Guinea. (Majoni & Abeyaratne, 2013). In the last century the history of the indigenous Australians has several timelines and major events these people. the social economic structure of the indegenous communities changed dramatically after the first encounter with the European settlers where most of it was destroyed quickly. The europeans dominated the decition making affairs. Despite the efforts of this forebear european setters, the indigeneous people kept on fighting to retain their cultural identities and not letting it die out (Majoni & Abeyaratne, 2013). At this time of european contact its estimated that 315,000-750,000 peopled lived in Austalia. The regions with most indinegous population was the temperate costal plains regions. Australia was colinised by the british in the early 1770 without consideration of those indigenous people who lived in these area. After the colonisation most of the indegeous communities were forced out of their lands irrigardless of the land ownership and rights of this people. the cultural way changed and greatly affected several regions. No treaty was struck in contrast with other Anglophone colonies like the United States of America, New Zealand and Canada. The current population of the indigenous people is about 22.4 million but only 2.5 per cent identify themselves by this name “indigenous”. From the official language of Australian, ‘indigenous’ refers to those who are descendants of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. In 2007, Kevin Rudd, Australian labor party leader won the federal election, bringing a new leadership that ended 12 years of the same rule under prime minister John Howard. This new party, being new, targeted great reforms and change on how things are done (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). The Prime Minister Rudd started by apologizing on behalf of all the parliaments and governments before him, for their rule and others even dictatorship towards the indigenous people including the separation from their young. Rudd promised to bring great change and close the gap the indigenous and other Australians. This means they had to become as one family under one leadership. 2.0 Treatment of Indigenous Australians The colonizers were arrogant, making it their legacy. This made it difficult to determine the pre-invasion of indigenous people’s lives. This majorly affected the southern and eastern regions of Australia where the first indigenous people of Australia were dispossessed. In 1978 it was estimated that about seven hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand people were present in the island to about one hundred thousand (Majoni & Abeyaratne, 2013). The Australia indigenous people are sometimes referred to as the oldest continues living culture in the world. This group of people have a huge impact on the land in that they are densely populated with vast lifestyles, religions believes and even their social practices. In the 1970s, thought a program called cultural reprogramming, many aboriginal children were forcefully removed from their family homes and sent white families and church-run institutes. In this places they were abused, overworked and even their culture taken away from them. There was no single family that was lucky for their child to remain. Almost each of the families had a child taken away from them, whether they liked it or not (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). For several years the government has refused to apologize for this inhuman act. The UN has in the past tried to advocate for the rights of this indigenous people all over Australia and its environs but the government gives a turn to the ear. Fortunately now there are written laws by the help of UN as human rights activist that govern the relation with aboriginal. There was introduction of a sorry day which is celebrated for the aboriginals for the atrocities that were done to them, in regard to the stolen generations. This change in administration makes the aboriginals try to forget what happened or what was done to them. The government has finally apologized to them and also made the whole country celebrate the Sorry Day. Nevertheless there is a long way to go since what was done still affect the aboriginal people. For instance the average life span of indigenous people of Austria tends to be 17 years less than those of the non-indigenous. There are several negative markers for disenfranchised population ranging from domestic violence, imprisonment to alcoholism and abuse on the indigenous people compared to the others. From statistics aboriginal men are 13 times likely to cause trouble and be jailed compared to the on-indigenous Australian, also 28 times in comparison if it’s a teenager. The previous generation of Austrians did not care for the generations to come of the aboriginals, and made policies that only favored them in all directions. Most polies made for the aboriginals consisted of the does and don’ts. In regards the Australian government in the 1940s and 1950s had no policy towards aborigines (Majoni & Abeyaratne, 2013). This is because it was forbidden not until 1967 for the aborigines. During that period the only government that had powers make laws targeting the aboriginals were the states and this varied across every state meaning it was a state-by-state basis. For instant in South Australia there was a burn on socialization between the non-aboriginals and the aborigines. Also supply of alcohol to aborigines and sex across the color line was burnt by law (Majoni & Abeyaratne, 2013). Arguably, these laws protected the aboriginals from complete assimilation and immorality, also in enriched the cultural heritage of the aborigines. The aboriginals also lost some of it culture since they wanted to be seen as subjects of the British. In regard to voting, voting rights were not given to the aborigines hence they could not vote for their preferred leader. NSW, Tasmania, South Australia and Tasmania had their voting rights since 1850, this in turn allowed them to vote in any federal election (Majoni & Abeyaratne, 2013). The voting rights were meant to discriminate against the non-white Australians and also to give powers to the white to control and govern over the non-white. This means this powers were used to take advantage over the aborigines, it was not to force evil but good (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). The aboriginals were not included in censors of the country. This was dehumanizing in that they could not be counted as people. The first censor that was ever attended by the aboriginals was after the year 1967, after a referendum aimed to include then in the federal censors. Good employment opportunities were not given to the aboriginals. Unemployment amongst Aborigines is estimated to be four times the national average even to date. 3.0 History impact Ethical Practice of Engineering Engineers must keep the safety paramount, health and welfare of the public first. There should be no discrimination of any sort or to a member of the public. Comparing these to the previous history where the aborigines are discriminated upon should be a stepping stone for engineers to avoid such activities in the future. The engineers should take every person equally. Engineers should try to be truthful and objectives in their work, ensuring that history do not repeat itself. This is in the case of making children work who are untrained or forcing people to do something which they do not want to do. Occasionally all engineering works should be supervised by a particular individual and must be done accordingly. Their shouldn’t be any conflict of interest and faithful agents to clients, creating trust to those they are working for by introduction of a professional acts in all matters concerning engineering. Professional reputation should be built in terms of the services provided and proper merit is given to the work done. Fair completion should exist between engineers. Unlike the racism that was experienced by the aborigines and their colonizers. All engineers are expected to uphold and enhance honor, integrity and also dignity in such a manner that they uphold engineering profession properly by not tolerating bribery, fraud and corruption. 4.0 Communicating with Aboriginal communities and representatives as an engineer Communicating with aboriginal communities as a representative engineer should not be a problem as they are human and we think alike. They have passed through lots of problem and by education we are brought together as one. Assuming that we both speak in the same language, it will be very easy in communicating with an aboriginal person from this community. After lots of research, a conclusion that the aboriginal community is like any other community and should be treated equally 5.0 References Hampton, R. & Toombs, M. (2013). Indigenous Australians and health. South Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press. Majoni, S. & Abeyaratne, A. (2013). Renal transplantation in Indigenous Australians of the Northern Territory: closing the gap. Intern Med J, 43(10), 1059-1066. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/imj.12274 Read More