Advocacy and Inclusion on the Aborigines in Australia - Essay Example

Advocacy and Inclusion – Advocacy Background The Aborigines in Australia Introduction: Indigenous people have been at the receiving end ever since the Europeans expanded the horizons into the new worlds and occupied some of these places on a permanent basis. The United States of America, Canada and Australia are some of the more commonly known countries, where issues of indigenous people have gained prominence in modern times. Among these nations the plight of the Aborigines in Australia stands out and calls for the attention of the local communities in putting an end to their woes. Overview of the Aborigines In Australia: The occupation of Australia by white men began in 1788, when the First Fleet under Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Sydney Cove and expanded in a short period of time to take under control the continent of Australia, displacing the original Australians that occupied these lands. These original inhabitants of these lands had been there for nearly 50,000 years and numbered about a million made up three hundred distinct nations. These original inhabitants, now called Aborigines of Australia, had over long period of existence settled into a way of life that suited them. This way of life included the lack of practice of settled agriculture, unlike the norm in the lands of the white man and as such the white man deemed that the Aborigines had no rights to their lands. The European settlers just seized their land, driving them off territories that were theirs over eons of time and shot and killed any of the Aborigines that chose to resist their encroachment. In a period over two centuries the Aborigines were to find their population dwindle to less than half their original numbers to 400,000 in all, including the natives of the far north of Torres Island. They had lost their lands, dwindled in population and had become second-class citizens, in a nation that still regards them mostly as social outcasts. Looked at from any point of view the Aborigines make up the lowermost layer of the social make up in Australia. The right to vote was made available to them less than fifty years ago in 1962. On the health front, the life expectancy for the Aborigines is twenty-one years less than that of the Australian average and the infant mortality rate double that of the Australian average. The unemployment rate for the Aborigines is three times that of the average Australian. The chances of an Aborigine landing up behind bars are sixteen times that of an average Australian. The Aborigines are the lowest paid employees in Australia and even where they have chosen to remain on their ancestral lands, rather than pay them as much as the other Australians, since the equal-pay rules were created in 1960, the local farmers have preferred to fire them and deny them the opportunity of work and equal pay. (Australians old and new). The Loss of Way of Life by the Aborigines in Australia: The loss of land that was theirs is hard to bear, but it is the loss of their culture and way of life that is striking deep at the souls of these ancient people. All ancient civilisations had deep rooted beliefs in aspects of life after death and the manner in which the dead were sent on their last journey was an important aspect in their cultures. This is true with the Aborigines of Australia. Ancient rock paintings of the Aborigines clearly indicate the practice of the Aborigines in worshipping their ancestors. (Grove, M., 2002). All the Aborigines of Australia may not have a similar manner in dealing with the rites for the dead, but there is one common string of belief that runs through and that is without proper ceremony the spirit of a person will not be released to join its ancestral beings. That is the reason why practices that may seem strange to the European settlers, like spinning around the corpses, moving camp and burning of personal belongings and gunyahs are common among the Aborigines. These strange practices are aimed at disorienting the spirit of the dead body and thereby discourage it from lingering, so that it can proceed to join its ancestral beings. The Aborigines not only find it difficult to send their dead with the required ceremony, they also find their sacred grounds either disappearing or being trampled upon. For the Aborigines in Australia, their dead cannot depart in peace and those alive find their it difficult to cope with the domination of their lands by a people and culture that is not only alien to them but looks down upon them. (IN MEMORIAM). The Issue of the Lost Generation: For nearly six decades, between 1910 and 1970, the children of the Aborigines in Australia, were removed from their parents and society forcibly, in an attempt to bring them up in a manner that was considered more civilised than the Aborigine communities and thus make them better human beings. This was to overall affect ten percent of the Aborigine children through those times. The trauma that the young children went through, being plucked from a rich family environment to an institutionalised environment has reflected in the manner of their development, especially with regard to the manner in which the relate to people later in life. The report of the National Inquiry titled ‘Bringing Them Home’ goes into the manner in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were separated during this period of time from their families. It also brings out the grief and unresolved trauma that was experienced by many successive generations of these people as a result of this separation. This unresolved trauma has resulted in widespread violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, crime rate, family breakdown and widespread health problems. These are wounds on the aborigines that refuse to heal and need to be addressed, if they are not to fester and leave an indelible scar on the history of the ill treatment that has been meted out to the Aborigines in Australia. (Mia, T., Dixon, G., & Gidgup, R., 1999). Imprisonment Issues with Aborigines in Australia: Widespread violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, crime rate and family breakdown are frequently seen among the Aborigines in Australia as a result of the unfortunate circumstances that they find themselves in. Poor employment rates and working for a pittance on lands that once were theirs, have added to the woes and remain so, for the weaknesses that the Aborigines have shown in social life. Unfortunately there remains a tendency by the authorities to treat them as criminals too and the large number of Aborigines that fill the Australian prisons in comparison to other Australians reflects this. Not being hard-nosed criminals they are unable to face life behind bars and this has led to the high rate of suicides among Aborigines in prison. The high rate of arrest figures for Aborigines in Australia in comparison to the other Australians has drawn protests from non-governmental agencies like Amnesty International. (Dillner, L., 1993). Health Issues with the Aborigines in Australia: Poverty and poor living conditions have seen a decline in the population of the Aborigines in Australia with low life expectancy rates. The poor state of health among the aborigines is further emphasised with reports on their susceptibility to conditions and diseases with high mortality risks that keep coming in. In the last decade the death rate from diabetes has increased by ten percent among males in the Aborigines in Australia and is significantly higher than other Australians. From 1955 to 1994 diabetes mellitus has been increasing at the rate of ten percent each year in the case of male Aborigines and five percent every year in the case of female Aborigines. (Prenesti, S., 1997). Heart diseases have found to be the single largest cause of death among the Aborigines in Australia, with people dying mostly in their productive years between forty and fifty. In the event the rate of heart diseases among the Aborigines in Australia could b brought down to the same level as other Australians it would extend the average life of these indigenous people by three to five years. (HEART DISEASE BIGGEST ABORIGINAL KILLER). The Aborigines in Australia face a much higher risk than other Australians to several preventable cancers like cervical, lung and liver cancer and their chances of survival are less likely even after diagnosis, when compared to other Australians. After diabetes mellitus, the incidence of cancer is highest for diseases among the Aborigines in Australia and this makes for added concern among a people, where life expectancy is already twenty years less than the general population of Australia. The causes that contribute to this high incidence of cancer among the Aborigines in Australia are preventable and include smoking, hepatitis B infection and low Pap test rates. (Roberts, G., & Pollard, R., 2003). Education Issues with the Aborigines in Australia: Educational achievement rates are low with the Aborigines in Australia. Less than fifty percent of the Aborigines pass from primary school level into the secondary school and the Aborigines reaching the level of college education arrive less prepared than other Australians. In 1976 there were only fourteen graduates and while this situation is better now, it is a far cry from what the educational levels should have been, when compared to the other Australians. The key areas of higher studies are arts and education, with very few of the Aborigines going in for technical qualifications, which is the growing need of the business enterprises with the changing scenarios at the workplace. The fault does not lie with the Aborigines or the parents of the Aborigines for want of interest in education. Aboriginal parents do rate education highly and send their children for education, but it is the educational environment that fails to give due concern for the culture of the Aborigines and as a result the drop out rate is high. The aborigines face racism both from their peers as well as their teachers and administrative authorities. This could emanate from the failure to understand that for the Aborigines cooperation is their way of life and not competition and so they fail to understand the competitive environment that exists in schools and the need to excel. Another area of concern is that the curriculum does not have any content on the history and culture of the Aborigines in Australia and there is fear that this culture may be lost for want of sufficient documentation and education. (Maslen, G., 2000). The Need for Advocacy in the Case of the Aborigines in Australia: There is both lack of awareness and willingness to act among the Australians when it comes to providing relief for the many of the grievances and poor situation of the Aborigines in Australia. In the case of the authorities and politicians it is the lack of willingness to act and the preference to sweep these issues under the carpet that stands out. In the case of the general populace there is lack of awareness and even when this is created the response does not provide confidence that the necessary concern would be shown on the ways and means to address the situation of the Aborigines. (Ron, B., 2000). In the modern world the environment of the earth and maintaining it is an area of concern. The Aborigines of Australia lived off the land in Australia for 50,000 years without causing environmental degradation. They know the land well and the means to use the land for the natural resources that it has without damaging the environment. There is the possibility that there are lessons to be learnt, by the other Australians, from the Aborigines in this aspect and maintain the environment of the continent of Australia. (Latz, P., 2000). Conclusion: The Aborigines of Australia have existed for a very long time and led a very different kind of life from that which the Europeans who went there considered as civilized. Their lands were taken from them and their way life threatened and today they find themselves as unwanted elements of the Australian society. They deserve to be treated much better than that and there is the need to create the awareness and stimulate the right action for the betterment of the Aborigines, or otherwise they could go in to extinction. The loss would be that of the human race as a whole and the Australians in particular. Literary References Australians old and new. 2005. Economist, 375(8425). Academic Search Premier Database, EBSCO. Dillner, L. 1993. ‘Amnesty condemns criminalisation of Aborigines’. British Medical Journal, 306(6876), Pp. 476-477. Grove, M. 2002. ‘A Painted Land’. Archaeology, 55(5), Pp. 36-39. HEART DISEASE BIGGEST ABORIGINAL KILLER. 1997. Australian Nursing Journal, 4(11), Pp. 7. IN MEMORIAM. 2004. Australian Geographic. Issue 74, Pp 68-69. Academic Search Premier Database, EBSCO. Latz, P. 2000. ‘The white way to reconciliation’. Australian Geographic, 47(8), Pp 35. Academic Search Premier Database, EBSCO. Maslen, G. 2000. ‘AUSTRALIA EXAMINES HOW ABORIGINES FARE IN HIGHER EDUCATION’. Chronicle of Higher Education. 47(8). Academic Search Premier Database, EBSCO. Mia, T., Dixon, G., & Gidgup, R. 1999. ‘The Stolen Ones’. New Internationalist, Issue 311. Academic Search Premier Database, EBSCO. Prenesti, S. 1997. ‘INDIGENOUS DEATH RATES STILL HIGH’. Australian Nursing Journal, 4(6), Pp. 7. Roberts, G., & Pollard, R., 2003. ‘Media Watch’. Geodate, 16(3), Pp. 12. Ron, B., 2000. ‘CULTURAL WARS’. IPA Review, 53(1), Pp. 7-8. Read More