Australian Indigenous Culture
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Excursion update
Review holiday homework
Intro activities booklet
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Culture
Material
Non Material
Sociological imagination – Ellis model
Ethnocentrism
Cultural relativism
Protection
Assimilation
Segregation
integration
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intro to course\intro lesson -STEEREOTYPES
ABOUT INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS.docx
intro to course\intro lesson- What is
Australian Indigenous culture.docx
intro to course\intro lesson-Aboriginal
Australia Information Deficit Syndrome.docx
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Australian Indigenous cultures – oldest living
in the world
Indigenous people believed to have been in
Australia for at least 50 000 years (ABS, 2011)
Indigenous people come from a range of
diverse Aboriginal nations many with their
own languages and traditions
Torres Strait Islander people come from the
islands of the Torres Strait between the tip of
Cape York in Queensland and Papua New Guinea
 Indigenous people come from mainland
Australia, Tasmania and surrounding offshore
islands
 Today both of the above live in a variety of
settings – most live in urban areas, while some
live on the fringes of towns and cities or within
remote communities in rural Australia.
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Of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent
 Who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander and
 Is accepted as such by the community in
which he/she lives.
- Pg 21
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From 1788 – British wanted Australia to be a
colony of settlement
 Indigenous peoples lands we taken over on the
premise that the land belonged to no one “terra
nullius” (means land of no one in latin)
 Colonial take over was based on the assumption
that British culture was superior to all others
 Many Indigenous people were killed or driven
from their traditional lands by the European
colonists
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Lives were lost from diseases that Aboriginal
people had no resistance to such as small pox,
influenza and measles
The new government thought Indigenous
people should speak English, obey British Law
and live a British way of life
Many tribal groups had to live together on
missions and reserves and were forbidden to
practise their cultures and speak their languages
As a result many cultural traditions and
languages have been lost forever
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1992 – Indigenous Australians recognised as
the traditional owners of tracts of land by the
High Court Of Australia
Eddie Mabo see pg 7
Today Australian Indigenous people continue
to keep their cultural heritage alive by
passing their knowledge, arts, rituals and
performances from one generation to
another
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Face the facts – update facts sheets
Watch the beginning of the First Australians
SBS documentary
Create a detailed timeline of Australian
history
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http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/nations/
Bunjil the Eagle
Kulin Nation
William Barak (1824-1903)
http://www.yarrahealing.ca
tholic.edu.au/storiesvoices/index.cfm?loadref=7
9
Read Text: p. 5-7.
Physical objects, artefacts, resources and spaces
of a society which are passed onto subsequent
generations
 Arts
 Crafts
 Clothing
 Homes
 Schools
 Technology
 Tools
 cities
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Non physical creations and ideas of a society
 Knowledge, beliefs, languages, symbols and
social norms which are transmitted across
generations
 When analysing non material culture
sociologists refer to several processes that a
society uses to shape or control its members
these are
Values, symbols, languages and norms
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Values and symbols
Values
– abstract ideas about what is good and right
- Broad guidelines for acceptable behaviour
- Key values in Australian culture include;
democracy, freedom of speech and a ‘fair go’
- For AIP values were derived from the ‘Dreaming’
 Symbols
- Anything that acquires a particular meaning that is
recognised by the people sharing a culture e.g., a
word, sound, graffiti, sculpture and flag
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Bunjil
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Symbols
Languages
Language
Ability to communicate thorough spoken or
written word is a unique and important
feature of human cultural groups
- Australian Indigenous – oral history
- Indigenous languages of Victoria
• Kulin Languages – Western and Eastern
Kulin
• Gulidjan or Colac language
• Gunditjmara/Warrnambool langauge (se pg
11)
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Social norms
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Social norms
Shared rules that exist in every culture
that act as a guide for a wide range of
behaviour
See difference between norms and
mores (more-rayz) pg 12 -13
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dot 1 - meaning of culture\Indigenous culture
article.docx
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http://www.acmi.net.au/dst_land_is_mother.
htm
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Complete material vs non material culture
sheet.doc
dot 1 - meaning of culture\Material Vs non
material culture summary activity.docx
The Australian Sociologist, Evan Willis has
developed a useful framework to assist in the
process of sociological analysis.
Willis drew on the work of Mills (1959) and
Giddens (1986)
* Create a table that explains Gidden's, Mills
and Ellis’s theory of the sociological
imagination
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TASK: Analysis of the stolen generation using
Willis model using diagram on pg 17 and links
on pg 18
Complete activity 3.02 pg 17
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dot 2 - sociological imagination
ethnocentrism and cultural relativism\Sorry
Day and the Stolen Generations.docx sociological imagination analysis.docx
Factor
Explanation
Historical
Indigenous Australians have a feeling of immense
resentment toward white Australia for the breaking up of
their families.
- Distrust toward Australian government
- Loss of culture
- Displacement of families
- Lack of education regarding parenting
Cultural factors
- White people believed their culture and ways to be
superior – blinded by ethnocentrism and the idea that
“this is for the better” “Victorian board for PROTECTION
of Aboriginals”
- Took children away to educate under western society –
- resulted in confusion of cultures
- Culture of ‘Missionaries’ – role of church to ingrain
Christianity into Indigenous children
- White culture superior to Indigenous culture (culture of
savagery and not significant)
- Culture change occurred through Rudd saying ‘sorry’
Factor
Explanation
Structural factors
Church and missionaries as social institutions had a
significant impact on shaping children
2005 - The organisation 'Stolen Generations Victoria' is set up
as a result of the 2003 report of the Stolen Generations
taskforce.
Critical factors
Historical
Structural
Sociological
analysis
Critical
Cultural
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The creation in any medium of aspects of
‘reality’ such as people, places, objects,
events, cultural identities and other
intangible concepts
Can be historical or modern
Can be presented in many forms – oral
speech or writing, still or moving picture
See analysis table
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W.G. Summer
Belief that an individuals culture is superior to
that of other cultural groups
Leads to a prejudice attitude
Exists in all people in all societies
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Historical representations of AIC influenced by
ethnocentric views of British colonists
Indigenous people seen as ‘noble savages’
Seen as the lowest form of human kind on the ‘Great
Chain of Being’ – Europeans were placed highest and
Indigenous Australians lowest nearest to animals
Natural selection/evolution of natural world –
scientific racism  Indigenous Australians biologically
and culturally inferior to British colonisers
Race doomed to extinction
Indigenous cultural symbols in art gradually gained
acceptance but understood through the category of
primitive art
Exclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples from representations such as print and
television advertising
 Stereotypical portrayals of Australian Indigenous
people in tourism advertising reflecting the ‘noble
savage’
 The ongoing myth in film and TV that most
Indigenous Australians live in remote and regional
pars of Australia
 The over-reporting in news and current affairs
programs of Indigenous Australians as victims and
perpetrators of violence and/or paternalistic
(authoritarian) reporting of social disadvantage
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Complete Activity 3.06 pg 24 and write a
detailed summary of what is on the web
addresses on pg 25
Practice of judging a society by its own
standards
 Encourages sociologists to refrain from passing
judgement on unfamiliar cultural practices
 Necessitates a tolerance and respect for cultural
practices that may seem strange or unusual to
the observer
 Requires people to avoid being biased when
evaluating ‘other’ customs, practices and
behaviours
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Education and awareness programs –
Australian Curriculum Assessment and
Reporting Authority (ACARA) repsonsiblke
for national curriculum from kinder – 12
(developed in consultation with Indigenous
consultation bodies)
 recognise need for all Australian children
to understand Indigenous culture (
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Political activism
Albert Namatjira’s social movement for full
citizenship rights in the 1950’s
Freedom Ride 1965
Australian Human Rights Commission calling
for Australian Constitution to be amended to
recognise Australia’s first peoples
Protocols and Sanctions
Commonwealth – Racial Discrimination Act
(1975)
- Racial Hatred Act (1995)
- Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission Act (1986)
- Victoria Racial and religious Tolerance Act (2001)
- Equal Opportunity Act (1995)
- See pg 26 bottom websites and take note of why
they are culturally relative representations
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dot 3 - range of historical and contemporary
reprsentqations\Media ANALYSIS of issues in
jan 2012 holidays and background knowledge
sheets.docx
dot 3 - range of historical and contemporary
reprsentqations\lesson 1 - Understanding
Representations 2012.docx
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See representation booklet
Tent embassy
Australia Day
Cartoon analysis
Annotated folio task – see pg. 53
of study design
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dot 3 - range of historical and contemporary
reprsentqations\Indigenous film
representations.docx
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Watch below – written by Fay June ball –
song about white Koories
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7uMP7ry
YhM
Watch BBQ area
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http://aso.gov.au/titles/indigenous/writtendirected/
Healing
 Challenging stereotypes
 Strengthening Indigenous culture
dot - implications of different ways of
representing\actiivty on implications of
representing.docx
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How might the return of the remains
potentially lead to
Healing
Challenging stereotypes
Survival of Australian Indigenous culture?
The historical suppression of Australian
Indigenous culture through protection,
segregation, assimilation and integration
policies
And Australian Indigenous responses to this
suppression
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From colonisation – Australian Indigenous
people subject to formal government policies
AIMED TO SUPPRESS THEIR CULTURE
Culture suppression occurs when a culture is
overpowered and dominated – coinciding
with the promotion of another culture
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First example of attempted cultural
suppression was the frontier wars between
British colonists and Australian Indigenous
people
Wars commenced in 1788 and reports of
violent interaction continued as late as the
1930’s
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Arrival of British colonists saw considerable
resistance from Australian Indigenous people
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1800’s British colonists saw Australian people
as primitive and savage race
The Indigenous Australian customs and
lifestyles they observed were very different to
their own
British believed Australian Indigenous people
were an inferior race – led to assumption they
need to be protected
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Definition: Policies that resulted in the
separation of Australian Indigenous people
into missions and reserves
1. Terra Nullius: Aboriginal land was acquired
by British colonists based on the assertion that
the land belonged to no one. (1992: Eddie
Mabo Vs Queensland Gov overturned terra
nullius)
2. Protection Policies: In the 1800’s through moral
conviction or religious faith. Settlers saw it as their
duty to help these ‘poor’ indigenous people. A period
where aboriginal people were segregated and
controlled by protection boards.
Paternalism: is the practice of treating a group of people as
children.
 This paternal attitude led to the assumption that the AIC
were an inferior race.
 From 1837-1950 the British government had implemented a
“Protection Policy”.
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1839 George Robinson was appointed
Chief Protector of Aborigines.
 1841: Recorded many atrocities
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1860: Victorian Government established a central
board for Aborigines. It’s role was to establish
reserves and managers to control them.
 1886: Victorian Aborigines Protection Board was
formed. Its aim was to ‘civilise, Christianise and
above all train”.
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Aboriginal children were taken from Families who
were seen as bad influences (white socialisation).
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Between 18691911 most states
in Australia
confined
Aboriginal people
to certain areas
called ‘missions’.
This resulted in
the beginning of
the Stolen
Generation
British government implemented new ways
to solve the “Aboriginal problem”
through policies which involved the separation
of Australian Indigenous people into church run
missions and government reserves
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- Justified by belief that Indigenous people
were a dying race and would not survive alone
in non Indigenous society
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http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/missions/64
95/the-mission/
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dot 4- supression of AIC through
policies\MISSION CULTURE.docx
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Many Australian Indigenous people did not
adopt the cultural and religious mores of the
British settlers and government
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For many living in the missions despite new
modes of dress, housing, economic patterns and
religious beliefs many Australian Indigenous
people did not abandon their traditional
values
“they still practised kinship ties and obligations,
feared the effect of sorcery (witch craft),
practised certain rituals, especially relating to
personal hygiene and funerals, hunted and
collected bush food in their leisure time and
maintained a deep attachment to the land and
its governing stories”
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The overall impact on many Australian Indigenous
people during the era of the protection and segregation
policies could be described as one of either “Despair or
Defiance”.
Resistance Groups: Five Key Elements.
Cultural Maintenance
A Sense of Injustice
The Acting out of someone’s negative oppositional
culture
4. The Rebuilding of a positive Aboriginal Identity
5. Aboriginal Political Movement led by William Cooper
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1.
2.
3.
Born in YortaYorta Territory
Established the Australian
Aboriginal League (AAL) 1934.
 Log onto:
http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoic
es/cummeragunja/mission_history
/default.htm
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Read the story.dot 4- supression of
AIC through
policies\Cummeragunja mission
and responses to it.docx
Research policy and responses assignment on
PowerPoint
 Construct an overview of the historical
suppression of Australian Indigenous culture
dot 4- supression of AIC through policies\lesson
2-historical suppression\Historical suppression timeline overview.docx
dot 4- supression of AIC through policies\lesson
2-historical suppression\Historical suprression timeline.docx
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http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalcult
ure/history/aboriginal-history-timeline-earlywhite.html
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Period prior to Second World War – became
clear to the government that Australian
Indigenous people were not a ‘dying race’
Government decided to change its policy to
one of ‘assimilation’
In 1937, the Commonwealth Government
decided that the ATSI peoples ‘not of full blood’
should be absorbed or assimilated into the
wider population. The aim was to make the
‘Aboriginal problem’ gradually disappear.
Some examples include separate education,
town curfews, no social security and the
forcible removal of children who were placed in
white controlled institutions or foster homes.
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http://www.connectinghome.org.au/sitebuild
er/careers/knowledge/asset/files/37/august_2
008_stolen_generation_the_barbara_william
s_weton_story_part_1.mp3
http://www.connectinghome.org.au/sitebuild
er/careers/knowledge/asset/files/38/august_2
008_stolen_generation_the_barbara_william
s_weston_story_part_2.mp3
dot 4- supression of AIC through policies\Sorry
Day and the Stolen Generations.docx sociological imagination analysis.docx
 dot 4- supression of AIC through policies\stolen
generation info sheet.docx
 dot 4- supression of AIC through policies\Stolen
generation man wins compensation.docx
 dot 4- supression of AIC through policies\lesson
2-historical suppression\Historical suprression
stolen generation timeline.docx
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The policy of integration 1965 was to create a
better relationship between the Australian
indigenous people and the white people of
Australia. Indigenous people, their customs,
culture, tradition and language needed to be
‘westernised’.
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‘Assimilation in disguise’?
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1965 – assimilation was replaced by
‘integration’
Recognised Australian Indigenous culture
Acknowledged that Australian Indigenous
people had their own culture, languages,
customs and traditions which needed to be
‘westernised’
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Some AI protest groups argued that
integration was a more suitable policy as it
allowed for individuals to choose the extent
to which they wished to join broader society
while at the same time being able to practice
their own culture and beliefs
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Others argued that while integration was an
improvement on assimilation it contained
some elements is assimilation in disguise
It was expected that future generations
would assimilate into non- Indigenous
society, letting go of their beliefs and
customs
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dot 4- supression of AIC through
policies\graphic organiser - protection
segregation assimialtion and
integration.docx
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Watch DVD – the right to vote
When the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Australia was drawn up,
Aboriginal people had no political power and
most of the leaders of the
colonial delegations who met to debate the
terms of the document
considered them to be ‘a dying race’.
Consequently, the only two specific
references made to Aboriginal people in the Constitution were in a
clause
1 of section 51, relating to a power granted to the Commonwealth to
enact special laws with regard to racial minorities:
The Parliament shall subject to this Constitution, have power to
make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the
Commonwealth with respect to…(xxvi) The people of any race,
other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed
necessary to make special laws.
and, section 127:
In reckoning the numbers of people of the Commonwealth, or of a
State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall
not be counted.
By 1966, most racially discriminatory legislation
had been repealed and most Aboriginal people
had been granted the legal rights associated
with
citizenship. However, when the Federal Council for
the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait
Islanders and its supporters campaigned for a ‘Yes’
vote for the Aboriginal question in the referendum
of 27 May 1967,
it equated the constitutional changes with the
overthrow of discriminatory laws and the winning
of rights or citizenship for Aborigines.
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The Australian Constitution does not recognise
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The last few years have seen a growing feeling
that the Constitution needs to be brought up to
date to reflect the reality of Australia in the 21st
century.
It is time for a genuine national conversation on
the best option for constitutional recognition
that will be supported by the majority but is also
meaningful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people.
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The Australian Government, the Opposition, the Australian Greens
and the Independent members of Parliament all support
recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the
Constitution
Towards this end, the Prime Minister has established an Expert
Panel to lead a national conversation on constitutional
recognition.
The Constitution which underpins our federal laws and
institutions can only be changed by the people.
This site provides you with information that will help you to be
part of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to help shape the
future of Australia.
There is also a webpage set up by the Expert Panel where you can
find virtually all the information you need - go
towww.youmeunity.org.au
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http://www.youmeunity.org.au/ - video
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http://www.youmeunity.org.au/uploads/cust
om/de55df59ff23d2ebcf0f.pdf - full text of
constitution
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Write a paragraph explaining the historical
suppression of Australian Indigenous culture
through protection, segregation, assimilation
and integration policies. Explain Indigenous
responses to this suppression using material
you have studied this year
Incl info off Right to vote DVD
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Explain
Protection
Segregation
Assimilation
Integration
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Complete table of suppression and response
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Explore the initiatives in place by the
Australian Football League (AFL) regarding
Australian Indigenous players as a way of
building awareness and perception of
Indigenous culture
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There have been a number of national and
international factors that have
supported/limited the public awareness and
perception of Australian Indigenous culture
What do you think these may be?
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Reconciliation
The Redfern Park Speech
Northern Territory Intervention
The Apology
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples
Reconciliation
Redfern park
speech
Northern
Territory
Intervention
The Apology
United
Nations
Declaration on
the Rights of
Indigenous
people
Take notes in each of the columns from both the textbook and the videos you
will see
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Reconciliation – “coming together”
As an Australian government policy it aims to
achieve justice, recognition and healing
Purpose – has been to help Australians move
forward with a better understanding of the
past and how the past affects the lives of
Indigenous peoples today
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Involves recognition that Indigenous peoples
were the first Australians
Acknowledges how the past impacts their
culture and lives today
Involves both SYMBOLIC and PRACTICAL
approaches
Symbolic
Practical
• Focus on social justice component
• Recognising historical injustice and
Indigenous right such as the formal sorry
in 2008
• Education programs designed to combat
racism and discrimination
• Focus on providing services to address
the inequalities that exist in our society
• Providing funding for the “Close the Gap”
program
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dot 5 - national and international
factors\Create a power-point slide that
includes the national.pptx
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Look up the bringing them home report and
take notes!
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http://www.indigenousrights.net.au/section.a
sp?sID=11 – National museum Australia
https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/pages/View.
aspx?id=fb556f1b-9e22-42d1-b8f6a46aa227f897 - FUSE