Indigenous Australian
Culture
Leah Burns
N13 2.16
Ph: 37353649
Leah.Burns@griffith.edu.
au
Outline
• Lecture on
Indigenous
Australians
–
–
–
–
Who they are
What is culture?
History
Key Issues
• Lunch with Gumurrii
Student Support
Unit
“Sausage sizzle”
Readings
• Broome, R. 2001 Aboriginal Australians:
Black responses to white dominance
1788-2001. 3rd Edition. Crows Nest:
Allen and Unwin. Chapter 1.
• First Australians. SBS series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5SCo
2xDO6s
Not Homogenous
Who is an Indigenous
person?
• Descendant of original inhabitants
• Identifies as indigenous person
• Is accepted by the community as such
What is Culture?
• A blue print for the way we live
• The sum total of knowledge, attitudes
and habitual behaviour patterns shared
and transmitted by the members of a
particular society
History
• 2000
generations
• Here at
least 50
000 years
(120 000?)
Lived in Diverse Ecologies
Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyle
• Nomadic
• Simple
technology
• Intimate
knowledge of the
environment
E.g. use of fire
Population
•Population
low density
thought to be stationary
300000, living in 500
tribes
Organisation
• Bands
• Kinship
• Egalitarian
– no specialisation of labour
• Reciprocity and sharing
– no surplus
Religion
•
•
•
•
The Dreaming
The Dreamtime
Sacred sites
Totemism
– Beliefs and practices in which relations
are postulated between people or
groups of people and natural species,
objects or phenomena (Horton
1994:1093).
Some Key Dates
• 1788 Settlement
– (or “invasion”)
•
•
•
•
•
1967 Referendum
1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy
1976 Northern Territory Land Rights Act
1985 Uluru: Co-management
1993 Native Title Act
Native Title
Land Issues
• ABORIGINAL
• Birth
– Descent from owners
– Birth in a place
• Knowledge
• Responsibility
• EUROPEAN
• Cultivation
– Adding value
• Exclusion
• Alienability
Some Key Issues
• Stolen Generation
• Land Rights
• Health
Population
2010
Aborigines and the Law
Aborigines
20 times more likely to be picked up by police
10 to 20 times more likely to be goaled, often for relatively
trivial offences
20 times more likely to die in custody
Explanations
social dislocation
abuse of discretionary powers of police
institutional discrimination
Remedies
reduce numbers in custody (decriminalisation drunkenness,
modified police practice)
reduce risk of death (supervision, monitoring, improved
accommodation)
eradicating underlying causes (economic, educational, land,
health etc.)
The Intervention
The Nature of the Intervention
• Justified by child abuse rates
– (13.7 per 1000, same as Qld nonindigenous)
•
•
•
•
•
Quarantining 50% of welfare payments
Cancellation of CDEP schemes
Cancellation of permit system
Suspension of Racial Discrimination Act
No consultation with communities
The Apology
Multi-choice Questions
1.
Since the arrival of Europeans, the population of Indigenous Australians
a.
has steadily increased
b.
has steadily decreased
c.
decreased at first, but is now thought to be about the same as it was when Europeans arrived
d.
increased at first, but is now lower than it was thought to be when Europeans arrived
2.
A national referendum, at which 89% of all Australians agreed that Aborigines should be included as citizens and
allowed to vote, was held in
a.
1958
b.
1967
c.
1972
d.
1976
2.
Aboriginal culture was undermined by
a.
The introduction of diseases to which Indigenous Australians were not immune
b.
A reduction in population numbers due to fighting with Europeans
c.
Indigenous children being taken from their parents, to be brought up as Europeans in missions
d.
All of the above
4.
a.
b.
c.
d.
5.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The Native Title Act in 1993
Gave Indigenous Australians the right to vote
Gave all land back to Indigenous Australians
Was the legislation under which Uluru was returned to the Indigenous people of Australia
Overturned the notion of ‘terra nullius’ in Australia
The ‘Stolen Generation’ refers to
Indigenous children who were taken from their parents, to be brought up as Europeans in missions
A generation of Indigenous Australians who were not educated
A process of ‘blackbirding’ during which Indigenous Australians were forcibly removed from the country to work
as slave labourers overseas
None of the above
References
Broome, R. 2001 Aboriginal Australians: Black responses to white
dominance 1788-2001. 3rd Edition. Crows Nest: Allen and
Unwin.
Horton, D. (ed) 1994 The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia.
Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Bringing Them Home report 1997
Videos available in the Griffith Library:
SBS. 2008 First Australians.
Mabo: Life of an Island Man
Brisbane Dreaming: An Aboriginal History of Brisbane
Our History: Colonists Arrive
After Mabo
Frontier
Stone Country