Everything about Australian Aborigine totally explained
|pop1 = 138,505
|ref1 =
|region2 =
|pop2 = 127,578
|ref2 =
|region3 =
|pop3 = 58,711
|ref3 =
|region4 =
|pop4 = 53,662
|ref4 =
|region5 =
|pop5 = 30,141
|ref5 =
|region6 =
|pop6 = 25,557
|ref6 =
|region7 =
|pop7 = 16,767
|ref7 =
|region8 =
|pop8 = 3,873
|ref8 =
|region9 = Other regions
|pop9 = 233
|ref9 =
|rels=Primarily
Christian, with minorities of other religions including various forms of Traditional belief systems based around the
Dreamtime
|langs=Several hundred
Indigenous Australian languages (many extinct or nearly so),
Australian English,
Australian Aboriginal English,
Torres Strait Creole,
Kriol
|related=
see List of Indigenous Australian group names
}}
Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the
Australian continent and its nearby islands. The term includes both the
Torres Strait Islanders and the
Aboriginal People, who together make up about 2.4% of Australia's modern population. The latter term is usually used to refer to those who live in mainland Australia,
Tasmania, and some of the other
adjacent islands. The Torres Strait Islanders are indigenous to the
Torres Strait Islands between Australia and
New Guinea. Indigenous Australians are recognized to have arrived between 70,000 and 40,000 years ago, though the lower end of this range (50,000 BC) has wider acceptance.
The term
Indigenous Australians encompasses many different communities and societies, and these are further divided into local communities with unique cultures. Although there are over 250 spoken languages, fewer than 200 of the languages of these groups remain in use — all but 20 are considered to be endangered. It is estimated that prior to the arrival of British settlers the population of Indigenous Australians was approximately 318,000 - 750,000 across the continent. The distribution of people was similar to that of the current Australian population, with the majority living in the south east centred along the
Murray River.
Definitions
Although the culture and lifestyle of Aboriginal groups have much in common, Aboriginal society isn't a single entity. The communities have different modes of subsistence, cultural practices, languages, and technologies. However, these peoples also share a larger set of traits, and are otherwise seen as being broadly related. A collective identity as Indigenous Australians is recognised and exists along names from the indigenous languages which are commonly used to identify groups based on regional geography and other affiliations. These include:
Koori (or
Koorie) in
New South Wales and
Victoria (
Victorian Aborigines);
Murri in
Queensland;
Noongar in southern
Western Australia;
Yamatji in Central Western Australia;
Wangkai in the Western Australian
Goldfields;
Nunga in southern
South Australia;
Anangu in northern South Australia, and neighbouring parts of
Western Australia and
Northern Territory;
Yapa in western central Northern Territory;
Yolngu in eastern
Arnhem Land (NT) and
Palawah (or
Pallawah) in
Tasmania.
These larger groups may be further subdivided; for example, Anangu (meaning a person from Australia's central desert region) recognises localised subdivisions such as Pitjantjatjara,
Yankunytjatjara,
Ngaanyatjarra,
Luritja and
Antikirinya.
The term "blacks" has often been applied to Indigenous Australians. This owes rather more to
racial stereotyping than
ethnology, as it categorises Indigenous Australians with the other
black peoples of
Asia and
Africa. In the 1970s, many Aboriginal activists, such as
Gary Foley proudly embraced the term "black", and writer
Kevin Gilbert's groundbreaking book from the time was entitled
Living Black. In recent years young Indigenous Australians — particularly in urban areas — have increasingly adopted aspects of black American and
Afro-Caribbean culture, creating what has been described as a form of "black transnationalism."
Aboriginal Australians
The word, appearing in
English since at least the 17th century and meaning "first or earliest known, indigenous," (Latin
Aborigines, from
ab: from, and
origo: origin, beginning), has been used in Australia to describe its Indigenous peoples as early as 1789. It soon became capitalised and employed as the common name to refer to all Indigenous Australians. Strictly speaking, "Aborigine" is the noun and "Aboriginal" the adjectival form; however the latter is often also employed to stand as a noun. Note that the use of "Aborigine(s)" or "Aboriginal(s)" in this sense, for example as a noun, has acquired negative, even derogatory connotations among some sectors of the community, who regard it as insensitive, and even offensive. The more acceptable and correct expression is "Aboriginal Australians" or "Aboriginal people", though even this is sometimes regarded as an expression to be avoided because of its historical associations with colonialism. "Indigenous Australians" has found increasing acceptance, particularly since the 1980s.
Torres Strait Islanders
The
Torres Strait Islanders possess a heritage and cultural history distinct from Aboriginal traditions; the eastern Torres Strait Islanders in particular are related to the Papuan peoples of
New Guinea, and speak a
Papuan language(External Link
). Accordingly, they're not generally included under the designation "Aboriginal Australians." This has been another factor in the promotion of the more inclusive term "Indigenous Australians".
Languages
The
Indigenous languages of mainland Australia and Tasmania have not been shown to be related to any languages outside Australia. In the late 18th century, there were anywhere between 350 and 750 distinct groupings and a similar number of languages and dialects. At the start of the 21st century, fewer than 200 Indigenous Australian languages remain in use and all but about 20 of these are highly endangered. Linguists classify mainland Australian languages into two distinct groups, the
Pama-Nyungan languages and the non-Pama Nyungan. The Pama-Nyungan languages comprise the majority, covering most of Australia, and are a family of related languages. In the north, stretching from the Western
Kimberley to the
Gulf of Carpentaria, are found a number of groups of languages which have not been shown to be related to the Pama-Nyungan family or to each other: these are known as the non-Pama-Nyungan languages. While it has sometimes proven difficult to work out familial relationships within the Pama-Nyungan language family many Australianist linguists feel there has been substantial success. Against this some linguists, such as
R. M. W. Dixon, suggest that the Pama-Nyungan group, and indeed the entire Australian linguistic area, is rather a
sprachbund, or group of languages having very long and intimate contact, rather than a
genetic linguistic phylum.
Given their long occupation of Australia, it has been suggested that Aboriginal languages form one specific sub-grouping. Certainly, similarities in the
phoneme set of Aboriginal languages throughout the continent are suggestive of a common origin. A common feature of many Australian languages is that they display mother-in-law languages, special speech registers used only in the presence of certain close relatives. The position of Tasmanian languages is unknown, and it's also unknown whether they comprised one or more than one specific language family.
History
The general
consensus among scholars for the arrival of humans in Australia is placed at 40,000 to 50,000 years ago with a possible range of up to 70,000 years ago. The earliest human remains found to date are that of
Mungo Man which have been dated at about 40,000 years old. At the time of first European contact, it has been estimated the absolute minimum pre-1788 population was 315,000, while recent archaeological finds suggest that a population of 750,000 could have been sustained. The mode of life and material cultures varied greatly from region to region. The greatest
population density was to be found in the southern and eastern regions of the continent, the
Murray River valley in particular.
British colonisation of Australia began in
Sydney in 1788. The most immediate consequence of British settlement - within weeks of the first colonists' arrival - was a wave of
Old World epidemic diseases.
Smallpox alone killed more than 50% of the Aboriginal population living in the vicinity of Sydney. The second consequence of British settlement was appropriation of land and water resources. The combination of
disease, loss of land and direct violence reduced the Aboriginal population by up to 80% between 1788 and 1900.
A wave of massacres and resistance followed the frontier of British settlement. By the 1870s all the fertile areas of Australia had been appropriated, and Indigenous communities reduced to impoverished remnants living either on the fringes of cities and towns or on lands considered unsuitable for settlement. Many Indigenous people adapted to European culture, working as stock hands or labourers. Atrocities continued. "The white station owners would go on regular hunts for Aborigines. 'Instead of having a kangaroo hunt, we'll have an Aboriginal hunt'. They would go out and shoot them, men, women and children'". With the exception of a few in the remote interior, all surviving Indigenous communities gradually became dependent on the settler population for their livelihood. By the early 20th century the Indigenous population had declined to an estimated 150,000 from 190,000.
Commonwealth legislation in 1962 specifically gave Aborigines the right to vote in Commonwealth elections.
The
1967 referendum allowed the Commonwealth to make laws with respect to Aboriginal people, and for Aboriginal people to be included when the country does a count to determine electoral representation.
In the controversial 1971
Gove land rights case, Justice Blackburn ruled that Australia had been
terra nullius before British settlement, and that no concept of
native title existed in Australian law. In 1972, the
Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established on the steps of
Parliament House in
Canberra. In 1992, the
High Court of Australia handed down its decision in the
Mabo Case, declaring the previous legal concept of
terra nullius to be invalid.
In 2004, the Australian Government abolished the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (
ATSIC), which had been Australia's peak Indigenous organisation. The abolition of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission occurred soon after rape allegations were brought against its chairman
Geoff Clark.
On 13 February 2008 prime minister Kevin Rudd issued a public apology to members of the
Stolen Generation on behalf of the Australian government.
Culture
There are a large number of
tribal divisions and
language groups in Aboriginal
Australia, and, corresponding to this, a wide variety of diversity exists within cultural practices. However, there are some similarities between cultures.
Belief systems
Religious demography among Indigenous Australians isn't conclusive because the methodology of the census isn't always well-suited to obtaining accurate information on Aboriginal people. The 1996 census reported that almost 72 percent of Aborigines practiced some form of Christianity; 16 percent listed no religion. The 2001 census contained no comparable, updated data. There has also been an increase in the number of followers of Islam among the Indigenous Australian community. This growing community includes high-profile members such as the boxer,
Anthony Mundine. (See
Islam in Australia).
In the world's oldest continent the creative epoch known as the
Dreamtime stretches back into a remote era in history when the creator ancestors known as the First Peoples travelled across the great southern land of
Bandaiyan (Australia), creating and naming as they went.
Indigenous Australia's
oral tradition and religious values are based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this
Dreamtime. The Dreaming is at once both the ancient time of creation and the present day reality of Dreaming. There were a great many different groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and language. These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and evolved over time. Major Ancestral spirits include the
Rainbow Serpent,
Baiame, and
Bunjil. The
Yowie and
Bunyip are also well known Ancestral beings.
One version of the Dreaming story runs as follows:
The whole world was asleep. Everything was quiet, nothing moved, nothing grew. The animals slept under the earth. One day the rainbow snake woke up and crawled to the surface of the earth. She pushed everything aside that was in her way. She wandered through the whole country and when she was tired she coiled up and slept. So she left her tracks. After she'd been everywhere she went back and called the frogs. When they came out their tubby stomachs were full of water. The rainbow snake tickled them and the frogs laughed. The water poured out of their mouths and filled the tracks of the rainbow snake. That's how rivers and lakes were created. Then grass and trees began to grow and the earth filled with life.
Music
yirdaki or
didgeridoo is commonly considered the national instrument of Aboriginal people, and it's claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument. However, it was traditionally only played by
Arnhem Land people, such as the
Yolngu, and then only by the men. It has possibly been used by the people of the
Kakadu region for 1500 years.
Clapping sticks are probably the more ubiquitous musical instrument, especially because they help maintain the rhythm for the song. Much contemporary Aboriginal music is predominantly of the
country music genre. Most indigenous radio stations - particularly in metropolitan areas - serve a double purpose as the local country music station. An example is 4AAA in
Brisbane. More recently,
Indigenous Australian musicians have branched into
rock and roll, hip hop and reggae. One of the most well known modern bands is
Yothu Yindi playing in a style which has been called
Aboriginal rock.
Art
Australia has a tradition of Aboriginal art which is thousands of years old, the best known forms being rock art and
bark painting. These paintings usually consist of paint using earthly colours, specifically, from paint made from ochre. Traditionally, Aborigines have painted stories from their dreamtime.
Modern Aboriginal artists continue the tradition using modern materials in their artworks. Aboriginal art is the most internationally recognisable form of Australian art. Several styles of Aboriginal art have developed in modern times including the watercolour paintings of
Albert Namatjira; the
Hermannsburg School, and the acrylic
Papunya Tula "dot art" movement. Painting is a large source of income for some Central Australian communities such as at
Yuendumu today.
Australian Aboriginal poetry is found throughout Australia. It ranges from the sacred to the every day. Ronald M Berndt has published traditional Aboriginal song-poetry in his book "Three Faces of Love", Nelson 1976. R.M.W. Dixon and M. Duwell have published two books dealing with sacred and every day poetry- "The Honey Ant men's love song" and "Little Eva at Moonlight Creek", University of Queensland Press, 1994".
Traditional recreation
The Djabwurrung and Jardwadjali people of western Victoria once participated in the traditional game of
Marn Grook, a type of
football played with
possum hide.
The game is believed by some to have inspired
Tom Wills, inventor of the code of
Australian rules football, a popular Australian winter sport. The Wills family had strong links to indigenous people and Wills coached the first Australian cricket side to tour England, the
Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868. Similarities between Marn Grook and Australian football include the unique skill of jumping to catch the ball or high "marking", which results in a free kick. The word "mark" may have originated in "mumarki", which is "an Aboriginal word meaning catch" in a dialect of a Marn Grook playing tribe however most likely the word 'mark' originated from rugby which Tom Wills played and adopted a lot of elements from for Aussie Rules.Indeed, Aussie Rules has seen many indigenous players at elite football, and have produced some of the most exciting and skillful to play the modern game. In 2006, approximately one in ten AFL players were of indigenous origin.
The contribution the Aboriginal people have made to the game is recognised by the annual AFL "Dreamtime at the 'G" match at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground between
Essendon and
Richmond football clubs (the colours of the two clubs combine to form the colours of the
Aboriginal flag, and many great players have come from these clubs, including Essendon's
Michael Long and Richmond's
Maurice Rioli).
Testifying to this abundance of indigenous talent, the
Aboriginal All-Stars are an AFL-level all-Aboriginal football side competes against any one of the
Australian Football League's current football teams in pre-season tests.
The
Clontarf Foundation and football academy is just one organisation aimed at further developing aboriginal football talent. The
Tiwi Bombers began playing in the
Northern Territory Football League and became the first and only all-Aboriginal side to compete in a major Australian competition.
The first Aboriginal to captain any Australian national sports team was
Arthur Beetson, a Queensland rugby league player.
Australian Aborigines have a strong presence in rugby league in Australia.
Issues facing Indigenous Australians today
The Indigenous Australian population is a mostly urbanised demographic, but a substantial number (27%) live in remote settlements often located on the site of former church
missions. The health and economic difficulties facing both groups are substantial. Both the remote and urban populations have adverse ratings on a number of social indicators, including health, education, unemployment, poverty and crime. In 2004 former Prime Minister
John Howard initiated contracts with Aboriginal communities, where substantial financial benefits are available in return for commitments such as ensuring children wash regularly and attend school. These contracts are known as Shared Responsibility Agreements. This saw a political shift from 'self determination' for Aboriginal communities to 'mutual obligation', which has been criticised as a "paternalistic and dictatorial arrangement". The "Mutual Obligation" concept was introduced for all Australians in receipt of welfare benefits and who are not disabled or elderly. Notably, just prior to a
federal election being called, John Howard in a Speech at the
Sydney Institute on October 11 2007 acknowledged some of the failures of the previous policies of his government and said "We must recognise the distinctiveness of Indigenous identity and culture and the right of Indigenous people to preserve that heritage. The crisis of Indigenous social and cultural disintegration requires a stronger affirmation of Indigenous identity and culture as a source of dignity, self-esteem and pride."
Stolen Generations
On
February 13,
2008, the federal government of Australia, led by
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, issued a formal apology to the Indigenous Australians over the
Stolen Generations,
Health
In 2002 data collected on health status reported that Indigenous Australians were twice as likely as non-indigenous people to report their health as fair/poor and one-and-a-half times more likely to have a disability or long-term health condition (after adjusting for demographic structures). In 1996-2001, the life expectancy of an Indigenous Australian was 59.4 years for males and, in 2004-05, 65.0 years for females, approximately 17 years lower than the Australian average.
Health problems with the highest disparity (compared with the non-Indigenous population) in incidence are outlined in the table below:
| Health problem |
Comparative incidence rate |
Comment |
| Dementia |
26-fold |
26 times more likely to develop dementia than the rest of the Australian population and in some cases, an earlier onset of symptoms |
| Circulatory system diseases |
2 to 10-fold |
5 to 10-fold increase in rheumatic heart disease and hypertensive disease, 2-fold increase in other heart disease, 3-fold increase in death from circulatory system disorders. Circulatory system diseases account for 24% of total indigenous deaths |
| Diabetes |
3 to 4-fold |
11% incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in Indigenous Australians, 3% in non-Indigenous population. 7 to 10 times more deaths in Aboriginals from diabetes than expected. 18% of total indigenous deaths |
| Chronic kidney disease |
2 to 3-fold |
2 to 3-fold increase in listing on the dialysis and transplant registry, up to 30-fold increase in end stage renal disease, 8-fold increase in death rates from kidney disease, 2.5% of total indigenous deaths |
| Neoplasms (Cancer) |
60% increase in death rate |
60% increased death rate from cancers. In 1999-2003, neoplasms accounted for 17% of all Aboriginal deaths |
| Respiratory disease |
3 to 4-fold |
3 to 4-fold increased death rate from respiratory disease accounting for 8% of total indigenous deaths |
| Communicable diseases |
Up to 70-fold |
10-fold increase in tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C virus, 20-fold increase in Chlamydia, 40-fold increase in Shigellosis and Syphilis, 70-fold increase in Gonococcal infections |
| External Causes |
3-fold increase in fatalities |
Of Indigenous fatal injuries, 24% are from suicide, 26% from motor vehicle accidents and 17% from assault. Combined, external causes account for 16% of all Indigenous deaths |
| Vision problems |
2-fold |
A 2-fold increase in cataracts |
| Oral health |
2-fold increase |
2-fold increase in children with dental decay |
| Mental health |
2 to 5-fold |
5-fold increase in drug-induced mental disorders, 2-fold increase in schizophrenia, 2 to 3-fold increase in suicide, 3-fold increase in death rate |
| Infant mortality |
2 to 3-fold |
Over the period 1999-2003, in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, the national infant mortality rate for Indigenous infants was three times the rate for non-Indigenous infants |
Each of these indicators is expected to underestimate the true prevalence of disease in the Indigenous population due to reduced levels of diagnosis.
The following factors have been at least partially implicated in the racial inequality in life expectancy:
- poverty (low income)
- poor education
- substance abuse (smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, glue, petrol
- for remote communities poor access to health services including immunisation
- for urbanised Indigenous Australians, social pressures which prevent access to health services
- cultural differences resulting in poor communication between Indigenous Australians and health workers.
- exposure to violence or other types of abuse
Additional problems are created by the reluctance of many rural indigenous people to leave their homelands to access medical treatment in larger urban areas, particularly when they've need for on-going treatments such as dialysis. However, in some categories of health problems, Aboriginal people living in remote areas have better health outcomes than those in urban areas. The difference is particularly striking in mental health -- living on traditional lands appears to produce better mental health outcomes.
Successive Federal Governments have responded to the problem by implementing programs such as the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (
OATSIH). There have been some small successes, such as the reduction of infant mortality since the 1970s (down to twice the non-Indigenous levels in 1996-2001), effected by bringing health services into indigenous communities, but on the whole the problem remains unsolved.
According to Western Australian Office of Aboriginal Health Abriginal Australians face a large number of health issues due to their living conditions. In Western Australia, respiratory, gastrointestinal, infectious and parasitic diseases are disproportionately higher among Aboriginal people, especially the young. Factors that put Aboriginal people, especially those residing in rural and remote areas at a higher risk of poor health are related to inadequate housing or harmful levels of community or personal hygiene. A survey of communities in Western Australia reported large problems with water supply and sanitation problems, overcrowding and substandard housing, waste-water disposal problems and the absence of rubbish disposal that resulted in a high prevalence of vermin and pests and a lack of personal hygiene (ABS & AIHW, 2003). Other factors include poor nutrition, obesity, substance abuse and exposure to violence.
Education
Indigenous students as a group leave school earlier, and live with a lower standard of education, compared with their non-indigenous peers. Although the situation is slowly improving (with significant gains between 1994 and 2004), both the levels of participation in education and training among Indigenous Australians and their levels of attainment remain well below those of non-Indigenous Australians.
39% of indigenous students stayed on to year 12 at high school, compared with 75% for the Australian population as a whole. ABS
22% of indigenous adults had a vocational or higher education qualification, compared with 48% for the Australian population as a whole. ABS
4% of Indigenous Australians held a bachelor degree or higher, compared with 21% for the population as a whole. While this fraction is increasing, it's increasing at a slower rate than that for non-Indigenous Australians. ABS
In response to this problem, the Commonwealth Government formulated a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. A number of government initiatives have resulted, some of which are listed by the Commonwealth Government's Indigenous Education page.
Crime
An Indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than a non-Indigenous Australian, and in June 2004, 21% of prisoners in Australia were Indigenous. This over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prisons was drawn to public attention by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Violent crime, including domestic and sexual abuse, is a problem in many communities. Indigenous Australians are twice as likely to be a victim of violence than non-Indigenous Australians,. In May, 2006, Alice Springs crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers publicly declared child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities a "National problem". Australia-wide, Indigenous Australian children are 20-fold overrepresented in the juvenile corrective service and 20-fold more likely to be involved in child abuse and neglect cases.
In August 2007, the government announced the Northern Territory National Emergency Response, a package of welfare reform, law enforcement and other measures designed to address endemic levels of child abuse in the Northern Territory. Legislation was rushed through Parliament in support of the measures. Critics of the Intervention claim that it doesn't address the problem, but reduces land rights of the Aboriginal communities. Others supported the tough stance on child abuse.
Unemployment and housing
According to the 2001 Census, an Indigenous Australian is almost three times more likely to be unemployed (20.0% unemployment) than a non-Indigenous Australian (7.6%). The difference isn't solely due to the increased proportion of Indigenous Australians living in rural communities, for unemployment is higher in Indigenous Australian populations living in urban centres (Source: ABS). The average household income for Indigenous Australian populations is 60% of the non-Indigenous average.. Indigenous Australians are 6-fold more likely to be homeless, 15-fold more likely to be living in improvised dwellings, and 25-fold more likely to be living with 10 or more people.
Substance abuse
Many Indigenous communities suffer from a range of health and social problems associated with substance abuse of both legal and illegal drugs. This is due to a lack of awareness and services available.
Alcohol consumption within Indigenous communities is seen as a significant issue, as are the domestic violence and associated issues resulting from the behaviour such as incest and gang rape. A large 2004-05 health survey by the ABS found that the proportion of the Indigenous adult population engaged in 'risky' and 'high-risk' alcohol consumption (15%) was comparable with that of the non-Indigenous population (14%), based on age-standardised data.
One study by the Australian National Commission on Drugs (ANCD) published in 2002 attributes the "public misperception of high alcohol use [inIndigenous communities]" to "the disproportionate level of harm caused (to the individual and community) by those drinking at very high levels in public" (ANCD 2002:p.2). Even so, other studies have indicated that those in the Indigenous communities who do drink excessively are at greater risk of harm (to themselves and others) than similar-level alcohol consumers in the wider population
To combat the problem, a number of programs to prevent or mitigate against alcohol abuse have been attempted in different regions, many initiated from within the communities themselves. These strategies include such actions as the declaration of "Dry Zones" within indigenous communities, prohibition and restriction on point-of-sale access, and community policing and licensing.
Some communities (particularly in the Northern Territory) introduced kava as a safer alternative to alcohol, as over-indulgence in kava produces sleepiness, in contrast to the violence that can result from over-indulgence in alcohol. These and other measures met with variable success, and while a number of communities have seen decreases in associated social problems caused by excessive drinking, others continue to struggle with the issue and it remains an ongoing concern. The ANCD study notes that in order to be effective, programs in general need also to address "...the underlying structural determinants that have a significant impact on alcohol and drug misuse" (Op. cit., p.26). In 2007, Kava was banned in the Northern Territory.
Petrol sniffing is also a problem among some remote Indigenous communities. Petrol vapour produces euphoria and dulling effect in those who inhale it, and due to its relatively low price and widespread availability, is an increasingly popular substance of abuse. Proposed solutions to the problem are a topic of heated debate among politicians and the community at large.
In 2005 this problem among Aboriginal communities was considered so serious that a new petrol Opal was distributed across the Northern Territory to combat it. Opal petrol doesn't give the 'high' that regular petrol does.
Political representation
Under Section 41 of the Australian Constitution Aboriginals always had the legal right to vote in Australian Commonwealth elections if their State granted them that right. This meant that all Aborigines outside Queensland and Western Australia had a legal right to vote. Indigenous Australians gained the unqualified right to vote in Federal elections in 1962. It wasn't until 1967 that they were counted in the population for the purpose of distribution of electoral seats. Only two Indigenous Australians have been elected to the Australian Parliament, Neville Bonner (1971-1983) and Aden Ridgeway (1999-2005). There are currently no Indigenous Australians in the Australian Parliament.
ATSIC, the representative body of Aborigine and Torres Strait Islanders, was set up in 1990 under the Hawke government. In 2004, the Howard government disbanded ATSIC and replaced it with an appointed network of 30 Indigenous Coordination Centres that administer Shared Responsibility Agreements and Regional Partnership Agreements with Aboriginal communities at a local level.
In October 2007, just prior to the calling of a federal election, the then Prime Minister, John Howard, advocated a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution. Reaction to his surprising adoption of the importance of the symbolic aspects of the reconciliation process, was mixed. The ALP supported the idea. Some sections of the Australian public and media (External Link) suggested it was a cynical attempt in the lead-up to an election to whitewash Mr Howard's poor handling of this issue during his term in office. David Ross (Central Land Council) said "its a new skin for an old snake." (ABC radio 12 October 2007)
Mainland Australia
Groups and communities
Throughout the history of the continent, there have been many different Aboriginal groups, each with their own individual language, culture, and belief structure.
At the time of British settlement there were over 200 distinct languages.
There are an indeterminate number of Indigenous communities, comprised of several hundred groupings.
Some communities, cultures or groups may be inclusive of others and alter or overlap; significant changes have occurred in the generations after colonisation.
The word 'community' is often used to describe groups identifying by kinship, language or belonging to a particular place or 'country'.
A community may draw on separate cultural values and individuals can conceivably belong to a number of communities within Australia, identification within them may be adopted or rejected.
An individual community may identify itself by many names, each of which can have alternate English spellings. The largest Aboriginal communities, the Pitjantjatjara, the Arrernte, the Luritja and the Warlpiri are all from Central Australia.
Tiwi Islands and Groote Eylandt
The Tiwi islands are inhabited by the Tiwi, an Aboriginal people culturally and linguistically distinct from those of Arnhem Land on the mainland just across the water. They number around 2,500. Groote Eylandt belongs to the Anindilyakwa Aboriginal people, and is part of the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve.
Tasmania
The Tasmanian Aborigines are thought to have first crossed into Tasmania approximately 40,000 years ago via a land bridge between the island and the rest of mainland Australia during an ice age. The original population, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 people, was reduced to a population of around 300 between 1803 and 1833 often due to the actions of British settlers. Almost all of the Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples today are descendants of two women: Fanny Cochrane Smith and Dolly Dalrymple. A woman named Truganini, who died in 1876, is generally considered to be the last first-generation tribal Tasmanian Aborigine while Fanny Cochrane Smith, who died in 1905, is recognised as the last of the Tasmanian Aboriginals.
Torres Strait Islanders
Six per cent of Indigenous Australians identify themselves fully as Torres Strait Islanders. A further 4% of Indigenous Australians identify themselves as having both Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal heritage.
More than 100 islands make up the Torres Strait Islands where they come from. There are 6,800 Torres Strait Islanders who live in the area of the Torres Strait, and 42,000 others who live outside of this area, mostly in the north of Queensland, such as in the coastal cities of Townsville and Cairns. Many organisations to do with Indigenous people in Australia are named "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander", showing the importance of Torres Strait Islanders in Australia's indigenous population. The islands were annexed by Queensland in 1879. defined 'An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is a person 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 or she lives'. This decision legally established that anyone who has a drop of Aboriginal blood can classify himself as an Aboriginal if he's accepted as such by his community. However, there's no formal procedure for any community to record acceptance, so the only method of determining indigenous population is from self-identification on census forms. There is no provision on the forms to differentiate full from part indigenous.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005 snapshot of Australia shows the indigenous population has grown at twice the rate of the overall population since 1996 when the indigenous population stood at 283,000. As at June 2001, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated the total resident indigenous population to be 458,520 (2.4% of Australia's total), 90% of whom identified as Aboriginal, 6% Torres Strait Islander and the remaining 4% being of dual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parentage. Much of the increase since 1996 can be attributed to higher rates of people identifying themselves as Aborigines and changed definitions of aboriginality.
The preliminary census of Indigenous estimated resident population of Australia, at 30 June 2006, is 517,200.
In the 2001 census the Aboriginal population in different States was:
New South Wales - 134,888
Queensland - 125,910
Western Australia - 65,931
Northern Territory - 56,875
Victoria - 27,846
South Australia - 25,544
Tasmania - 17,384
ACT - 3,909
Other Territories - 233
While the State with the largest total Aboriginal population is New South Wales, as a percentage this constitutes only 2.1% of the overall population of the State. The Northern Territory has the largest Aboriginal population in percentage terms for a State or Territory, with 28.8%. All the other States and Territories have less than 4% of their total populations identifying as Aboriginal; Victoria has the lowest percentage (0.6%).
In 2001 about 30% of the Aboriginal population was living in major cities (a decrease from the 46% living in urban areas in 1971) and another 43% in or close to rural towns. The populations in the eastern states are more likely to be urbanised sometimes in city communities such as at Redfern in Sydney.
Prominent Indigenous Australians
Arthur Beetson, former captain of the Australian national rugby league team, the first aboriginal to captain any Australian sporting team.
Neville Bonner, member of the Australian Senate
Ernie Bridge, first Aboriginal Member of the WA Parliament and the first Aboriginal person to be appointed a Cabinet Minister in any Parliament in Australia.
Ernie Dingo, comedian, actor and presenter
Mark Ella, rugby union player
Cathy Freeman, Olympic athlete
Jason Gillespie, Cricketer
Adam Goodes, dual Brownlow Medallist
Evonne Goolagong, winner of seven Grand Slam tennis events
David Gulpilil, actor
Eddie Kneebone, 2001 Pax Christi International Peace Prize
Andrew McLeod, Australian rules footballer, dual Norm Smith Medallist and captain of the Australian team
Marcia Langton, public intellectual
Vincent Lingiari, Aboriginal rights activist
Michael Long, Australian rules footballer and political activist
John Moriarty, Artist, government advisor, founder of the Balarinji Design Studio, soccer player
Anthony Mundine, former rugby league player and boxing champion
Albert Namatjira, painter
Sir Douglas Nicholls, Australian rules footballer, clergyman and Governor of South Australia,
Oodgeroo Noonuccal, poet, author, playwright, civil rights activist, educator
Lowitja O'Donoghue, nurse and activist
Noel Pearson, public intellectual
Charles Perkins, soccer player, sports administrator and civil rights activist
Aden Ridgeway, member of the Australian Senate
Maurice Rioli, Australian rules footballer, Norm Smith Medallist and politician
Lionel Rose boxer, former world champion
Gavin Wanganeen, Australian rules footballer and Brownlow Medallist
Mandawuy Yunupingu, singer and songwriter
Deborah Mailman, first Aboriginal actor to win the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleFurther Information
Get more info on 'Australian Aborigine'.
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