The Assimilation Policy and Its Impact on the Indigenous Australian Society

I argue that the ideologies behind The Assimilation Policy were evident since the first white settlers had arrived in 1788. Since first contact, Aboriginal people’s values, customs, beliefs and traditional way of life began to erode. From the 1850s onwards, Aboriginal people were forced onto reserves, and then into towns and cities in the mid 20th century . Many people feared that the ‘Australian’ culture was being affected by immigrants. Since the early 1900s, there had been a ‘White Australia’ policy and assimilation was expected upon arrival. However, Aboriginal people did not immigrate, so their policy, dictated by the Australian States and Commonwealth Government was known as The Policy of Assimilation. Assimilation policies were supported by racist assumptions and represented by settler nationalist imperatives . In the 1950s, assimilation policies for Aboriginal people were supported by the

It is a commonly known issue in Australia that as a minority group, the people of Indigenous Australian ethnicity have always been treated, or at least perceived, differently to those of non-Indigenous disposition. This can be applied to different contexts such as social, economic, education, or in relation to this essay – legal contexts. Generally, Indigenous Australians face issues such as less opportunity for formal education, less access to sufficient income, more health issues, and higher rates of imprisonment (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service

When the European settled in Australia, it impacted on Indigenous people drastically. They deemed the land as Terra Nullius, meaning the land belonged to no one despite the Indigenous people being there first (Treatyrepublic.net, 2014). When the European possessed the land and exposed the Indigenous community to new diseases, it resulted in a vast number of deaths of the Aboriginal people. The minority of Aboriginal people that were left, who were not killed in violent conflict or died during the early decades of colonization, did not go unaffected. In fact, they were the most affected. The key historical socio-economic and political policies and events that impacted Indigenous Australians were segregation, protection and assimilation.

The term terra nullius means “nobody's land” and was what the British colonists declared Australian territory was when they landed on the shores in 1788 (Hollinsworth 2006). Colonists saw upon arrival that Australia was inhabited by Indigenous people, however because of lack of cultivation and societal systems like Europeans had established, they concluded that the land was now ‘owned’ by them and hence no treaty or conquest was required before they could ‘lawfully’ reside on the land.

For the last 200 years Indigenous people have been victims of discrimination, prejudice and disadvantage. Poor education, poor living conditions and general poverty are still overwhelming issues for a large percentage of our people and we remain ‘as a group, the most poverty stricken sector of the working class’ in Australia (Cuthoys 1983).

Kevin Rudd’s apology was to the Aboriginals; but in particular, to the Stolen Generations. From 1909-1969, the Australian Government forced a policy know as assimilation upon the Aboriginals. Assimilation is the forced integration of minority groups onto the dominant society. Inhumane acts were inflicted upon these proud people because of the ‘Aborigines Protection Board’ which entailed that the Australian Government had full rights to forcibly remove half-caste children from Aboriginal care without parental consent nor a court order.

Understanding how the historical factors have influenced Indigenous Australians helps operationalise the sociological imagination. The history of Indigenous people is important as many of the disadvantages they endure today is connected to the past. A historical awareness influences individuals to understand how organisations and institutions impact the health and wellbeing of a minority (Germov, 2002).The existence of Indigenous Australians well begins before the European invasion and colonisation of Australia. Aboriginal people were the native land owners, as they have been in Australia for over 60,000 years, prior to the British settlement in 1788.3 (workingwithindigenousaustralians.info, 2017). Indigenous Australians have been living off

Terra Nullius comes from the Latin word ‘no body’s land’ which is used to describe a piece of land that has not been subjected to the state of sovereignty and is the legal basis of the European settlement of Australia.

In 1967, a landmark event occurred for the Indigenous Community of Australia. They were no longer declared Flora and Fauna This means that Aboriginal people would be considered a part of the landscape and not humans in their own right.. In 1967, a Referendum was held by all members of Australian society voting on the issue of allowing Indigenous Australian to be a part of the census and thereby able to vote and be counted as part of Australia’s population. This achieved not only citizenship for Aboriginal people, but put the issue of Indigenous Rights on both the political and social platforms. This essay will look at the lead up to the Referendum, how Aborigines and their supporters communicated their belief in their rights to the

Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within

Human rights are the rights of humans, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or religion. We should all have this in common as we are all part of humanity. However, Indigenous people did not always have these rights (Ag.gov.au, 2015). Aside from basic human rights, Indigenous people also have their own rights specific to their culture. Before 1967, Indigenous people had different rights in different states and the Australian federal government did not have any jurisdiction over Aboriginal affairs until Australia’s constitution was amended for this purpose in 1967 (Moadoph.gov.au, 2015). Between 1900 and the present time, there have been significant changes to the rights of Indigenous Australians. The effects of the European Settlement on the Indigenous people of Australia have been devastating. When white people began arriving in Australia, the Aboriginal people believed them to be ghosts of ancestor spirits. However, once they realised the settlers were invading their land, the Aborigines became, understandably, hostile (Slater & Parish, 1999, pp.8-11). In 1788, the total Indigenous population was believed to be between 750,000 and one million. By 1888, the Indigenous population was reduced to around 80,000 Australia wide (Korff, 2014). The three main reasons for this dramatic decline were the introduction of new diseases, violent conflicts with the colonisers, and settlers acquiring Indigenous land (Digital, 2015). In 1848, the Board of National Education stated that it

64, Commonwealth of Australia 2011). Policy then moved towards more assimilationist strategies in which attempts were made to convert Aboriginal Australians into ‘responsible citizens’ (Gilbert 2005, Haebich 2000). The protectionist and assimilationist policies share the core values that Aboriginal culture is inferior and on its way to an ‘evolutionary end’ (Gilbert 2005, p. 64).

Australia’s situation regarding the social disadvantage of its Indigenous peoples is not unique, New Zealand, Canada, and the US all have Minority-Indigenous populations, which suffer today due to ill-treatment, and persecution from their colonial masters. Australia is different, in its uniquely negative results. Australian Aboriginals and American-Indians are similar: they were the Aboriginal people of their lands, and their populations were decimated with the advent of colonisation, and became segregated, treated as second-class citizens for decades. And today; even when they are ‘equal’ are still at a major disadvantage in most social outcomes. American-Indians and Australian Aboriginals are different in their level of disadvantage:

The Aboriginal people are one of few indigenous people left in our world. The Aboriginals live in Australia and have, as many indigenous people/groups, been treated badly for years. However they are being treated better now than before, but as an old group with old traditions it is hard to live in the same world as people who do not live by their culture. First in this article Aboriginal history will be compared to present time, succeeded by/before a description of two issues the indigenous people of Australia has to deal with in present time, and lastly there will be a conclusion.

In modern opinion, various events that happened in the Australian history with respect to policies and practices that were implemented on the Aboriginal people would be considered inhumane and totally unacceptable. Here I would like to bring into notice that (here the lacuna is that) any policy or practice that is considered legal at the time of implementation need not be ethically and morally correct. One of the major aspects of Australian history which I will be focusing on is the Assimilation policy and its impact on Aboriginal people and Aboriginal education. Before dwelling into the ‘Assimilation policy’ first I would like to give a brief about the Australian