Aborigines in Australia.

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“ABORIGINES IN AUSTRALIA”

Aborigines in Australia

Soc 305 Minority Group Relations

Prof. Kim Cummins

Luis Robles De Jesus

Park University

2004

Outline:

A) Introduction and Overview of the History of the Relationship

     

B) Analysis of the Plight of the Australian Aborigines

  1. Functional Theory
  2. Conflict Theory
  3. Interactive Theory

C. Conclusion

Foreword:

The aborigines in Australia have been the subject of controversy and attention towards the end of the 20th century because of their maltreatment in the hands of their British colonizers and continued persecution in a land they rightfully own. Their rich culture, which dates back to the Ice and Stone Age, is near extinction because of the oppression they suffered through time. In spite of the odds, however, the remaining children of this near extinct but proud race are fighting valiantly to survive and preserve their proof of existence in a world dominated by educated and civilized people.

This essay analyzes the plight of this minority group in three theoretical perspectives namely: Functional Theory, Conflict Theory, and Interactive Theory. A comparison of the circumstances of Australian aborigines with a minority group in the United States, the American Indians, will likewise be discussed in the concluding section.

Overview of the History of the Relationship

The Aborigines arrived in Australia sometime 20,000 to 70,000 years ago and are said to have cross from Indonesia by foot traversing through rough mountain ranges, probably connected with hanging bridges. Anthropologists claim that the aborigines’ physical appearance and way of life approximates that of an extinct era – the Ice and Stone Age. They generally have brown skin, small figure and long thin legs, small head with black and wavy hair, and flat face with wide nose (Riedlinger, 1996).  They were hunters, practically depending on wild animals and plants for food, only equipped with the basic paraphernalia of graving tools, spear, boomerang, wooden shield, grindstones, among others, moving from one area to another in search for “game food” which made them semi-nomadic people. Comprising of some 500 tribes, their culture are linked by totemism, or affinity to an animal, plant or cosmical phenomena, with several tribes belonging to one totem but may have varied languages (Reidlinger, 1996). Hence, social order and relations were based on the specific social rules and laws of the totem in which they belong. In terms of religion, the Aborigines believed that all forms of life came from “Creation Ancestors”, referring to both animal and human kind, and that their spirits linger and dwell on mountains, rocks, and whoever disrespects the land will be turned to rock. Thus, they place reverence on the land because any damages made on it endangers the living and the sacred spirits occupying it. This fact also explains their dependence on what nature can provide rather than disrupting the natural course of nature.

There were about 750,000 aborigines living in harmony until the arrival of Captain Philip in 1788 in Australia on instructions of King George III, along with some 700 prisoners. Their destination was Botany Bay, the identified site for the new convict colony of Great Britain as replacement for the American colony site they maintained when America was still under Britain. While the fleet was ordered by their government to maintain civility and conciliatory measures with natives, if ever there are occupants in the island, the “primitive natives” as they were called, were stripped of their lands on the basis of “terra nullius” (Reidlinger, 1996). This means that since the natives did not have proof of land ownership, they cannot justify their existence and claims on the land, hence, the land is free for everyone because practically the natives do not exist. Thus, the Sydney Cove colony was established through land grabbing with such brutality as even raping their women and mercilessly slaughtering hostile forces, to the extent of wiping whole tribes. In retaliation, the natives fought back by robbing the whites of their provisions – rapidly developing a liking for these items particularly alcohol and drugs.

Over a century (1911) after the settlement, oppression from the white invaders has reduced the population of Aborigines to only 31,000, a mere 4 percent of their original number. From 1788 to 1839, the natives were subjected to various types of oppression, legally shooting them like game in 1828 particularly cattle thieves. Protection legislations began to pour in from 1840 to 1912 due to a renewed scientific interest in the natives, segregating and protecting them from further extinction while assimilation movements followed in the late 1950s to the 1960s. During these periods, the full blood aborigines living in reservations were protected in some ways but their employment and rights to own property were restricted while children sired by non-Aboriginal fathers were separated from their native mothers and given to white families to prevent them from becoming “prostitutes” or “cattle thieves” when they grow up. For instance, the government practically controlled the lives of the aborigines, to the extent of deciding, who they can or cannot marry, where they could and could not live, and forcing them to imbibe the “white man culture”.

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The period of scientific interest with the Australian aborigines (1840-1912) awakened the preservation/protection mode of the British colonizers and strengthened by the enactment of the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act in 1897 (it was renamed Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Act in 1939), which was enforced until 1985 (Tatz 17). At this stage, they were taught the “accepted culture” of the whites – on education, religion, and hygiene. The government-run settlements and Christian-run missions were inaccessible to the whites, isolating them from “temptations” of drugs and alcohol, educating and “Christianizing” them. The missionaries, through their Mission ...

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