Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islanders Research Paper

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The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people are the original inhabitants of Australia, and have lived here for more than 40,000 years, some believe even more, before European settlement, when they were free to enjoy and practice their culture without limitation or judgement.
Aboriginal people originally inhabited mainland Australia and the continent's offshore islands. Torres Strait Islanders are named after their original inhabitant, the islands of the Torres Strait, between the tip of Cape York in Queensland and Papua New Guinea. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people are referred to as Indigenous.
(Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d.)
Although there were different tribes or clans throughout the country that had some individual cultural practices, they all shared a culture focussed on a strong spiritual connection to the land, sea and a great sense of community and family. The land was the foundation for their spiritual beliefs, it provided food and nourishment, as well as …show more content…

After Europeans settled here and stole the land from the indigenous tribes of Australia, it became more and more difficult to practice and perform their spiritual traditions as they were denied access to important sacred land sites. As the land was such an integral part of the aboriginal culture, loss of their land was in many ways the robbery of their cultural identity. (Australian Government. 2015)
This simple quote from Aborigine Tom Dystra quoted on the Australian Governments website, sums up the difference between the aboriginal’s cultural view on the land, versus that of other more mainstream cultures, ‘We cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavoured to live with the land; they seemed to live off it. I was taught to preserve, never to destroy.’ (Australian Government.

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