Reading into which architecture and sites our society and government decides to conserve and protect for future generations reflects our very own beliefs and values. Recently history shows that indigenous sacred sites have not been protected by the heritage conservation act causing much distress and outcry from the indigenous communities. In 2014, burials and sacred sites were desecrated for Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Mine, in New South Wales. The Gomeroi Traditional Custodians believed that Whitehaven Coal Mine destroyed 4000 acres of “Culturally significant forest, artefacts and cultural values,” and instead of the government addressing and assessing the elders concerns, they were “ignored and silenced by bureaucracy.” To this indigenous …show more content…
This may be due to a predominant Christian population in our post-colonial history, leading to perceive our heritage and values to have derived from that of the British Christian church. Perhaps it’s easier to value, what one understands. Those who governed Australia during the colonization were from a British Christian background and thus this religion has been passed down generations. However Australia’s true heritage and original history began long before the colonialization. The Dreamtime legends which form the basis of Indigenous religion and culture have been practiced on Australian soil for more than 65000 years. The disregard for the indigenous sacred sites and how they, “Weren’t given the opportunity to voice our concerns at the end of the day,” shows a lack of respect when the concern isn’t held by the majority or more specifically, isn’t held by those in power and creates a society with a racial or unequal dynamic. For this reason, Indigenous leaders need to be represented in the government and groups forming heritage and conservation …show more content…
The world is changing more rapidly than ever, and with an economy so dependent on the mining industry, the pursuit of the Whitehaven coal site resembles a political financial decision over a moral one. When those with money and power can manipulate conservation policies, it reveals a society who cares more about financial gain than a connection to their heritage. Once fully functioning, the mine will be create around 450 jobs for local residents and can “extract up to 13Mt of coal per annum” There has been change to the Western Australian Heritage laws in July 2013 that state,” there must be evidence of religious activity to qualify it as a ‘sacred site’” new guideline means that Australian heritage is at risk of being destroyed by mining sites. The Burrup Peninsula, in the Dampier Archipelago, the world’s oldest and largest collection of rock art, falls amongst one of these sights no longer protected as a sacred site. The Aboriginal petroglyphs, although being listed in the ‘top 100 most endangered heritage places on the planet,’ seems to be undervalued by the government who has done little to protect this incredible heritage site and in 2006 it was estimated that “Between 5 and 25% of these unique rock engravings have irrevocably been destroyed by industrial activity already.” More
Rosie Gascoigne, is an artist who has aspired an appreciation for undiserable remnants and utilised with them in purpose to produce an assemblage of work that sees into a reflection of the past and present landscape of Australian society. Her growing motivation has taken further interest and development as the founding layers of her work through her deliberate perception, subject to the preservation of the environment and surrounding landscape. Gascoigne’s work offers an insight into deep country outback life of an Australian individual and introduces conceptualities that mirror a focus situated about ‘re-using’, ‘ recycling’ and understanding the insightful meaning present within everyday remnants. Her work is a collective gathering of selected materials to form a composition or an
Within the Hornsby Shire there are more than 900 landmarks and indicators of the occurrence of an Aboriginal settlement as a result from the local tribe, the Guringai people. A major place of significance is through the up keeping and findings within the ‘Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.’ “Sir Henry Copeland (Australian Politician) named this location after the Aboriginal tribe whilst chase is an English word meaning an enclose land where animals were kept for hunting” (Hornsby Shire Council, n.d.) Throughout the landmark Aboriginal paintings, carvings, engravings, middens...
The contributions and achievements of Indigenous role models continue to make substantial impacts upon our history in areas such as the arts, sport, education, science and more increasingly; the world of Politics. Modern Australia is recognising and celebrating the achievements of Aboriginal people more than ever before, where the social landscape is changing (albeit slowly) as a result. The gradual change of peoples ingrained preconceptions, unfounded ideas and prejudiced notions are being challenged and ultimately transformed.
Of the 8 successful, the 1967 referendum which proposed the removal of the words in section 51 (xxvi) ‘… other than the aboriginal people in any State’ (National Archives of Australia ND), and the deletion of section 127, both, which were discriminative in their nature toward the Aboriginal race, recorded a 90.77% nationwide vote in favour of change (National Archives of Australia, 2014). As a result, the Constitution was altered; highlighting what was believed to be significant positive political change within Indigenous affairs at the time (National Archives of Australia, 2014). Approaching 50 years on, discussion has resurfa...
Baldwin, A. Dwight., Judith De Luce, and Carl Pletsch. Beyond Preservation: Restoring and Inventing Landscapes. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1994. Print.
Discussion Ancient Aboriginals were the first people to set foot on the Australian continent, over 40,000 years or more before colonization (Eckermann, 2010). They survived by hunting and gathering their food, worshipping the land to protect its resources, and ensuring their survival. The aboriginal community has adapted to the environment, building a strong framework of social, cultural, and spiritual beliefs (Eckermann, 2010). Colonisation of Australia began in 1788, when Englishman Captain Cook claimed the land as an empty, uninhabited, continent giving it the classification Terra Nullius and leaving it open to colonization. Eckermann (2010), stated that the English failed to recognise the aboriginal tribes as civilized, co-inhibiters of the land, feeling they had no right to a claim.
Aboriginal spirituality originally derives from the stories of the dreaming. The dreaming is the knowledge and a sense of belonging that the Aboriginals had of the beginning of life and the relationship to the land and sea (Australian Museum, 2011). The dreaming stories are passed on from one generation to the next orally. These stories teach the following generations how to behave towards the land and other people. The dreaming stories give them a sense of duty to protect the land and appreciate it because the dreamtime stories indicate that the spirits have not died but are still alive in different forms as animals or humans, therefore the ancestor’s power is still felt through the landforms (Clark, 1963), (Australian Governement, 2008)
The over-representation of Aboriginal children in the Canadian Child Welfare system is a growing and multifaceted issue rooted in a pervasive history of racism and colonization in Canada. Residential schools were established with the intent to force assimilation of Aboriginal people in Canada into European-Canadian society (Reimer, 2010, p. 22). Many Aboriginal children’s lives have been changed adversely by the development of residential schools, even for those who did not attend them. It is estimated that Aboriginal children “are 6-8 times more likely to be placed in foster care than non-Aboriginal children (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, 2010, p. 2).” Reports have also indicated that First Nations registered Indian children make up the largest proportion of Aboriginal children entering child welfare care across Canada (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, p. 2). Consequently, this has negatively impacted Aboriginal communities experience of and relationship with child welfare services across the country. It is visible that the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in Canada lies in the impact of the Canadian policy for Indian residential schools, which will be described throughout this paper.
Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.
For the first two weeks of my class, I had no idea where I was headed in terms of my learning experience but I soon found out. During the first week we had to define “indigenous identity” which by the way was a foreign language to me. After I determined the meaning of it (because there were so many choices) I settled on the meaning “that what connects a person or people by their culture, race, beliefs and way of life”. I never considered or included myself a part of that definition because I thought it only pertained to people of other nations or countries. Eventually my thoughts and understanding changed. As I stated before my reading “Thinking Like an Anthropologist” Chapter Five, “What was This Practice or Idea Like in the past - The Temporal Question (2008, Omohundro, J.T. ), will be an excellent and informative guide for my research (in which it was). Also having to use Syncretism as a tool allowed me the opportunity to not only research the past but present rituals, beliefs, etc. of African Americans and how much they have changed over the years. Looking through this research as a critic allowed me to broaden my horizons not only about my culture but other cultures that are included in this identity. We were first introduced to two articles: The “Gebusi” and “Body Ritual of the Nacerima”. And I thought their rituals and beliefs were somewhat extreme, but then I realized if they looked at our society and our practices, they could consider the same thing about us. Having said that I decided that as an African-American woman, I was prepared to take that journey into the unknown, to investigate my culture, our accomplishments, and therefore have the ability to share my findings and observations with others. Week after week we w...
Indigenous Australians began to be robbed of their rights and freedoms when the Europeans colonized Australia. Since then, Aboriginal people and Indigenous supporters have taken steps towards equality and reconciliation.
Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal youth in Canada. I will do so by turning to three factors that I think are most important amongst the several factors that may be coming together and playing a role in the high vulnerability to suicide amongst aboriginal youth. I believe this is important because the more accurately we identify causal factors that may be responsible for aboriginal suicide, the more specific suicide prevention programs can be made. This pool of factors must include those that are common to all suicidal behaviour, those that are responsible for suicidal behaviour in marginalized communities and those that might be specific to the history and context of aboriginals in Canada. In this commentary I have chosen one factor from each of these three pools of factors – one, the interpersonal-psychological theory to explain suicide in general; two, loss of self-identity, which could be a leading cause for aboriginal suicide worldwide; and three, the impact of residential schools on the psychological makeup of aboriginals of Ca...
Australia is a very unique place, along with our multiculturalism there is also a strong heritage surrounding us. At first thought of Australian heritage we think about such landmarks as Uluru, The Sydney harbour bridge and The Sydney opera house, The Great Barrier reef and other internationally recognised places. But our heritage goes much deeper than that; it is far more than outstanding icons. Along with these icons there are also unsung places like the old cattle stations, Aboriginal missions, migrant hostels, War memorials, our unique wetlands and the towns and cities we have built. Adding all of these things together, helps to tell the story of who we are and how we have shaped this land in the unique identity it has today.
Indigenous people are those that are native to an area. Throughout the world, there are many groups or tribes of people that have been taken over by the Europeans in their early conquests throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by immigrating groups of individuals, and by greedy corporate businesses trying to take their land. The people indigenous to Australia, Brazil and South America, and Hawaii are currently fighting for their rights as people: the rights to own land, to be free from prejudice, and to have their lands protected from society.
Legislation aimed at protecting New Zealand’s environment and natural resources has been through countless reforms to better tailor it to the various discourses that surround environmental management. In Simin Davoudi’s (2012) reading “Climate Risk and Security: New Meanings of “the Environment” in the English Planning System”, Davoudi discusses that environment can be seen in various different ways, as local amenity, heritage ,landscape ,nature reserve, as a store house of resources, as a tradable commodity, as a problem, as sustainability and as a risk (Davoudi, 2012). Although, Davoudi’s typology relates to aspects of New Zealand’s environmental management paradigms, it fails to include some important aspects such as indigenous and community inclusion. Davoudi’s (2012) typology can provide for future guidance in the discourse surrounding environment as risk.