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A thesis on aboriginal culture in australia
Australian indigenous history and culture essay
A thesis on aboriginal culture in australia
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On the morning of February 13 2008, Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd made an apology to Australia’s indigenous peoples in the House of Representatives, Parliament House. The apology is more commonly known has the ‘Sorry’ speech as it was an attempt to officially move forward as a nation from the injustice that was the Stolen Generation. The Stolen Generations, occurring from approximately 1905 to 1969, was an endeavour by White Australians to create cultural assimilation and to ultimately force the ideal ‘White Australia.’ In this effort, around 100, 000 aboriginal children, often under 5 years of age and of mixed race, were removed from their families and raised in a white family. Kevin Rudd’s speech was the first time the Australian Government released an official apology to people affected by the policies of the previous governments. The speech, while apologising, is also stating the parliament’s aim to equalise opportunities for all Australians, regardless of their origin. …show more content…
Unlike other well recognised speakers such as Barak Obama or Martin Luther King, Rudd does not approach his topic with power and strength but rather mellow authority. His sensitive and softened manner is created by both his physical position (movement, facial expression and body language) and his placid vocal approach (tone, pace and volume). Kevin Rudd’s tone and stance is non-threatening, thereby, forming a solemn and sympathetic speech that appeals to his audience, the Native Australians who have suffered as a result of the Stolen Generation. Rudd used pauses and stresses to emphasise his key points within the speech, the acknowledgement of hardship and the endeavours for the
Indigenous Australians have faced many changes to their original life style, with numerous policies being brought in. These policies had an incredible affect on how the indigenous Australians lived. The policies inflicted on the indigenous Australians varied widely and had numerous impacts. The policies of assimilation, protection and integration had mainly negative impacts on the community, causing loss of identity, language and religion. The policies of self-determination and reconciliation, had mostly positive effects to the indigenous Australian community, creating a stronger bond between black and white Australians, encouraging the concept of closing the gap between indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians. These policies had an incredible influence on the indigenous Australians life, changing many ways they lived. The policies changed the path of history for all Australians.
In the opening of the speech he uses rhetorical questions like “Who are we?” and “What sort of country do we want to be”. He does this to get us as the audience to connect to his purpose and understand where he as an Indigenous is coming from. He also uses repetition of “Australian Dream” throughout his speech to let the audience remember what his purpose is and to deepen our thoughts about our ‘Australian dream’ and what it really means. Stan Grant uses these techniques and many more to portray his ideas and to clearly get across to the audience's perspective of the ‘Australian
The 2014 Walkley Award winning documentary, "Cronulla Riots: the day that shocked the nation" reveals to us a whole new side of Aussie culture. No more she’ll be right, no more fair go and sadly no more fair dinkum. The doco proved to all of us (or is it just me?) that the Australian identity isn’t really what we believe it to be. After viewing this documentary
Eddie Mabo’s success at land rights has reshaped and rewrote Australian society and history. Mabo was born a Torres Strait Islander and a member of the Meriam people on Murray (Mer) Island, 1936. He went on to be an Indigenous community leader and human rights activist after marrying Bonita Nehow in 1959 and joining the Torres Strait Islander community, consequently becoming director of the Townsville Black Community School in 1973. Patrick Hatch, reporter for Herald Sun Newspaper 2013, reiterated Mabo’s reaction once told his land on Mer belonged to the Crown and not his family by Professor’s Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, co-workers from James Cook University where Mabo worked as a gardener in 1974. “Everybody kn...
Both Keating’s and Rudd’s speeches are firmly based on the ideas of recognition and reconciliation for the wrongs that European settlers, and their decedents, have inflicted on Indigenous Australians. To explore this idea I believe that it is necessary to take a closer look at both the plight of Eddie Mabo and the stories of the Stolen Generation.
The struggle endured to achieve rights and freedoms changed peoples opinions. Inspired by the story, songwriter Paul Kelly wrote the song From Little Things, Big Things Grow, which tells the story of the walk-off, Vincent's trips to the southern states to gain support for the protest, and the subsequent handover of the land. The long term impact of the Aboriginals struggles is acknowledged in 2008, when PM Kevin Rudd delivers the sorry speech to the people affected by the “Stolen Generation” and ravages of the whites.
During the late sixteen century, when the first fleet arrived to Australia and discovered the free settlers or known as Australian Indigenous inheritors (The Aborigines), the community of aboriginal inhabitants since then have experienced vast levels of discrimination and racism against their gender, race, colour and ethnicity. The term over representations refers to the presents of minority or disproportionate ethnic aboriginal groups represented in the criminal justice system (CJS). This essay will further explain the relationship between aboriginal communities and policing discussed in Blagg (2008) and Cunneen (2007, the three major sources of concern in association to aboriginal over representation in CJS which include; systematic bias,
Rudd, K. (2008, February 13). Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, MP – Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples [Parliament of Australia, House of Representatives]. [Transcript]. Canberra, ACT: Retrieved from http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples
The Stolen Generation has had a profound impact on every aspect of the lives of Indigenous communities. It has jeopardised their very survival. It has impoverished their capacity to control and direct their future development. The Stolen Generation has corrupted, devastated and destroyed the souls, hopes and beliefs of many Australian lives through damaging assimilation policies established in an attempt to make a ‘White Australia’ possible. Discrimination, racism and prejudice are some of the many permanent scars upon Indigenous life that will never be repaired. However, recently Rudd and the Australian public have sincerely apologised for the detrimental effects the Stolen Generation had caused. The Stolen Generation has dramatically shaped Australian history and culture.
“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human History. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians” (apology by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, 16th November 2009, Parliament House, Canberra.)
It is clear that many steps were taken to achieve the same rights and freedoms as the rest of Australia for the Aborigines especially since 1945. Major steps forward and setbacks included the Day of Mourning, the Aboriginal Protection Act, the Child Welfare Act, the ‘Freedom Ride’, the 1962 Electoral Act and the 1967 Referendum, the tent ‘Aboriginal Embassy’, the protest at Wave Hill, Frank Hardy’s project to find the ‘real Australia’, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam giving back 300 000 square kilometers of land, the Mabo decision in 1982, the Native Title Act, John Howard’s plan in 1996, and Kevin Rudd’s apology speech. Overall, there has been a long struggle for reconciliation. Indigenous Australians now have the same rights as other Australians, but social and economic equality are still to be improved.
Summary of Text: ‘The Redfern Address’ is a speech that was given to a crowd made up of mainly indigenous Australians at the official opening of the United Nations International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Redfern Park, New South Wales. This text deals with many of the challenges that have been faced by Indigenous Australians over time, while prompting the audience to ask themselves, ‘How would I feel?’ Throughout the text, Keating challenges the views of history over time, outlines some of the outrageous crimes committed against the Indigenous community, and praises the indigenous people on their contribution to our nation, despite the way they have been treated.
In 1965, an Integration policy was introduced, meaning cultures embracing each other. Although many attempts have been made, including ‘Sorry Day’ and a ‘National Apology’ by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the scars run deep and it is sad to know that there are generations whose roots will never be identified. As well today, self-determination is practised, which means that in any matter pertaining to Aboriginals, then, they have a
It was mostly apologising for the stolen generation as Kevin Rudd apologises for breaking up families and talks about the future as a whole country.
This day is to remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. In Source A, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had apologised publicly on behalf of what happened in the Stolen Generations and the Voting Rights in his speech. In Source A, Kevin Rudd had said “We reflect on their past mistreatment.”, this meant that Kevin Rudd was apologizing for what past White Australians had done.Aboriginal People had accepted the apology Mr. Rudd had given the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals have lived out the 5th Beatitude of “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Aboriginals had lived out this Commandment because they showed mercy and accepted the apology of Kevin Rudd. This is how Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders had lived out the Beatitudes throughout their