Resolving Conflict In Australia

Conflicts can be very difficult to resolve. Ways to resolve conflict can be in the act of violence or in peaceful ways with reconciliation. Reconciliation is defined as the restoration of friendly relations. It can be restoring relations with a friend, a family member or even in this case between different groups of people. Many nations used the reconciliation process to recover from tragedy and to bring people together. In Australia, reconciliation was and still is used today to bring the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-indigenous peoples together after constant laws were placed against the indigenous peoples. The 1967 referendum, a form of reconciliation allowed Indigenous Australians to be counted in the census thus, Indigenous

There were laws that denied Indigenous Australians of civil liberties and they could not live in a place where they could not even be recognized as people. From the late 1950s activists that are both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal came together to campaign for civil rights for Indigenous Australians. On April 29th, 1957, a petition was started for a referendum to make Aboriginal issues the biggest responsibility by the Aboriginal-Australian fellowship at Sydney Town Hall. Because of state laws, it is impossible to be an Australian and an Aborigine and these were called “dog collar acts” because these people thought that they were being pushed and pulled around like a dog on a leash making these laws very restrictive. In February 1958, activists formed the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement with the goals being to repeal all legislation which discriminated against the Aborigines and to give the Commonwealth Government the ability to legislate for Aborigines. Other campaigns throughout the late 50s and 60s included the Freedom Ride of 1965 which was a campaign focused on recognizing the dreadful living conditions of the Indigenous peoples. The actual ride was a bus tour throughout different cities in Australia to encourage Aborigine's to resist discrimination. An important issue that Aboriginal people protested for was wage rights which ended in the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission voting for equal wages. This was because of the “Wave Hill Walk Off” where Aboriginal stockmen walked away from their jobs because of the pay they were receiving, poor conditions and awful treatment. All these protests led to the 1967 referendum in which 90% of Australians voted to remove parts of the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous