This was a research project that I finished at the end of my 8th grade year (a couple months ago). I am very proud of this project, for it took me several hours to complete. It is about the many struggles of the Australian population of Aboriginal people. I did not know a lot about this group of people and was not aware of the problems they faced daily. Upon further research, I compiled this informative essay to spread awareness about their predicament.
WARNING: Mentions of death, suicide, and culture-erasure.
Lily Agee
Mr. Scannell
Aboriginal Struggles Research Project
The aboriginal population of Australia is one of the oldest living ones in the world outside Africa. These ancient people were nomadic, hardworking, and organized into several small tribes. Their language and culture is firmly rooted in the belief that their ancestors created everything including the land they live on. They celebrate this belief by preserving their sacred lands that their ancestors left for them. For thousands of years, the aboriginal people lived in the undisturbed outback of Australia, living their lives while developing a unique culture that can be seen in native reservations today. However, their peace was quickly altered, for the dominating British explorers and colonists soon made contact with this hidden population. In 1770, outsiders invaded aboriginal Australia, immediately changing the natives' lives forever. Without the consent of its inhabitants, the foreigners conquered what would be referred to as New South Wales which would be new territory for King George III. Since the aboriginal immune system was vulnerable to the European/Asian diseases that the settlers had carried with them, they were ravaged by sicknesses they had never been exposed to before. After a year of a devastating smallpox epidemic, over half of the aboriginals living in the Sydney Basin had succumbed to sickness. The natives that were not killed by disease were eliminated or enslaved by the British settlers. Several tribes were eradicated from the map for resistance to British authority. For a couple hundred years, the aboriginal people were held either as captives or were widely discriminated against by the white foreigners who invaded their ancestral land. It was not until civil rights movements of the 20th century that aboriginals were beginning to be seen as equals to the non-native Australians. Policies like The Aborigines Protection Act gave more aboriginal people chances of equality and suffrage. However, aborigines are not completely on the same level as non-natives socially and economically.
In Australia today, the indigenous population is disproportionately affected by ailments such as disease, health issues, complications during birth, financial problems, poor education, and social equalities. These factors in summary are leading to the slow crippling of the aboriginal people compared to the non-native population. For example, over 23 million non-native people live in Australia, while just under 700,000 indigenous people live among them. Actually, the term "among" is not a correct one, for most of the aboriginal population live on reservations throughout the country. Even the distribution of the reservations is uneven. Most of the native people live in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, while 50 to 150,000 aborigines live in the north and west, and less than 50,000 in South Australia and Victoria. In order to develop a clearer view of the aboriginal condition, first we must look into the health and socioeconomic status of these people.
Health-wise, the aboriginal people compared to the non-indigenous population of Australia are at a high disadvantage. In fact, mortality rate and life expectancy in nearly every category is higher for the aborigines than the general population. From 2010 to 2012, non-native girls born could expect to live around ten years longer than indigenous girls born in the same time period, according to australianstogether.org. The same website also continues saying that, for native men, a 69.1-year lifetime is expected while the non-indigenous men could live to be 79.9 years. Australianstogether.org includes, as well, maternal and infantile death, "Indigenous infantile mortality was 4 times higher than the national rate...Indigenous women also experience approximately double the maternal mortality in 2016." These rates more likely than not have been caused by the overall healthiness of the aboriginal population. Malnutrition and low-access to basic resources cause most of the chronic illnesses and low-life expectancy among the aborigines. The following statistics on australianstogether.org support this claim, "2016...Indigenous children experienced 1.7 times higher levels of malnutrition than non-Indigenous children...2014-15, hospitalizations for all chronic diseases (except cancer) were higher for Indigenous Australians than for non-Indigenous Australians..." (australianstogether.org) This information directly correlates to mortality rates and life expectancy. Mental health is also a huge problem for the aboriginal people of Australia. This source also states, "2015...Indigenous suicide rate was double that of the general population. Indigenous suicide increased from 5% of total Australian suicide in 1991, to 50% in 2010." This is a drastic change in almost twenty years. This statistic also contributes to the life expectancy of aboriginal people in Australia, but this also disproportionately affects younger aborigines. The article goes on to say, "The most drastic increase occurred among young people 10-24 years old, where Indigenous youth suicide rose from 10% in 1991 to 80% in 2010." This shows that more children are attempting and committing suicide than adults are. Closing on the health point, the aboriginal people are struggling with the basic needs for their health.
Social and economic challenges enter the lives of the indigenous natives of Australia, as well. The average weekly income for a non-native Australian family is around 852$, however the aboriginal "equivalent" is 542$. This is almost definitely the effect of the current 20.8% unemployment rate for the aborigines compared to the 5.8% rate for non-native Australians. These statistics being found on CNN, they prove that not only are some aboriginal families unable to produce as much as the average non-native family, they are also not employed as much as their neighbors. However, education and opportunity has almost everything to do with the unemployment rate of these people. Our previous source, australianstogether.org, tells, "About 62% of Indigenous students finished year 12 or equivalent in 2014-15, compared to 86% of non-Indigenous Australians. This is an improvement on previous years." So, less education equals poor jobs or unemployment equals unsustainability for families and the general welfare of the population. To end this point, education and employment are connected by the necessity of knowledge and opportunities.
Even though the aboriginal population of Australia is struggling and has been for a severely long time, they are not completely without help. There are certain public, private, and governmental services and programs that help the indigenous people sustain themselves and build their livelihoods. Some of these benefit the aborigines by teaching monetary management, company formation, giving scholarships, and donating to charities. For example, moneysmart.gov.au teaches aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islanders how to manage their finances by distributing educational materials and showing the basics of financial thoughtfulness. Indigenous Youth Leadership Program is a program that gives young indigenous people a chance to further their education in high school and eventually college. This program paves the path for these students to be career-ready in the future. Several programs just like the ones mentioned are active today and are constantly helping the aboriginal people of Australia develop further into society as a fully-functioning group of people. What we can do to help is to be more open-minded to situations like the one indigenous people are going through. Just putting yourselves in a different point of view from your own can help you see clearer how the challenges these people face affect them so drastically.
Sources:
Aboriginal History of Oppression
How Australia is Failing its Indigenous Population
Health problems
https://moneysmart.gov.au/indigenous
Socioeconomic Chart of Aboriginal Population
A/N: Thanks for reading!
YOU ARE READING
Past Stories
Short StoryThis is a collection of some of the stories that I've written in the past, whether they've been written for school or for my own entertainment. :) Please do not judge them too harshly, some of these were completed when I was in elementary and middle...
