Australian Aboriginal people

Aboriginal population

Contrary to what many people think (and to the stereotype of Australian advertising) the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in Australia's eastern states and not in the remote desert regions of the continent [2].

63% of Indigenous people live in NSW, Queensland and Victoria while Western Australia and the Northern Territory contribute only 28% of the Indigenous population.

The population is the lowest in South Australia (5%) and Tasmania (3.3%). The Australian Capital Territory is home to only 0.8% of Australia's Indigenous people.

The Northern Territory had the largest proportion of its population who were Indigenous (32%), compared with 4% or less for all other states and the Australian Capital Territory.

Should you name a dead Aboriginal person?

Many Aboriginal films, books or websites warn Aboriginal people that they might show images of Indigenous people who have passed away. But some don't. Why is this so?

The tradition not to depict dead people or voice their (first) names is very old [11]. Traditional law across Australia said that a dead person's name could not be said because you would recall and disturb their spirit. After the invasion this law was adapted to images as well.

Today these strict laws are generally not followed where colonisation first happened, like on Australia's east coast and in the southern parts of the country.

In the Northern Territory, where traditional Aboriginal life is stronger and left more intact, the tradition of not naming the dead is still more prevalent.

Today naming protocols differ from place to place, community to community [12] and it is often a personal decision if names and images of a deceased Aboriginal person can be spoken or published. Even in places where, traditionally, the names of deceased people are not spoken or written, families and communities may sometimes decide that circumstances permit the names of their deceased loved ones to be used.

In some areas, families may determine that a substitute name such as 'Kumantjayi' or 'Kunmanara' may be used instead of a deceased person's first name for a period. For example, 'Kumantjayi Perkins' is now increasingly referred to once again as the late 'Charles Perkins' [12].

Sorry business

When Aboriginal people mourn the loss of a family member they call this 'sorry business'. Aunty Margaret Parker from the Punjima people in north-west Western Australia describes what happens in an Aboriginal community when someone dies [31].

"A cultural practice of our people of great importance relates to our attitude to death in our families. Like when we have someone passed away in our families and not even our own close families, the family belongs to us all, you know. The whole community gets together and shares that sorrow within the whole community."

"It don't have to be a close family. We say it is close because of our kinship ties and that means it's family. We all get together till that funeral, till we put that person away. So every time someone comes in to town whom we haven't seen, that could be two or three days after we get the bad news, we all get together and meet that person, we have to drop what we're doing and get together."

"We have to cry, in sorrow, share our grief by crying and that's how we break that, by sharing together as a community. This is an important aspect of our culture. And this is how we are brought up. I see it is lacking in a lot of other towns where we go. We go there to meet people and to share our sorrows and the white way of living in the town is breaking our culture."

"And a lot of towns you go to for funerals, want to do their own little individual things, instead of dropping what they're doing to get together to meet the people coming in from out of town. The family has to sit in one house, or one area, so people know that they have to go straight into that place and meet up. We go and pay our respects. You supposed to just sit down and meet, eat together, share, until that body is put away, you know. Afterwards, we do whatever we want to do, after we leave that certain family."

"Nowadays, people just come up and shake hands, want to shake hands all the time. To me it's hurting, because we all know and we grew up in our culture system and that means we should embrace others to share the sorrow, men and women."

Famous Aboriginal people

If you live in Australia, do you know that you're probably carrying a famous Aboriginal man in your wallet?

David Unaipon (1872 - 1967) was a Ngarrindjeri man, a preacher, inventor and writer. Among his patents was a helicopter design based on the principle of a boomerang [3].

David Unaipon is featured on the front of Australia's 50-dollar note, along with drawings from one of his inventions, and an extract from the original manuscript of his book Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines.

But in November 2008 Allan 'Chirpy' Campbell, David Unaipon's great-nephew, claimed that David's family has never given permission for his image to be used [10]. Allan Campbell's argument is that the woman originally consulted by the Reserve Bank is not related to Mr Unaipon.

Indigenous Australians of the Year

Each year on Australia Day (January 26th) Australia honours the Australian of the Year, persons who "inspire us through their achievements and challenge us to make our own contribution to creating a better Australia" [24]. Here is a list of the Aboriginal Australians of the Year.

• 2009 Mick Dodson (Professor of law)
• 1998 Cathy Freeman (athelete)
• 1992 Mandawuy Yunupingu (Yothu Yindi band leader)
• 1984 Lowitja O'Donoghue (nurse and ATSIC chairperson)
• 1979 Neville Bonner (first Aboriginal parliamentarian)
• 1978 Galarrwuy Yunupingu (Yolngu leader, brother of Mandawuy)
• 1971 Evonne Cawley (tennis player)
• 1968 Lionel Rose (boxer)

It's this increasingly casual reaction to Indigenous achievement and success that is a marker of how far we've come. It's becoming unexceptional to have successful Indigenous filmmakers, artists, doctors, academics, laywers, nurses and politicians. This is the other side, the often – and unfortunately – untold side, of the story we hear about Indigenous Australia. —Mick Dodson, Australian of the Year 2009 [30]

Check out the collection of famous Aboriginal sports people.

Aboriginal humor

One of the key characteristics of Aboriginal people is their humor. No matter how dire the situation Aboriginal people are always able to find a humorous way of dealing with their life.

Professor Gordon Briscoe, a man from the Marduntjara/Pitjantjatjara peoples of Central Australia and an Indigenous activist, researcher, writer and teacher, said when talking about the Aboriginal housing situation:

"We have not yet got to the point of putting solar energy on our roof because many of us don't even have a roof."

Aboriginal Australia has a great history of resistance and a great history of humour.—Shane Howard, musician [16]

Some of the most tragic things in life can be funny to us, I think that's what makes blackfellas so versatile and resilient. —Sean Choolburra, Aboriginal comedian [29]

When Aboriginal people commit suicide

No word in the ancient Yolngu language describes suicide. —Sydney Morning Herald [26]

Aboriginal suicide rates are higher than those of non-Indigenous people, but only since the late 1980s [27]. Before that time Aboriginal suicide was not an issue of public heath concern.

Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley in Western Australia mourned 21 suicide deaths in 2006, compared to only three in the wider community [15]. In Queensland the suicide rate for the period 1990 to 1995 is 14.5 per 100,000, with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate being 23.6 [27].

The deaths are highly correlated to the abuse of alcohol and cannabis. The appalling living conditions play their part: Foetal alcohol syndrome, poor levels of education, few jobs, 'disgraceful' public housing, overcrowded homes, poor health and much lower life expectancy.

Aboriginal male suicides play an important part in explaining elevated suicide rates with many suicides concentrated in the 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 age brackets [27], often through hanging and while incarcerated.

'Normalisation' of suicide in Aboriginal life contributes to more suicides just as the lack of opportunity to discuss grief or taboos surrounding suicide [26].

Increasing government spendings is a way to improve community life and avoid Aboriginal suicides. But it is seriously flawed, because "no organisation or individual monitors the performance of [government] agencies and no-one is held responsible for achieving improved outcomes for Aboriginal people" [15].

Many Aboriginal people have been traumatised when they were abused as children in Aboriginal missions. The pain haunts them through their adult life and if they don't receive help some just cannot cope anymore.

And he smiled. He was only 13, in enormous pain and he still managed a smile... Because the hidings and beatings they got never seemed to bother them, I used to wonder if their smiles were a separate physical entity and not connected to their emotions... I learned much later that those two boys had hung themselves. —Bill Simon, Aboriginal author [20]

Some propose a self-imposed ban on drugs to 'suicide-proof' communities. The time has come to take matters into their own hands and address "how we've neglected each other and made up excuses." [23]

Read more about Aboriginal alcohol consumption.

Help For help or information visit beyondblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251 or Lifeline on 131 114.

Child abuse revealing community breakdown

Many Aboriginal communities and families fracture and break down because Aboriginal people cannot deal with their current situation. One channel to vent their anger is abuse and often this abuse is targeted at young children.

As a result of the experiences of the Stolen Generations many Aboriginal people have deep-seated fears about being removed from their communities by white people, be it for welfare reasons or for imprisonment.

This leads to a 'code of silence' which surrounds abuse [9] because Aboriginal people do not want to relive the traumas of forced removals which are just starting to heal after the Australian government's apology in February 2008.

Abuse of children

Though they are the most helpless members of Aboriginal communities, children bear a great deal of the violence and abuse from Aboriginal people.

The Little Children are Sacred report in 2007 uncovered heart-breaking stories about child abuse. Its authors made 42 recommendations to the Australian government, but just over a third of them had been fully adopted two years later. Child protection workers report a 'huge backlog' of cases, hundreds of which 'had not been touched in years' [28].

Truck drivers buy sex from 12-year-olds

In several states, the Australian Crime Commission has found, truck drivers buy sex from Aboriginal girls under 16 years of age (the legal minimum age of consensual sex). 12-year-old girls use contraceptive implants, children as young as seven experiment with sex toys and children trade sex to sniff petrol or for food [8].

Nurse resigns "due to a broken heart"

A community health nurse has resigned after 18 years in the job because she could no longer cope with the abuse and neglect of children in the Aboriginal community she was working for.

The nurse "cared deeply" for the health of Indigenous children but she moved to a job in an aged-care home "due to a broken heart." [8]

What is 'black lateral violence'?

Lateral violence is a term that describes "a form of bullying that includes gossip, shaming and blaming others, backstabbing and attempts to socially isolate others" [17]. It is directed sideways ('lateral') meaning the aggressors are your peers, often people in powerless positions. Other terms include 'work place bullying' and 'horizontal violence'.

Lateral violence is a worldwide occurrence with all minorities and particularly Indigenous peoples. Its roots lie in colonisation, oppression, intergenerational trauma and ongoing experiences of racism and discrimination.

[Lateral violence] comes from being colonised, invaded. It comes from being told you are worthless and treated as being worthless for a long period of time. Naturally you don't want to be at the bottom of the pecking order, so you turn on your own.—Richard J. Frankland, Aboriginal singer/songwriter, author and film maker [17]

Effects of lateral violence include reduced (mental) health and well-being and lower self-confidence. Organisations function less and experience high staff turnover with less Aboriginal people taking positions.

An important characteristic of lateral violence is that it is your own (Aboriginal) peers who oppress you.

With lateral violence the oppressed become the oppressors. We've internalised the pain of colonisation and our oppression and we've taken it into our communities in the factionalisation and in the gossip and talk of blood quantum, "you're half-blood" etc.—Allen Benson, CEO Native Counseling Services of Alberta, Canada [18]

Allen Benson goes on to explain that "as oppressed people, we want to say we have that little bit of power over somebody and we've just dragged ourselves down as a society instead of supporting each other in the community. As long as we internalise the pain and don't forgive people, we'll carry it with us forever."

Forms of lateral violence

Frequent forms of lateral violence are:

• nonverbal innuendo (raising eyebrows, face-making),
• verbal affront (overt/covert, snide remarks, lack of openness, abrupt responses),
• undermining activities (turning away, not being available),
• withholding information,
• sabotage (deliberately setting up a negative situation),
• infighting (bickering),
• scapegoating,
• backstabbing (complaining to peers and not confronting the individual),
• failure to respect privacy,
• broken confidences.

95% of a group of young people had witnessed lateral violence at home [17].

Those most at risk of lateral violence in its raw physical form are family members and, in the main, the most vulnerable members of the family: old people, women and children. Especially the children. —Marcia Langton, Aboriginal writer [19]

To tackle lateral violence Richard J. Frankland suggests that you "out it. Name it for what it is, a destroyer of Indigenous culture and life. Publicly admit it is happening and then take steps and measures to deal with it... Find ways to deal with it, end it, eradicate it from our lives and communities." [17].

Aboriginal skin groups

Aboriginal people differentiate between different 'colours' or skin groups. Once you know a person's skin group you know their relation to you, their obligations, and how they must be treated.

Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
[1] Premiere of the film Liyarn Ngarn, 22/8/2007, Hayden Orpheum, Picture Palace, Sydney [2] 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population', Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2008 [3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Unaipon, 13/12/2008 [4] 'Aboriginal welfare', Letter to the editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 November 1965, p2 [5] 'Who has defined us since 1967?', NIT, 31/5/2007 p.27 [6] www.aboriginalsoul.com [7] Stolen Wages committee submissions, http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/Committee/legcon_ctte/stolen_wages/submissions/sublist.htm, submission #12 [8] NIT 26/6/2008 p.27 [9] 'Singing farewell', Koori Mail 427 p.3 [10] 'Damages bid over $50 note image', Koori Mail 440 p.16 [11] 'The story of black Australia', WAToday.com.au, 9/10/2008 [12] Personal communication with Kirstie Parker, editor Koori Mail [13] 'Boost in funds for outback nursing homes', The Australian, 22/9/2008 [14] Press Cuts, NIT, 2/10/2008 p.26 [15] 'No quick fixes here', NIT 11/12/2008 p.26 [16] 'Murundak', Sydney Morning Herald, 31/12/2007 [17] 'A frank discussion on tackling black lateral violence', NIT 14/5/2009 p.21 [18] 'Lateral violence', Koori Mail, 28/2/2007 [19] 'Hostages to men's business', The Australian, 8/11/2008 [20] 'A long way from home', Sydney Morning Herald 23/5/2009 [21] 'Talks focus on suicides', Koori Mail 448 p.47 [22] 'Palm rallies to aid family', Koori Mail 453 p.7 [23] 'A call to action', Koori Mail 458 p.6 [24] www.australianoftheyear.org.au [25] '2 of us - Russell James & Clifton Bieundurry, Good Weekend, 7/11/2009 p.12 [26] 'Open to the light', Lindsay Murdoch, SMH 7/11/2009 [27] 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide', Prof Ernest Hunter, University of Queensland, 2001 [28] 'Mixed response to abuse report', Koori Mail 464 p.18 [29] 'The Funnyman', Koori Mail 469 p.21 [30] 'Respect. Relationships. We have come so far', Sun Herald 17/1/2010 p.17 [31] 'Karijini Mirlimirli', Noel Olive, Fremantle Arts Centre Press 1997 pp.126 [32] 'Sorry Business - Grief and Loss', brochure, Indigenous Substance Misuse Health Promotion Unit 2004