Australian Aboriginal people

Fact Australia has one of the weakest protections of human rights in the Western world, implementing less than half the legal obligations of international human rights treaties [44].

Genocide not a crime under Australian law

In 1998, the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court deliberated about a test case brought by members of the Tent Embassy which was erected in 1972 in front of Parliament House in Canberra.

In the test case the Court's Justice Kenneth Crispin found that "there is ample evidence to satisfy me that acts of genocide were committed during the colonisation of Australia" [49]. But no-one took notice.

In July 1949 Australia had ratified the United Nations' Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which in article 2 defines genocide as 'killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.'

However, the bill Australia passed to ratify the convention did not make genocide a crime under domestic law [49].

Consequently, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy plaintiffs lost their case on appeal to the Federal Court.

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 role models

Who do you look up to? Who's inspiring you? A role model. We all need them to motivate us go through tough times and gather our self-discipline.

But there are only few Aboriginal role models to inspire Indigenous children. Politicians, actors, musicians, comedians—most of these in Australia are non-Indigenous.

Part of this problem is the high rate of Indigenous unemployment, but also the appalling low rate of airplay for Aboriginal music and the few occasions where Australians can celebrate their Indigenous actors in Aboriginal films.

Sport, particularly football and rugby league, is the only area where Indigenous players are so successful that, at times, they outshine their non-Indigenous team mates.

Aboriginal people are survivors

I read an interesting perspective why Aboriginal people are "true survivors" in a reader's letter [17]. Here's what Jason Coulthard had to say.

"We are still here today and surviving like true survivors. That's what makes our culture so wonderful. We are surviving not only physical storms, but also psychological and emotional storms.

"Yes, we're battered and bruised, but warrior-like spirit is still evident in a lot of our people and shining through.

"It's a hard fight, but I tell my young bros [brothers] and sisters 'Brace your figurative shield and keep pushing through the storms. Keep the fire of our beautiful culture burning, be proud, strong and walk tall'.

"We became friends with this beautiful and harsh land and survived it and passed on the knowledge to survive successfully, so let us keep passing on strength to our younger brothers and sisters. Make them strong and happy—we can because we are the ultimate survivors."

Traditional hand signs

When Aboriginal people were out hunting they couldn't just call out to each other—it would have scared away their game.

So they developed an intricate system of hand signs to signal to each other. Hand signs are not only used for hunting, as Clifton Bieundurry explains in the following video.

When Aboriginal people commit suicide

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

Suicide was unknown to Aboriginal people traditionally. —Robert Eggington, Nyoongar leader [40]

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]. In Western Australia's Kimberley region a "suicide epidemic" saw up to 20 young Aboriginal people took their lives within 12 months [51].

Causes

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, sexual abuse 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 young Aboriginal people have lost faith that services such as counselling service Kids Helpline could help them. They have doubts about the cultural competence and generally don't believe services can help them [47]. Some have confidentiality concerns about their issues remaining private, while others fear that using a service would result in shame for themselves or their family, being judged, ridiculed or punished. But one of the biggest barriers in rural and remote areas remains access to such services in the first place.

We need to ensure there are more Indigenous counsellors and that all counsellors have a better cultural awareness and understanding. —Wendy Protheroe, general manager, Kids Helpline [47]

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]

Aaron Stuart has written The Story of Yudum, a book which illustrates how Aboriginal people dealt with suicide before invasion.

The book is a good resource for anyone teaching about suicide prevention in Aboriginal communities, but also for those interested in the matter.

Read more about Aboriginal alcohol consumption.

Help For help or information visit beyondblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, Kids Helpline (5 - 25 years old) on 1800 55 1800, or Lifeline on 131 114.

XBox vs Elder

What have an XBox and an Aboriginal elder in common?

Both compete for the attention of young Aboriginal girls and boys, along with American culture on television and in cinemas.

"What hope is there for our existing Elders, especially those in rural and urban areas, to take our youth for walks into the bush to learn of the old ways or to sit around a campfire on the banks of the river to hear of their connection to country," asks Stephen Hagan, an Aboriginal author and academic [46].

"Our best chance of not totally losing our young to these contemporary competing interests is to tell our stories through another medium – book, stage or film – so when the time comes, and they've had their fill of modernity, it will be there for them."

Lack of respect for elders is increasing. Many elders in remote Northern Territory communities are highly intelligent and should be leaders. But they are not supported because they have lost the respect of their community. Young people see how non-Aboriginal people do not listen to them (for example those involved in the Northern Territory Intervention) and refuse to listen themselves [48].

Many Aboriginal people don't have a birth certificate

"Without a birth certificate, it is difficult, if not impossible, for an individual to fully participate in society," says Dr Paula Gerber, from the Monash Faculty of Law [8]. Yet that is exactly the situation many Aboriginal people are in.

A study found that a 'significant' number of Aboriginal Australians are not registering the birth of their children [8].

One reason is that Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry offices are only located in capital cities, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away from Aboriginal communities.

Secondly, Aboriginal people still suffer from the traumas inflicted by the policies that led to the Stolen Generations. In their memory, contact with bureaucrats is inherently linked to trouble. Many have trouble reading formal English and fear harm could be done to them again.

Without a birth certificate, however, it is difficult to obtain a passport, get a driver's licence or secure a tax file number.

Aboriginal people and assimilation

Until 1965 Australia had an assimilation policy in place which aimed at making Aboriginal people blend into white society as much as possible. Though abandoned decades ago, being 'assimilated' has become some kind of cuss word, even among Aboriginal people, especially those living in big cities or working for the government.

The following story was written by an Aboriginal woman in response to general accusations of some Aboriginal people becoming 'assimilated' [39].

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] 'Birth 'gap' the focus of study', Koori Mail 515 p.42 [9] [10] 'Damages bid over $50 note image', Koori Mail 440 p.16 [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] 'No quick fixes here', NIT 11/12/2008 p.26 [16] [17] 'Like he says, we're survivors', Your Say, Koori Mail 478 p.24 [18] 'Suicides spark call', Koori Mail 486 p.11 [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] [23] 'A call to action', Koori Mail 458 p.6 [24] www.australianoftheyear.org.au [25] [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] [29] [30] 'Respect. Relationships. We have come so far', Sun Herald 17/1/2010 p.17 [31] [32] [33] 'Inept Govt policy denying Indigenous jobs--report', Koori Mail 471 p.36 [34] [35] 'Danny Eastwood's View', Koori Mail 493 p.20 [36] [37] NSW Aboriginal Legal Service newsletter, 3/2011 [38] 'Suicide cash fast-tracked', Koori Mail 499 p.13 [39] 'Working to change from within', reader's letter, Koori Mail 502 p.24 [40] 'Police 'most racist' in WA', Koori Mail 414 p.11 [41] [42] [43] [44] 'Australia 'weak on rights'', Koori Mail 401 p.84 [45] [46] 'Tell your story', Koori Mail 400 p.21 [47] 'Barriers for kids detailed', Koori Mail 507 p.31 [48] 'Elders the key, says barrister', Koori Mail 506 p.8 [49] 'The struggle to achieve real justice', Koori Mail 506 p.25 [50] [51] ''Hard yarns' - and hope for a better future' [Blank Page Summit], Koori Mail 508 p.37 [52] [53] 'WA Coroner rules over Balgo deaths', Koori Mail 513 p.32