Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the Indigenous peoples of Australia, with a rich cultural heritage that is among the oldest in the world, dating back approximately 45,000 to 80,000 years. Prior to European settlement, it is estimated that there were around 600 distinct Aboriginal groups, each with their own languages and cultures. The arrival of British settlers in 1788 led to severe population declines due to violence, disease, and dispossession, drastically reducing the number of Aboriginal Australians from potentially over a million to fewer than 60,000 within a century. Traditional beliefs among Aboriginal peoples often center on the concept of the Dreaming, a continuous realm that connects them spiritually to their land and ancestors.
In the modern context, Aboriginal Australians have faced numerous injustices, including the forced removal of children under assimilation policies known as the Stolen Generations, which lasted into the 1970s. Despite historical challenges, efforts for land rights and cultural preservation have gained momentum, particularly following landmark legal decisions like the Mabo case in 1992, which recognized Aboriginal land ownership. Today, while many Aboriginal communities continue to struggle with social and economic issues, they also celebrate their heritage through events such as NAIDOC Week and are increasingly represented in Australian society, contributing significantly to various fields including arts, sports, and politics.
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians or Aboriginal peoples refers to the various groups of people who inhabited Australia before the arrival of British settlers. In the years following the British settlers' arrival, the population of Aboriginal Australians severely declined, and they faced many injustices at the hands of the settlers. Some Aboriginal communities have since recovered a percentage of their land and are rebuilding their former way of life in the hope of preserving it for future generations.
Overview
The Aboriginal Australians have one of the oldest living cultures in existence. DNA-based evidence suggests that Australia's Aboriginal people were the first homo sapiens to leave Africa; they traveled across Asia to Australia about 45,000 years ago, although it may be as much as 80,000 years. Aboriginal Australians have the longest continuous cultural history of any people in the world, and have passed down their culture and beliefs through oral tradition and art. Before the arrival of Europeans in Australia, there were estimated to be around 600 different Aboriginal groups speaking over 250 different languages; in the twenty-first century, there are about 500 groups, and while 120 to 145 of the languages survive, only about thirteen are thriving.
Though mythology varies regionally, there are certain commonalities among traditional Aboriginal religious beliefs. These beliefs are animist and center around the Dreaming, or Dreamtime, a realm outside of time inhabited by various powerful nonhuman beings and the spirits of people who have died or are yet to be born. Some Aboriginal groups prefer "Dreaming" to "Dreamtime" because the latter suggests a period of time which has ended, whereas the Dreaming exists continuously; however, this preference is not universal. "Dreamtime" is also used to refer to the time of creation, when spiritual beings of various malleable forms created the world and placed people within it. Then they permanently became one with the land by turning their bodies into the land and landscape. According to traditional Aboriginal beliefs, these beings are still alive, so their sacred sites must be treated with care. Some of these beings are only known in specific regions, but others, such as the Rainbow Serpent, appear in many groups' Dreamtime stories. Though traditional Aboriginal religion has survived into the twenty-first century, most Aboriginal people have become Christian.
Aboriginal Australians lived throughout the continent, although they were most concentrated along the coastline. Most groups, regardless of region, were semi-nomadic and lived by hunting and gathering; coastal groups also fished. Some Aboriginal groups domesticated the dingo as a companion and hunting aid. Before the arrival of Europeans, they had contact with the people of Papua New Guinea and with Torres Strait Islanders. Torres Strait Islanders are also considered Indigenous Australians or First Australians, as the Torres Strait Islands are part of Australia, but they are not considered Aboriginal Australians, as they are ethnically Melanesian. It was once thought that Aboriginal Australians might have intermarried with Southeast Asians who settled in Australia, but a 2016 study found no genetic evidence that this was the case.
In 1788, when the First Fleet arrived, the population of Aboriginal Australians is estimated to have been between 300,000 and 1,000,000. Within 100 years of British settlement, however, the population of Aboriginal people was reduced to fewer than 60,000.
The British arrived in Australia with a legal policy and philosophy known as "terra nullius," which means that they viewed all land in Australia as unclaimed until a lawful citizen of the British Empire claimed it. They did not acknowledge the rights of the Aboriginal people to the land on which they had been living for millennia. The massive influx of British settlers seized large tracts of land, and the powerful British army and navy enforced these land claims. Many Aboriginal peoples refused to surrender their territory to the British; however, those who resisted were quickly defeated by Britain's powerful military. This violence, along with disease brought over by the settlers, decimated the Aboriginal population.
For many years, the Australian government and society took an assimilationist approach to the Aboriginal population. Beginning in 1814, Aboriginal children were placed in residential schools intended to distance them from their cultures and communities, similar to those created for Native Americans in the United States. Conditions at these schools were often harsh and those working there were often abusive toward the students. By the late 1800s, the government had begun systematically removing Aboriginal children from their families to be raised by European families under the pretext of concern for the children's welfare. The various laws and policies made to enable this practice were known as "protection policies." Indigenous children of mixed descent were particularly targeted for assimilation beginning in the 1930s. This practice of removing Indigenous children continued into the 1960s throughout the country, and in some areas carried on into the 1970s. These "removed" Aboriginal people became known as the Stolen Generations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were granted voting rights throughout the country in 1963, and in 1967 a referendum was passed to include them in the constitutional clause giving the Commonwealth the right to make special laws regarding certain races and to count them for the purposes of determining electoral representation. In 1972, the British government officially created the Federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs, which began working on solutions for recognizing land ownership rights. This helped pave the way for the 1992 Mabo case, in which the terra nullius policy was officially thrown out, and Native Aboriginal ownership of various rural parts of Australia was acknowledged. Since then, various Aboriginal groups have had their native land claims legally solidified, although other groups have failed to overcome the various legal hurdles in order to reclaim their land.
It was not until the 1980s that the Australian public began to see the government's social welfare policies as discriminatory toward Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In the early 1990s, Sir Ronald Wilson, then president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and Mick Dodson, then the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, led an investigation into the effect of the removal policies on the communities and people involved. The investigation conducted hearings and accepted submissions from 535 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and groups, as well as from churches and government agencies. These eventually formed the basis of a 700-page report called Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. The release of the report in 1998 prompted official apologies from the federal government as well as the state parliaments of Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania and the territory parliament of the Northern Territory. It also led to the creation of Sorry Day, an annual event to acknowledge and apologize for the impact of the removal policies on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The day was renamed to National Day of Healing in 2005. Since 1975, Australians have also observed NAIDOC Week, a celebration of First Australian culture, art, history, and achievements. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities often hold NAIDOC balls, and Aboriginal people who have moved away from their communities will often return to participate in these celebrations.
In the twenty-first century, Aboriginal Australians continue to experience higher rates of health issues, substance use disorders, imprisonment, unemployment, and poverty than Australia's other population groups. Nevertheless, around 984,000 Aboriginal people continue to make significant contributions to Australian society in the arts, athletics, politics, and other areas. Some Aboriginal Australians who become famous use their stature to bring the non-Indigenous public's attention to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community issues; Aboriginal football player Adam Goodes was named Australian of the Year in 2014 for his anti-racist advocacy and work to help Aboriginal youth succeed. In 2023, Aboriginal Australians declared a week of silence following the rejection of a national referendum that would have recognized Aboriginal peoples in the constitution and established a voice for them in Parliament. Though this was a significant setback, efforts to restore rights and preserve the culture of Aboriginal peoples continue.
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