The Australian Aboriginal probably arrived here around 60,000 years ago and is thought to have the longest continuous cultural history in the world. They had a very unique society which existed in harmony with nature and without ever destroying their environment, food resources and themselves for thousands of years.
The Aboriginals believed this great land was created in the Dreamtime by mythical beings that later became features of the landscape. These beings were the Aboriginal ancestors who handed the land to them on condition that they looked after it, fulfilling ritual obligations to their ancestors.
Portuguese map printed 1589 (detail) showing east coast of Australia
Australia was known to the Portuguese and Dutch navigators during the 16th century, but had escaped attention during the great years of European exploration until the British invaded in 1788 and set up a penal colony at what is now Sydney harbour.
This first contact with European settlers dramatically changed the social and economic structure of the Aboriginal and alienated them from their land and culture. Their population numbered about 300,000 when the first settlement was established. As more settlers arrived during the 19th century, the Aboriginals were pushed off their tribal lands and in many cases, hunted down, massacred, or poisoned like vermin. These survivors of dispossession and genocide were left as unwanted fringe dwellers in a dominant white society.
Not all the damage done was the result of animosity, cruelty and neglect. Much of it was the result of misguided intentions. Missionaries and colonial administrators felt that the salvation of the Aboriginal people could only be achieved by removing the children from their "heathen" parents.
Australia became a nation in 1901 when federation of the separate colonies took place. In the late 1940s, immigration brought a flood of European immigrants and later during the 1950s large numbers of Asian refugees. Almost a quarter of today's 20 million Australians were born in another country. About 2 per cent of the population are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. More than 100 different ethnic groups are living in Australia, making it one of the most ethnically diversified countries in the world.
However, after more than two hundred years since Capt. Cook arrived, the original Australians still remain a dispossessed and lost people in our modern society. Although much has been achieved as regards Native Title, and health issues over the last few years, many Aboriginals still live in deplorable conditions. Many continue to experience discrimination and prejudice on a daily basis which impacts dramatically on all aspects of their lives, including education, employment, self esteem and personal happiness.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Inquiry concluded that between one in three and one in ten children were forcibly removed from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.
The truth is, that the past is very much with us today, in the continuing devastation of the lives of these indigenous Australians.
The Governor General stated in August 1996:
`That is not to say that individual Australians who had no part in what was done in the past should feel or acknowledge personal guilt. It is simply to assert our identity as a nation and the basic fact that national shame, as well as national pride, can and should exist in relation to past acts and omissions, at least when done in the name of the community or with the authority of the government.'
It is a tribute to the Aboriginal people that they have survived to the extent that they have.
RECONCILIATION is long overdue.
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