A History of Oppression: the Mistreatment of Australian Aboriginals Essay

Cases of oppression be very a good dealtimes present within our worlds history, and scour in most societies today. Being rich in history, Australia is a large example of oppression in our world. Not only can we find kangaroo bear bears and kangaroos in the continent of Australia, but also the worlds oldest existing culture of aboriginal the great unwashed (Aboriginal Australia EmbraceAustralia. com). For nearly 50,000 years, Australia has served as home to these ancient autochthonal people (Aboriginal Australia EmbraceAustralia. com). Australias natives gull been victims to oppression in many a nonher(prenominal) ways and for various reasons for nearly 200 years.Theyre land had been taken over by European settlers, and later on they faced more oppression when attempts to assimilate Indigenous people into white society were made. For over a century, Australias aborigines have been faced with many racist prejudices and several severe cases of oppression. Issues amongst the a utochthonic people began in the late 1700s, shortly after the arrival of European settlers. These new arrivals brought many changes to the natives daily lives (Aboriginal Australia EmbraceAustralia. com).The Aboriginals had to deal with intruders of whom they had no prior knowledge of, and the vastly different societies and cultures of these two groups of people. As European colonization began to settle down, Australias aboriginals were seen as lower class and savage universes by the superior Europeans (Aboriginals Rights EmbraceAustralia. com). By the mid(prenominal) 1800s, the Australian Government began to fear for the future of children Aborigines and issued the Forced Assimilation insurance policy in 1869 (Aboriginal Rights EmbraceAustralia. com).It was non until the 1970s that the Policy of Assimilation ended (Aboriginal Rights EmbraceAustralia. com). Although aboriginal rights have greatly evolved into the present, Australias natives still battle a learnst many prejudi ces and acts of racism up to now in todays society. These indigenous people ar often labeled by others to be wide-nosed and dark-skinned and live their ancient tribal lifestyles modify with crime, violence and drinking. In addition, numerous people still believe in false Aboriginal stereotypes.For example, aboriginals are problematic, un-educated people who follow no religion, suffer from despicable iets and are given too much welfare, all of which are not necessarily true (Stereotypes about Aboriginal Australians Creativespirits. info). This issue is a very eventful part of Australian history. As we look deeper into the breakdown of Aboriginal mistreatment, many contributing factors can be found. The root of this issue can be traced screening to the white settlement. With the arrival of the Europeans, Aboriginals were immediately faced with many problems. The Europeans brought along many new diseases and illnesses to which the Aboriginals had no immunity.Epidemics developd by the smallpox and even the common cold at once killed nearly half of the Aboriginal population, ultimately, creating a barrier between the indigenous people and the Europeans (History of Australia EmbraceAustralia. com). This immediately put the Aborigines in an unfortunate position where they were now much weaker, and therefore deemed inferior to the settlers. Naturally, white settlers began asking the Indigenous people for their labour in exchange for goods, and claiming Aboriginal land for economic purposes (The Social, Cultural and Historical context of use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Australians).The Aboriginal population, now considerably much smaller, had difficulty when proving ownership and power over their homeland. European settlers were now stronger and could claim territories easily. This contributed not only to the expansion of the European settlers and to the growth of their power, but also to the issue of oppression in Australia. Every day, people around the world of all races, genders, ages and cultures are faced with the degradation and suffering of racism and oppression. Australias Aboriginals and descendants are most certainly no stranger to these horrifying issues.During the Assimilation Policy, more than 100,000 indigenous children were separated from their Aboriginal families and homes (Aboriginal Rights EmbraceAustralia. com). Also, it is estimated that as a result of the white settlement more than 600,000 Aboriginal people had died from the spread of disease, malnutrition and poor living conditions (Racism in Australia, seat Pilger). Other than obvious racial discrimination towards Australias natives, there are other reasons why these people were oppressed. In order for the European colonies in Australia to gain power and grow their economy, they needed land and labour-good exchanges.The European obtained these through the oppression of Indigenous people (The Social, Cultural and Historical Context of Aboriginal an d torres Strait Islander Australians). The differences between the style of living of the Whites and the Aboriginals are huge. The Europeans often thought of the Indigenous people as savages and wished to eliminate their traditional and savage ways. In order to do so, they Australian Government issued the Forced Assimilation Policy in 1869. This policy ensured that Aboriginal children were systematically removed from their families, and placed with white families.The idea of this act being that the young children would learn and grow up to be modern, white Australians. The Government believed that the integration of Aboriginals into the superior western lifestyle of the white people would be practicable (Aboriginal Rights EmbraceAustralia. com). Many strongly believed in this policy for the protection of future generations, not knowing that they would end up with the stolen generations of all the assimilated indigenous children (Armitage). Prejudices, Government Policies and non-e xistent legal rights are just a few of the methods of oppression the Aborigines have faced.The very world-class method of oppression against the Aboriginals was the removal of their ownership of land and properties, when the white settlement first began. This lead up to the abuse of aboriginal labour and poor working conditions. The effort to protect and integrate natives into white society with the Assimilation Policy during the mid 1800s is possibly one of the most severe methods of oppression used in this issue. Even throughout the First World War, Aboriginals were banned from joining the ground forces to run for their rightful homeland .The Australian Government did not have many Aboriginal Rights until the 60s and 70s. Before 1962, Indigenous natives did not have the right to vote and four years later, in 1966, poor working conditions that applied solemnly to the aborigines were finally protested and acknowledged. It was not until 1967 that the Commonwealth Referendum obtain ed permission to create new laws and rights regarding indigenous people. Some even believe, although highly doubtful, that the spread of new diseases by the Europeans was an attempt at potential genocide towards the natives.This method is still often debated (Aboriginal Rights EmbraceAustralia. com). Lest we forget, that along with all of these events during the years of Aboriginal oppression the natives were, and still are, associated with many false and insensitive racist prejudices. More recently, only in 2008, an official vindication was finally released by Australias then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. PM Rudd gave a four splendid apology followed by a 20 minute speech recounting many events and stories of victims.The apology was addressed to all aborigines and most importantly, the stolen generations. To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted upon a p roud people and proud culture, we say sorry. Mr. Rudd finished his speech with this closing statement before receiving a standing ovation (New York Times, Johnson). Although this apology demonstrates how most of Australia is ready to track evolving and move on from all the oppression, a study conducted in 2008 found that Australians in general are welcoming of diversity, but some 1 in 10 Australians still hold racist views.The results of that study illustrate how oppression and racism, although tremendously improved, will most likely always be present in Australias society (Racism in Australia, Shah. Though the journey has not been easy, the proud aboriginal natives of Australia now have a tale to tell about their fight against oppression lasting two centuries. As they reencounter their battles against small pox epidemics and for land and rights, they will not be remembering their pains and sufferings, but celebrating their strength and intention to have overcome this mogul in Au stralian history.