European colonisation has had a devastating effect on Indigenous culture in Australia. Do you agree?

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European colonisation of Australia took place since the 1700’s when this new land became part of Britain. However, before the arrival of white people, there were native inhabitants who are known as ‘Indigenous Australians’ who form the group of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. During this period there was a significant impact on the Aboriginal population. There are people who believe that Aboriginal Australians have achieved better outcomes in several aspects of their lifestyle since the European settlement. However Indigenous culture in Australia has been deeply affected due to the colonisation, since they had suffered severe injustices. This essay will discuss some difficulties that Indigenous Australians had to face include issues of health, stolen generations and poverty.

One of the most devastating effects that the European settlement caused in the indigenous Australians has an implication with health issues. When white people arrived in the new land, Aboriginal population suffered from new diseases, as a result there was a disruption in their habits and lifestyle (Tourism Australia 2014). As Nerelle (2012, p. 5) explains that the complexity of health for Indigenous Australians encloses not only the physical conditions, but also the social and spiritual conditions and after the arrival of Europeans this conception of health was relegated. Senier & Barker (2013, p. 6) emphasises that “the suppression of cultural practices like traditional medicine, ceremony, and even language has been shown to have devastating effects on indigenous health and indigenous bodies”. This means that the Indigenous Australians had their own procedures and practices to relieve the illnesses that they were used to, but after the arrival...

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.... 21, no. 4, pp. 383-395.
Robert, v.K. 2004, "Rethinking Cultural Genocide: Aboriginal Child Removal and Settler-Colonial State Formation", Oceania, vol. 75, no. 2, pp. 125-151.
Department of Social Services 2013, Meeting the needs of the Stolen Generations, viewed 14 May 2014, < http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/indigenous-australians/programs-services/recognition-respect/stolen-generations-working-partnership/meeting-the-needs-of-the-stolen-generations#who>
Senier, S. & Barker, C. 2013, "Introduction", Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 123-140.
Robert van Krieken 1999, The 'stolen generations' and cultural genocide: the forced removal of Australian Indigenous children from their families and its implications for the sociology of childhood, viewed 14 may 2014, < http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~robertvk/papers/gen2.htm>

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