Native American versus Aboriginal Austrialian Cultures
Although most Americans know that a native people lived on this continent prior to the European takeover, the majority has not taken the time to study their history. That is sad considering it was our ancestors who took advantage of this innocent people for territory expansion and other insignificant reasons. Similar injustices have also taken place on the island continent of Australia. And although a country can not change the mistakes of the past, the least we can do is respect the indigenous people of the world and learn their history. If we do this, our lives will be enriched with knowledge that will positively affect the way we treat people in the future. I chose to parallel two groups of Aboriginal people from different parts of the Earth: the Native American and the Australian Aborigine. It is fascinating that these geo-graphically distant people share a similar history and similar characteristics.
The first Australians were the Aborigines. Aboriginal folklore claims that the Aborigines were always in Australia, but most scientists do not subscribe to the lore. Anthropologists believe that the Aborigines migrated from Southeast Asia at least 40,000 years ago, probably during a period when low sea levels permitted the simplest forms of land and water travel. The subsequent rise in sea level made Tasmania an Island and caused a cultural and physical separation from the main land (Australian Aborgine). It is fascinating that the American Indians are also from Asian descent. Native Americans physically favor the Asian people, and it is a widely accepted belief that they migrated from Asia during the Ice Age. The only possible route of travel was the Bering Land Bridge that is believed to have joined present day Alaska with Siberia. The Bering Land Bridge was also submerged with water afterwards, isolating them from their homeland (Native American Page 1).
Both native cultures were social people and relied on the basic hunter-gatherer concept to survive. The Aborigines hunted kangaroo and other game animals while the Native Americans generally hunted buffalo. Both cultures harvested and dispersed selected seeds to supplement their food stores in the winter and engaged in long distance trading. Many of the Native American tribes would gather together every year to celebrate religious ceremonies and to trade. And long distance travel is the only explanation for cross continental tribes using the same tools and irrigation techniques in Australia.
Both Keating’s and Rudd’s speeches are firmly based on the ideas of recognition and reconciliation for the wrongs that European settlers, and their decedents, have inflicted on Indigenous Australians. To explore this idea I believe that it is necessary to take a closer look at both the plight of Eddie Mabo and the stories of the Stolen Generation.
Dr. Marcia Langton, an anthropologist from Australia of Australian Aborigines descent, spoke at the Berndt’s lecture in 2011. Her article, Anthropology, Politics and the Changing World of Aboriginal Australians, focuses primarily on the works of an anthropologist couple Robert and Catherine Berndt. They had completed many ethnographic studies in various areas around Australia. Langton states that their work has been crucial in order to have a complete understanding of the Australian Aborigines’ society. The indigenous Australian’s society has been thoroughly researched by many social sciences through the decades. Artworks, religion, rituals, economy, politics, and even claims of UFO sightings have been recorded by a multitude of scholars. It could be argued that the Australian Aborigines’ culture has been better documented than any other non-western society. I would like to capture the movement of Australian Aboriginal tradition to a more modern society by incorporating Dr.Langton’s works as well as the work of National Geographic Journalist, Michael Finkel. By researching the society as it is today in the 21st century, I will to analyze how they relate to Australians of European descent.
The Aboriginal people of Australia were here thousands of years before European settlement and we forced them to adapt to the changes of environment around them. This change might be for better or worse, but we will never find out. But with the European settlement came the birth of industry, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, manufacture, electricity, gas and water just to name a few.
Indigenous People. In evaluating the Legal System’s response to Indigenous People and it’s achieving of justice, an outline of the history of Indigenous Australians - before and during settlement - as well as their status in Australian society today must be made. The dispossession of their land and culture has deprived Indigenous People of economic revenue that the land would have provided if not colonised, as well as their ... ... middle of paper ... ...
“The more you know, the less you need.” The attitude from White Australians towards Indigenous Australians was extremely unfriendly, and due to the fact that Aboriginal Australians had knowledge about things the European settlers believed did not matter they treated as if they were uneducated nuisances. The aboriginal people believed that the land they had lived on for generations belonged to them; however the White Australians came and took the land. This also means that the Europeans took what the Indigenous people valued most, and that was their land. Authors and directors convey different attitudes, values and beliefs in different ways, however it still has the same impact.
Struggles by Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people for recognition of their rights and interests have been long and arduous (Choo & Hollobach: 2003:5). The ‘watershed’ decision made by the High Court of Australia in 1992 (Mabo v Queensland) paved the way for Indigenous Australians to obtain what was ‘stolen’ from them in 1788 when the British ‘invaded’ (ATSIC:1988). The focus o...
Reynolds, H. (1976). The Other Side of The Frontier: Aboriginal resistance to the European invasion of Australia. Queensland, Australia: James Cook University
Ancient Aboriginals were the first people to set foot on the Australian continent, over 40,000 years or more before Colonization (Eckermann, 2010). They survived by hunting and gathering their food, worshipping the land to protect its resources, and ensuring their survival. The aboriginal community had adapted to the environment, building a strong framework of social, cultural, and spiritual beliefs (Eckermann, 2010).
Tools and Technology- all tools and technology used by Aborigines help define the location of different tribes. For example coastal tribes use fishbone and desert tribes use stones as weapon tips (Australian Indigenous Culture Heritage
Indigenous Australians began to be robbed of their rights and freedoms when the Europeans colonized Australia. Since then, Aboriginal people and Indigenous supporters have taken steps towards equality and reconciliation.
Have You ever thought about the people who inhabited this land before it was stolen from them? Do you know who they were besides the false name they are given, the things they’ve accomplished and how they have helped us today? in this paper you will learn about the life and hardship the original Americans have endured for over 300 years.
“Perhaps there is no other group in the world that has quite so diverse and rich culture as that of the Native Americans. With their gilded history that is rich in strife, struggle, and triumph, the Native American culture is indeed very colorful” (Bantwal). Native American culture is very diverse and it has a very colorful history. It is extremely diverse and in fact the term Native American is a broad term that is used to cover all Native tribes in America. Throughout history there has been conflict not only among the different tribes but also there was plenty of fighting against the white men. Much of the fighting between the Native Americans and the white men was due to misunderstandings, mistrust, and miscommunication. Many thousands of years ago “the nomadic ancestors of modern Native Americans who hiked over a “land bridge” from Asia to what is now Alaska” (History.com). Once they reached Alaska they slowly spread out across the continent of North America. They spread out and separated into different tribes who all have many of the same core ideas but the main thing that separates them is their location in the country. There are Indians from the plains, the pacific coast, the southwest, and the northeast and different locations also. One main idea that is pretty much the same for each tribe is the closeness and respect they show for the land they live on. The history of the Native Americans as a whole is pockmarked by conflict. The conflicts between the tribes were very common and happened because of land disputes or just because of the close proximity of the tribes. But when the white men entered the picture this is where miscommunication and mistrust came into play. The white men wanted the land that...
Many people today know the story of the Indians that were native to this land, before “white men” came to live on this continent. Few people may know that white men pushed them to the west while many immigrants took over the east and moved westward. White men made “reservations” that were basically land that Indians were promised they could live on and run. What many Americans don’t know is what the Indians struggled though and continue to struggle through on the reservations.
Australia’s Indigenous people are thought to have reached the continent between 60 000 and 80 000 years ago. Over the thousands of years since then, a complex customary legal system have developed, strongly linked to the notion of kinship and based on oral tradition. The indigenous people were not seen as have a political culture or system for law. They were denied the access to basic human right e.g., the right to land ownership. Their cultural values of indigenous people became lost. They lost their traditional lifestyle and became disconnected socially. This means that they were unable to pass down their heritage and also were disconnected from the new occupants of the land.
When Captain Cook arrived in 1788 and the colonisation of Australia began, the Indigenous people of Australia struggled and fought to protect their country from infringement, theft and violation. The Indigenous people were faced with a dominant military force and an extremely different view of the world. Over one hundred years ago, the colonists understood this land to be open for the taking and the rightful first owners were treated as intruders on their own land. In 1901 the commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed and a supposedly new era was to occur for this “lucky country” and its inhabitants. http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/433/433pl6.htm However, for Indigenous Australians, this year marked a 113 years of resistance, removal, withdrawal and dispossession. Over one hundred years later, the Native Title act is passed and Indigenous Australian’s continue their political struggle for land rights