Austrailian Aborigines Essay Research Paper Australian AboriginesPrior
Austrailian Aborigines Essay, Research Paper Australian Aborigines Prior to the colonization of Australia by the British in the late 1600’s, large group of natives called Aborigines lived there. They received the name Aborigine due to the translation of the word “the people who were here from the beginning” (Internet, Aboriginal history and culture). The Australian Aborigines occupied the entire Australian continent, which included the large island of Tasmania. By the time the British arrived, the Aborigines established a culture to include Art, multiple languages, social structure, and religious and spiritual ideas. It is very important to understand the land of Australia, and the development of the government, which as change the way of life for these people. Australia is the smallest of the world’s seven continents and the only one that is comprised of a single political unit. (See Map) The population of Australia is 1,8031,000 with an area of 2,971,081 square miles, (4,753,730 square kilometers), it ranks as the sixth largest country in the world (Oceania, 1995). Australia is divided into seven territories; New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory. The city of Sydney, in New South Wales, is the largest city with a population of 3,500,000. The natural vegetation of Australia is comprised of six types, rainforest, sclerophyll forest, woodland, grassland, shrubland, and desert. The interior is comprised of desert, shurbland, and grassland. The Northern Territory, the location of most aboriginal clans and tribes, has woodland along the coast and grasslands and shrublands in the interior. Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory is a very spiritual symbol for the Aborigines. (See Picture) The most important possession of the Aborigines is the land they live on. They have a special connection with everything that is natural. Aborigines see themselves as part of nature (Internet, Culture and Art). They see Ayers rock as a spiritual site because the rock rises from the land with nothing else in site. The Ayers rock was recently given back to the Aborigines, October 1985, but the Australian government has control over the tourism that takes place there. The legislation regarding the land rights of the Aborigines has been debated for many years in Australia. Until recently the aborigines had few rights. These are the important legislation with regards to Aboriginal land rights. Legislation with regard to Aboriginal land right 1970 James Cook lands at the cost of Australia where today there is Sydney. He takes possession of the land because he has the idea of terra nullius” (= land that doesn’t belong to anyone). As they see “not one inch of cultivated ground” they occupy the land in the name of this concept. 1967 An addition to the constitution transforms the right to pass laws concerning the Aborigines from the individual states to the Federal government. The Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders get the Australian citizenship. 1975 The Racial Discrimination Act is enacted. It determines the equality of the Aborigines before the law and in daily life. 1976 The federal government passes the first land right law: The Aboriginal Land Right Act. It concerns the Nothern Territories and allows the Aborigines to claim land where a traditionally relationship can be established. 1983 The New South Wales Land Right Act recognizes that land in this state was traditionally owned by Aborigines, and allows them to claim vacant, unused Crown Land. 1980`s The government policy changes from integration to self-determination. The resistance from the governments of the individual states increases. In prisons young black people die and proof is found of racial behavior. Oct. 1985 Uluru (better known by its European name ‘Ayers Rock’) is officially transferred to the Mutijulu Aboriginal community,
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