The effect of Aboriginal Dispossession in Australia

1. The effect of Aboriginal Dispossession in Australia By Maryrose and Lauren

2. THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE ARE THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF AUSTRALIA AND THEREFORE THE DOCTRINE OF TERRA NULLIUS IS LEGAL FICTION.

3. Impact of Dispossession • The impact of dispossession for aboriginal people has been enormous and overwhelmingly detrimental. Broadly speaking the history of dispossession can be divided into three key stages:

4. Impact of Dispossession • The colonial period of non-recognition (Marked by the introduction of terminal European diseases, shootings, massacres and poisonings).

5. Impact of Dispossession 2. The paternalistic policy of protection which began in the 1880’s. Paternalism – refers to the colonial attitude to know what is best for Aboriginal people.

6. Impact of Dispossession 3. The official Government policies of Protectionism and Assimilation (Where the stolen generation erupted from). Assimilation – the social process of absorbing one cultural group into another – Often by force.

7. Impact of dispossession on Aboriginal spirituality • Two hundred years of dispossession have left devastating effects on Aboriginal Spirituality. • The separation from land as a result of dispossession is responsible to their loss of identity.

8. Impact of dispossession on Aboriginal spirituality • Separation from land • Loss of identity • Ever-present burden of not being able to fulfil ritual responsibilities. Separation from kinship groups, results in the loss of language • Destruction of the kinship system • Loss of belief system.

9. First 30/40 years Settlers wanted to remove Aboriginals from the land so they could use it – farming. European disease to which Aboriginals had no immunity. This led to large numbers wiped out. Aboriginals suffered from massacres, poisonings, starvation and shootings. Early Colonial and frontier history

10. Dispossession organised on a large scale – 1880s. Government’s paternalistic policy. Remove Aboriginal people from unsuitable environments and place them in the protection of the state by detaining them in Christian missions and government reserves. The actual intent of this policy was to isolate Aboriginal people from the rest of the community until such a time as their culture died out. Protection Policy

11. Impact of the Protection Policy • Removal of large numbers of children from their families meant that these children were unable to maintain their cultural identity. • Restriction on the practice of the kinship system, totems and ceremonial rituals

12. Impact of the Protection Policy • Dislocation of Aboriginal people from the land caused a loss of Aboriginal cultural identity as the people of the Dreaming are inextricably connected to the land.

13. Impact of the Assimilation Policy • Denied an opportunity to learn their own culture. • Prohibition of traditional practises. • Ban on use of traditional languages. • Burden on not being about to fulfil ritual responsibilities.

14. Stolen Generation • Aboriginal children who were removed from their homes between 1900 and 1972 by the Government and church missionaries in an attempt to assimilate these children into White Australian society • Aboriginal race could be bred out of existence. • Mmaltreatment, sexual exploitation and humiliation

15. Stolen Generation Severing Aboriginal children's ties with the Dreaming. The removal of these children from their traditional lands means that they could no longer learn or fulfill their ritual responsibilities

16. Assimilation Policy • half caste- assimilate them into the white community • forget their cultural identity • separation of Aboriginal children from families • prohibition of traditional Aboriginal practices • ban on the use of traditional Aboriginal languages