How Australia Deals With Indigenous Cultures
, ,, We are not orphans on our own land. We come from this land." (Hume, 2022, paragraph 9).
The indigenous ancestors settled around fifty thousand years ago, long before the first
Europeans explored the continent. Untouched by external influences, the Indigenous tribes
lived symbiotically with the Australian environment (Tacon & Chippindale, 1994). A
distinction is made between the Aborigines and the Torres Strait Islanders. The first mentioned
settled on Australia’s mainland and surrounding islands. This did not include the Torres Strait,
a region between Australia and Papa New Guinea and the homeland of the Torres Strait
Islanders (Singe, 1979). (1998) and Beckett (1987) describe this geographical difference as
why they evolved dissimilarly. Aborigines had a solid connection to the mainland, which is
related to their linguistic and cultural development, as there were over 250 spoken languages
and concepts of kinship. At the same time, the Torres Strait Islanders followed a maritime-
based culture, including fishing, navigation, and trading.
Fig. 1
The arrival of The First Fleet in 1788 disrupted their way of living, through which the
Aborigines experienced a sequence of events shaped by injustice, violent oppression, and exile.
The first explorers arrived in Sydney, demanding the Australian continent as terra nullius
(Reynolds & Marks, 1987). The quick spread of the Europeans all over Australia suppressed
the aboriginal tribes from their lands and impacted their lifestyle, spirituality, and society in
particular (Goodhall, 2008). The first contact between natives and intruders was not violent at
first. Europeans brought presents and cultural objects to be well-disposed towards the aboriginal
communities.
Nevertheless, the so-called Frontier Wars were unavoidable from the British side since the
natives would not just accept their fate.
, ,, We are not orphans on our own land. We come from this land." (Hume, 2022, paragraph 9).
The indigenous ancestors settled around fifty thousand years ago, long before the first
Europeans explored the continent. Untouched by external influences, the Indigenous tribes
lived symbiotically with the Australian environment (Tacon & Chippindale, 1994). A
distinction is made between the Aborigines and the Torres Strait Islanders. The first mentioned
settled on Australia’s mainland and surrounding islands. This did not include the Torres Strait,
a region between Australia and Papa New Guinea and the homeland of the Torres Strait
Islanders (Singe, 1979). (1998) and Beckett (1987) describe this geographical difference as
why they evolved dissimilarly. Aborigines had a solid connection to the mainland, which is
related to their linguistic and cultural development, as there were over 250 spoken languages
and concepts of kinship. At the same time, the Torres Strait Islanders followed a maritime-
based culture, including fishing, navigation, and trading.
Fig. 1
The arrival of The First Fleet in 1788 disrupted their way of living, through which the
Aborigines experienced a sequence of events shaped by injustice, violent oppression, and exile.
The first explorers arrived in Sydney, demanding the Australian continent as terra nullius
(Reynolds & Marks, 1987). The quick spread of the Europeans all over Australia suppressed
the aboriginal tribes from their lands and impacted their lifestyle, spirituality, and society in
particular (Goodhall, 2008). The first contact between natives and intruders was not violent at
first. Europeans brought presents and cultural objects to be well-disposed towards the aboriginal
communities.
Nevertheless, the so-called Frontier Wars were unavoidable from the British side since the
natives would not just accept their fate.
