Australia's First Peoples

Australias First Peoples are the worlds oldest living civilization dating back some 50,000 years according to a recent genetic study by an international team of academics. Yet, many Australians know little about the history of our First Peoples. The 2014 Australian Reconciliation Barometer shows only 30 per cent of Australians consider themselves knowledgeable of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories.Indigenous Australians are people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, together they form three per cent of the national population, based on the 2011 Census. The 1788 European settlement resulted in a series of discriminatory policies against the traditional owners of the land with devastating effects on their civil rights and the survival of traditions, culture and languages.

Here are 7 facts you need to know about Australia’s First Peoples.

Identity is tied to the cultures a person is raised in and how they identify with that culture

 

 

 

One of the biggest myths about Aboriginality is that if you have fair skin you can’t be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. 

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Culture represents the ways of living that are built up by groups and transmitted from one generation to another

 

 

 

The essential features of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures include a special connection to the land and commitment to family and community.

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Rights of citizenship were not extended to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at Federation in 1901

 

 

 

Bishop Garnsey, Faith and Lilon Bandler campaigning for a YES vote at the 1967 referendum

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples also had no right to vote or receive social security benefits such as the pensions and maternity allowances until the late sixties.

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‘Dreaming’ or ‘Dreamtime’ are English words that describe a rich Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander concept

 

 

 

For Aboriginal people ‘Dreaming’ is more than a mythical past: “It prescribes our connection as Aboriginal people with the spiritual essence of everything around us and beyond us. Dreaming stories are not in the past, they are outside of time – always present and giving meaning to all aspects of life.” – 

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Language identifies who Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are and where they come from

 

 

 

Angelina Joshua keeping the language alive at the Ngukurr Language Centre (Photo by Elise Derwin for SBS)

There were around 270 different language groups and many different cultural ways at the time Europeans arrived. Today, 145 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are still spoken in Australia, however only 18 remain strong, meaning they are spoken by people of all ages.

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What is language extinction and why should we care?

Almost half of the roughly 6,900 languages spoken around the world today are endangered. Scarily, the rate of extinction is accelerating and there is a whole lot at stake

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are connected to country through lines of descent (paternal and maternal), as well as clan and language groups

 

 

 

"When we say country we might mean homeland or tribal or clan area and in saying so we may mean something more than just a place; somewhere on the map. We are not necessarily referring to place in a geographical sense. But we are talking about the whole of the landscape, not just the places on it." – Professor Mick Dobson AM

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples established effective ways to use and sustain resources of the land

 

 

 

The rights of different groups to live in and manage certain areas of land are clear and recorded through art, stories, songs and dance. "I have been brought up to believe that we have a special connection to the land. We belong to the land. The land does not belong to us." - Cassandra Lawton Gungarri woman (SW Qld)