Aborginal Rights and Freedoms Flashcards
Who had a terra Nullius approach in mind and how did this affect the Aboriginal people?
This is how the British saw Australia and completely overlooked the native people at the time.
Australians Colonisation
1788
What did white people bring to Australia?
Conflict
Diseases
Organised massacres
Protection Policies
Indigenous survivors from the initial conflict were moved onto reserves. At the end of the nineteenth century there were laws placed that would control all interactions between Indigenous and Non Indigenous people.
When were assimilation policies introduced?
1937
Definition of Terra Nullius
Essentially means no mans land.
Explain the Assimilation Policy
Aboriginals who were not full blood would be adapted into white society. With hopes that the full blood race would die out. They forced the removal of half casts to bring them up in white foster homes. All aspects of public life was segregated from the Aboriginal community.
Stolen Generation
History of the stolen generation was Aboriginal could lawfully be taken away without their parents consent.
Self Determination Policy
In 1972 the Labour government led by Gough Whitlam brought in the Self Determination policy. This enabled Aboriginals to have a say in their future development as a part of Australia.
Native Title
In 1992 the Mabo case forced the High Court of Australia to retract the branding Terra Nullius. It showed that Indigenous people have customs and traditions that have a deep connection to the land and their land rights for the first time in history were recognised under Australian law, this is known as Native title.
Three protests that influenced the Aboriginal movement?
The day of Mourning
Wave hill Walkout
Tent Embassy
Aboriginal Day of Mourning
Aboriginals protested on the 26th of January 1938. The Aboriginals were fighting against, discrimination, mistreatment, loss of culture, land, history and human rights. 1000 people turned up to the congress.
What did the Day of Mourning Act achieve?
Native Title Amendment.
It also achieved the Bringing them home act
Where was the Wave Hill Walkout?
A cattle station that is situated approximately 600 kilometres south of Darwin.
What were the Aboriginal people called who worked at the station?
Gurindiji
What were the Gurindiji people fighting for in the protest of the Wave hill walkout?
They were being extremely mistreated and there was a catastrophic difference in wages between the Indigenous and Non Indigenous people. They also were aiming to sought the return of some of their traditional lands.
How long did the Wavehill Walkout protest last?
7 years
How did the Wavehill walkout end?
The prime minister at the time Gough Whitlam transferred the lease and land ownership a under the name of the Gurindiji people.
When were Aboriginal Land rights passed?
1976
When was the Tent embassy established?
1972
Where was the tent embassy?
Outside the front of Parliament house in Canberra.
What did the tent embassy act as?
A communal place of protest for the Aboriginal people.
How long did the embassy last?
28 years
America 1861
Emancipation proclamation
America 1865-1870
- Series of constitutional amendments, along with civil right act.
- right to personal opportunity.
- equal opportunity for citizens regardless of race, religion, sex.
- equal protection under the law
- right to vote
America 1861-1865
American Civil War
North wanted to free black slaves from the south
1867 America
First meeting of KKK
1862 America
Jim Crow laws
1896 America
Plessy vs Ferguson
Judgement upheld the principle of “separate but equal.”
What were the Jim Crow laws?
Series of local/state laws designed to get around the abolition of slavery and support segregation.
1954 America
Brown vs Board of education
Decision overturned “separate but equal.”
1955 America
The case of Emmett Till
1964 America
3 civil rights workers murdered
1770 Australia
Cook claims Australia is terra nullius empty land
1778 Australia
Colonisation, aboriginal people deemed to have no sovereign claim over traditional lands.
1869 Australia
Establishment of the board of Protection and the Protection Act, spark a wave of protection laws across the states of Australia.
1901 Australia
Federation
-Constitution states that Indigenous Australians are not to be included in the Census. Not citizens
1905 Australia
Chief Protect of Aborigines appointed
1938 Australia
150th anniversary of colonisation marked by Aborigines as a day of mourning
1962 Australia
Aboriginal people are granted the right to vote by an act of parliament.
1965 Australia
Push for equal wages
Freedom riders begin
1966 Australia
Wavehill Walkout- first time Aborigines land rights become a nation wide known issue.
1967 Australia
- Referendum to include Aboriginal people in the Census
- Aboriginal Land Rights Act was the first attempt to legalise and to recognise Aboriginal Rights over their traditional lands.
1972 Australia
Tent Embassy
1975 Australia
Land Rights Act in response to Wave Hill Walkout.
1992 Australia
- Mabo case got the principle of terra nullius extinguished
- Redfern Speech
1993 Australia
Native title Act
1997 Australia
Bringing them home report
2008 Australia
Official Apology from the Australian Parliament to the stolen generations and Aboriginal people for past cruelty and injustice.
Timeline of Aboriginal Events
1770-Australia declared terra nullius 1778-Colonisation 1869-Protection Act and laws 1901-Federation and constitution 1938-Day of Mourning 1962-Right to vote 1965-Freedom rides begin 1966-Wave Hill walkout 1967-Referendum and Aboriginal Land Rights 1972-Tent Embassy 1975-Land Rights Act in NT 1992-Mabo case kills principle of terra nullius and Redfern Speech 1997-Bringing them home report 2008-Apology from Kevin Rudd
What were bus boycotts?
Buses in Montgomery, Alabama were not used by African-Americans for one whole year. They were fighting against segregation on buses. The boycott ended because the bus company was going broke. This resulted in the US supreme court ordered the city of Montgomery to stop segregating buses.
How did Americas rights movement influence the movement for the Indigenous people of Australia?
They helped to inspire and fuel the movement for the rights for Aboriginals. The Americans gave the Australians ideas in which they modelled their fight for justice of. An example of this is the Freedom Riders.
Freedom Riders (USA)
They were a group of freedom riders who challenged the US Supremes court to end racial discrimination on public transport. They proved their point by sitting side by side with white people in all areas of public life. The group would often be attacked by the Ku Klux Klan and were arrested. Their movement was crucial in the eventual desegregation laws.
Student Sit Ins
These were protests where a black person would sit directly next to a white person this is in all public aspects such as the movies, resturants, and public transport.
Why was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created?
It was created after the massacre of WW2.The document is made up of 30 articles and essentially declares that all rights that humans are entitled to, and that is they can not be taken away from anyone.
How were the Aboriginal people segregated at first from the rest of society?
Aboriginal reserves and missions were created for the assimilation policy. This was to keep blacks away from white society.
Why were Aboriginal Boards established?
To manage the Aboriginal population this essentially went on to just being responsible for the removal of half castes from their families.
What was the Aboriginal situation at Federation?
They were not entitled to vote
They did not receive basic wage
They were not eligible for basic welfare and aged pensions
When a census was held Aboriginal people were not counted.
Explain Assimilation Policy
Aboriginal people of mixed race were assimilated into white society and they had no choice in the matter. This was to ensure that the full blood Aboriginals would die out.
Segregation in Australia
They were excluded from participating in society. Colour bars were introduced to pubs, swimming pools and theatres. They were also prohibited in working particular jobs.
The Stolen Generations
Refers to the thousands of Aboriginal children who were removed from their families and were force to live in white society. It was believed that if a mixed race Aboriginal could live in white society then their white attributes would come through. Some full blooded Aboriginal children were also taken and put in institutions were they performed manual labour for the government.
Bringing Them Home Report
The Stolen generations stories were brought together and presented in front of Parliament in 1997. It described the true hurt they felt from this policy and all of the Australians were affected by it.
What was the aim/purpose of the Bringing Them Home Report?
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What were some of the Aboriginals Rights Movement in the 1960’s?
The government agreed to provide welfare but through a third party
All Aboriginals were given the right to vote
They achieved equal wages
Who were the Australian Freedom Riders?
They were a group of activists who were lead by Charles Perkins.
Who did the Australian Freedom Riders get their inspiration from?
The American Freedom Riders
Where did the Freedom Riders protest?
Toured regional NSW, it started out as a fact finding mission but ended in a genuine protest against segregation.
1967 Referendum
It was a success in that Aboriginals now got to be included in the Census.
Explain the Mabo case
A Torres Strait Islander man who won a High Court Case that revoked the branding of Terra Nullius from Australian land. This was the main push behind the Native Title Act.
Explain how reconciliation was attempted to become achieved?
Reconciliation is the best understood as a continuos process not one single event. It happened in Australia when Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people came together and shared common objectives as Australians. Some of the events that were steps towards reconciliation were 1967 Referendum, Commitment to land rights and the 1976 Land Rights Act of Wavehill walkout.
What did the Redfern Speech achieve and try to convey?
It was an act of recognition that it was we who took traditional lands destroyed them, it was we who brought the diseases, the alcohol, we committed the murders, we took children from their mothers and practisiced discrimination and exclusion.
Why was the Redfern speech so influential?
It was the first time an Australian Prime Minister had officially acknowledged and taken full responsiblity of the injustice that was demonstrated towards the Aboriginal people.
Who delivered the Redfern Speech?
Paul Keating
Who issued the apology to the Aboriginal people and when?
Kevin Rudd issued the apology and it was on February 13th 2008
