Indigenous Australians most ancient civilisation on Earth

They are an interesting and unique culture - nomads without herds to follow, a culture with complex family or skin relationships but a stone age technology and instead of possessions and artifacts they have their stories, art and song lines but no written language. Living on a continent without a grain that could be cultivated as a crop they have nevertheless managed to survive by sustainable management of the landscape, plants and animals.

The Aborigines are what the land has allowed them to be and they in turn have reshaped the land.
 
But are they treated equally by others?
 

No, they are not. When white settlers came they failed to recognise the indigenous culture, declared terra nullius and appropriated the land for cultivation, introduced exotic fauna and flora and shot or poisoned any natives who objected.

Unable to follow their nomadic lifestyle, the indigenous lost the means to sustain themselves and their culture and most ended up on reserves for their general protection but they did not thrive there.

Before a referendum in 1967 they were not recognised as citizens and not counted in the census. Pastoral leases were advertised as so many square miles and so many indigenous, as if they were cattle. They lived on the leases and worked as stockmen and station hands in return for rations.

In 1966 some Aboriginal stockmen walked of Wave Hill station protesting their unequal treatment compared to the white workers. The strike made headlines all over Australia. While the initial strike was about wages and living conditions it soon spread to include the more fundamental issue about their traditional lands. The Wave Hill walk-off had morphed into a land claim. The strike went on for 9 years until the PM, Gough Whitlam intervened In 1975 the first successful Aboriginal land claim resulted in the Gurindji people assuming tradition title to Wattie Creek.

Aborigines are now citizens, native title is recognised in every state and mining companies have to negotiate with traditional land owners. However, socially most are still very disadvantaged but things are moving forward.
 
Warri, good to know things are finally starting to improve for them. I've seen quite a few documentaries and dramatizations on how they've been treated.
 
Sounds like what happened here, and there are still problems overshadowed by other racial problems as we are seeing...
 


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