There are many such justifications in the literature of the day (Stone 1974, p. 46). Social inequality Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a new problem appeared for white Australia; how to treat children of mixed race. From the perspective of Social Darwinism, full-blooded Aborigines were dismissed as destined for extinction and isolated to ‘stations’, but it was feared that those of mixed race ‘would breed up to become a social menace’ (Beresford & Omaji, p. 34). The Roth Royal Commission (Western Australia, 1905) also reflected this fear. If [they] are left to their own devices under the present state of the law, their future will be one of vagabondism and harlotry … and [they] will spend their lives in gaol or as prostitutes.
Historically Institutional racism plays a major role in hindering the progress of Indigenous people. Institutional racism is addressed in the paper as a key factor in the social disadvantage and consecutive high unemployment rate amongst Indigenous Australians. Australia is privy to a history of wrongdoing against its Indigenous community. Andrew Armitage writes of the British invasion in 1788; ‘the land needed for the colony was obtained by an act of dispossession, assisted in British law by the convenient assumption that Australia was terra nullius (vacant, unoccupied land)’. The invasion was the cause of the ‘land wars’ that ensued and resulted in the massacre and decimation of the Aboriginal people (Armitage, 1995, p. 17).
It makes us focus on the Australian Flag Debate. The Australian Flag Debate, a periodic question, is a discussion about whether the Australian should change their national flag or not. Especially, the new flag should remove the Union Jack from the canton and to introduce a completely new design which is without the Southern Cross. (Wikipedia 2014) And it has been an ongoing debate since early 1990s. From the history of Australia, we can know that it has many connections with Britain.
Consequently, Asians were excluded from taking advantage of this viable economic opportunity. It is clear that the Homestead Act is discriminatory in its effect. However, this paper explores whether or not Congress had a discriminatory intent in the passage of this landmark law. Part One of this paper briefly discusses the history of federal naturalization laws that prevented Asians from becoming United States citizens. I.
By integrating ‘half casts’ into white society, policy makes hoped they would marry white partners and eventually, over time, diminish any traces of Indigenous culture and identity. A graphic example of the impact of child removal policies can be seen through its impact on Malcolm Smith and his family. Malcolm Smith, a child of the Stolen Generation, was taken away after stealing a push bike, the state saw his parents ‘unfit’ and continued to tear apart their once big family. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Report of the Inquiry into the Death of Malcolm Charles Smith (1989) 1-5 stated
“A majority of the Aboriginal people living in Victoria live well below the poverty line,” and their life expectancy is a lot lower than that of the average non-indigenous Victorian. The general health status of these people is indeed much poorer than that the rest of the Victorian population. A person or a group of peoples’ life expectancy refers to the predicted number of years they are expected to live. This is determined statistically by factors such as, General Health, living conditions and nutrition. For example the average life span/life expectancy for an aboriginal man living in Victoria is 59 years and for woman it would be 65, This is a lot less compared to the non-indigenous Victorians as the average man is predicted to live to 76 and a woman is predicted to live till 82.
Rather than view Australian history as a closed system, they attempt to explore how experiences in other democracies shaped the decision to have compulsory voting in Australia. The writers’ views are that compulsory voting was adopted to protect an apathetic majority from outspoken minorities. The article would be a useful source in the writing of a paper on compulsory voting because it examines how experiences in other nations affected Australians’ decisions to make voting compulsory. The article also further explores the debates in the nineteenth century Australian colonies, which led to the adoption of mandatory voting, in the context of other democracies. TWOMEY, A.
It is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, nationality and descent. More than one Australians say they have been physically attacked because of their race, therefore. Race is a significant social issue. Racism is denying people access to rights, representation or resources based on racial differences. Most of today’s racism can be traced back to the era of colonialism that began in the1400s.
Chapter 8 Navigating Masculinities Across the Cultural Ditch: Tales from Māori Men in Australia Richard Pringle & Paul Whitinui Introduction Contemporary Australia is multiethnic yet the lucky country has not always induced good luck for its indigenous population or non-white settlers. More bluntly, Australia’s history of race relations can be regarded as shameful (MacLeod 2006). Colin Tatz (1999) reported, in relation to the United Nation’s definition of genocide, that policies adopted by both state and federal governments up until the 1970s constituted genocide against the Aboriginals. Australia’s official immigration policy prior to 1947 also aimed to keep its population white (MacLeod 2006) and, more recently,
Tribal warfare was common and before white settlement this accounted for the biggest non-natural cause of death amongst Aboriginal men. The effects of the British occupation of this land would be devastating to the Indigenous Australians. Most significantly without having been subjected to the English diseases, a smallpox epidemic would wipe out approximately 70% of the Aboriginal population of Sydney and as it spread beyond the colony, continued to have devastating effects on the native population. Diseases along with significant dispossession from the land and massacres would be responsible for reducing the population of indigenous people in New South Wales by an estimated 90% by the 1900s. Today Aboriginal Australians account for 2.2% of the New South Wales population and almost 30% of the total indigenous population of Australia.