Indigenous Australians & Native Americans

Over the course of my stay in Australia I've gathered some thoughts regarding Indigenous Australians and Native Americans. Let me present some history of each nation and parallels between the two peoples:

Both nations, Australia and the United States of America (it is the Native Americans of the USA that I am writing about, by the way, not the encompassing Native Americans of all of North and South America), began as new colonies. The USA (hereon referred to as America) was founded out of revolutionary means - the breaking away from England. Australia began as series of convict settlements. Both colonized and formed as countries from these respective beginnings.

Both Indigenous Australians and Native Americans inhabited their respective lands before white men arrived. Both people were significant in numbers before the white men came, and both people's populations decreased drastically after the white men came.

Why? In America the white men brought disease. Smallpox and measles were common but rarely fatal for the immune white men, but for the Native Americans these illnesses often ended in their deaths. In Australia white men killed Indigenous Australians for reasons along the lines of sheep being stolen for food. Many Indigenous Australian tribes incorrectly assumed that relations with white men were communal - white men's sheep were also Indigenous Australians' sheep. This was not the case, and when white men found Indigenous Australians stealing or killing livestock for survival, the white men shot and killed the Indigenous Australians.

Here is an excerpt from one of my Australia Culture & Society lectures:

"Robert Hughes listed a string of horrors in his book, entitled "A Fatal Shore." He talked about kangaroo hunters shooting aboriginal Australians for dog’s meat, and of whites who killed Indigenous Australians for sport." -Keith Moore, Lecture

In addition to being shot and killed, Indigenous Australians' population decreased largely due to malnutrition. When white men came they scared off many sources of food for the Indigenous Australians (i.e., kangaroo). This is a likely reason as to why tribes assumed that sheep were for everyone to eat.

Here are some numbers on population:

Before White Men (late 1700s, early 1800s):
*Indigenous Australians: 1 million
*Native Americans: couldn't find an exact figure, but "80% of Native populations died due to European diseases after first contact" -Wikipedia's "Native Americans in the United States" article

After White Men (2008):
*Indigenous Australians: 517,000 (2.6% of Australia's population of 20 million)
*Native Americans: 1.6 million (0.53% of America's population of 301 million)

White men reacted to the native peoples in horrid ways. In Australia there were the Stolen Generations (more on that in a minute). In America white men made effort to remove Native Americans (The Long Walk of the Navajo, for example), and placed them in reservations.

So what were the Stolen Generations? "Between 1910 and 1970 up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were taken forcibly or under duress from their families by police or welfare officers. Most were under 5 years old. There was rarely any judicial process. To be Aboriginal was enough. [These years] are known as the ‘Stolen Generations’." -Eniar

While Indigenous Australians were being oppressed by the white men, their inclination to repopulate was very low. However, through the tragic process of the Stolen Generations, Indigenous Australians were "assimilated." Basically, through assimilation, Indigenous Australians were meshed into white society. Native Americans are still very segregated from white society in America.

I just wanted to post about these similar histories in my own country and Australia. I find it very interesting how similar the two histories are. It makes me a bit ashamed of my country's past. It doesn't make sense to me how the color of one's skin or their culture could offend someone else so much that that someone else feel the need to remove or kill that different person. I am glad that times have changed and that the native peoples of Australia and America are living in better conditions than they once were. Since the worst of what I've discussed here, things have made positive progression, and that is a very good thing. Reflecting upon this topic has reinforced the notion of treating one as you would like to be treated for me.

-Amanda

Most of the information in this entry is from my schooling on American history, and from my QUT Australian Culture & Society lectures. Population information came from Wikipedia.

For more information, here are some links to get you started:

Indigenous Australians (Wiki)
Australian Aboriginees (Wiki)
Aboriginal Australians (Crystal Links)
Native Americans in the USA (Wiki)
Indigenous Peoples of the USA (Wiki)
Native Americans

If you are interested in watching a movie on Indigenous Australians, here are a couple that I recommend:

The Rabbit Proof Fence
Quigley Down Under