Aussie Aboriginals

If Americans wonder what the systematic theft of lands from Native Americans was like, or the ways in which their culture was harshly ripped apart and their identity quashed, one only has to look at the case of modern day Australia and the struggles of the Aboriginals. A culture much like Native Americans, who view themselves as part of the land not exploiters of it, the Aboriginals in Australia have been systematically stripped of their lands by economic interests, increasing urbanization of natural lands, and a government headed by John Howard that is often openly hostile toward the aboriginal culture and their land rights claims. The Aboriginals view it as more than an assault on the rights of their land, they consider it a cultural attack, "They say their fight is also about land rights, the social and economic problems brought by mining interests to their small community and ultimately, about their cultural survival" (Nette 1).

The Australian government has long tried to assimilate the Aboriginals into the mainstream community. Like Native Americans, the Aboriginals have not only resisted these efforts with little means but great determination but they have also faired poorly in many instances, either from legislation that constantly erodes their rights to their land, or from the social destruction that occurs when a native culture is not only rendered voiceless by a dominant one (through economics, legislation, military force,

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isted not as a creation of British common law but as something the common law recognized as being a valid legal system in itself. In other words, the court recognized the absurdity of the crown being regarded as the absolute beneficial owner of the land" (Mohan 3). The Aboriginals gained a small foothold on the rights to their lands with this High Court decision. However, the Mabo case did not clearly establish whether leaseholds (especially pastoral leases) nullified native title. In 1993, the Native Title Act was passed, but the Howard government rendered it virtually toothless through a series of court challenges and campaign promises of developing a "workable" native title act. However, Mabo was extremely significant in that it validated land rights to the Aboriginals who had seen their lands taken from them piece by piece. Powerful conservative interests fought against this kind of legislation, knowing full well it was more economically beneficial to be able to continue to impose upon the land rights of the Aborigines. There is good reason for this kind of sentiment. Just the uranium mining industry alone can benefit from billions of dollars if the government allows mining of the aboriginal land of Jabiluka, "The lar

Category: People - A