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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, etc.) but also is coerced against its will to convert its cultural identity and lifestyle. The Aboriginals continue to fare far worse than their Australian counterparts in nearly all aspects of life, from economics to longevity, “Aboriginal children forcibly separated from their parents as part of a governmental policy of assimilation, right up until the 1960s, to a large extent sums up the plight of Aborigines in the Lucy County. On average, Aborigines die 20 years younger than white Australi...

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Aussie Aboriginals. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 14:58, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1685054.html