Since colonisation, indigenous Australians have experienced catastrophic effects on their lives in many and varied ways. There have been numerous historical events that have directly influenced modern day contemporary Australian society, particularly from the perspective of Indigenous Australians.
Current day issues relating to Indigenous disadvantage stem directly from the loss of cultural identity and the disempowerment that occurred as a direct consequence of colonisation. The complexity and richness of Aboriginal cultures was poorly understood by the majority of early colonists (and their descendants today). Government legislation and policies worked against the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people but greatly benefited interest groups such as pastoralists, who were rapidly spreading across Australia, setting up farms and stations, often with the (unpaid) labour of Indigenous men and women. This example of lack of understanding of Aboriginal ways of life and how they used the land, resulted in many clashes between colonial settlers and indigenous people, particularly over land and access to land, which for Aboriginal people meant food and spiritual well-being.
Other effects of colonisation such as poverty, racism and the decline in Indigenous health have been just as devastating. In this essay I will describe the impact of colonisation upon Indigenous Australians, specifically the socio-cultural impact of European settlement on Indigenous health and issues of racism. I will also highlight why Aboriginal people have not responded successfully to Western medical systems. The reasons for the decline in health and increasing impact of non-communicable and chronic disorders and their complications in Australia’s Indigenous population are extremely complex. They have historical, cultural, socio-economic and political dimensions all of which can be traced to the time of colonisation and the events following it. As in all other colonial and post-colonial societies, occupation has left a legacy of racism and prejudice, particularly affecting the relationship between the indigenous peoples and the colonists. This racism and prejudice has been promoted in many forms - on an individual and personal basis, in policy and legislation and in institutional systems. It has inevitably influenced the ways in which contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people relate to non-indigenous Australians and how they see themselves and their place in Australian society – the effects of which will be discussed in the is paper.
The Colonisation Experience And Its Impact On Indigenous Health
“I thought that's a real indictment upon Australia, that Aboriginal people living in an advanced country, have third world health problems”.
Dr Sandra Eades, Aboriginal Medical Service, in My Kind of People, Achievement, Identity and Aboriginality, 1994.
Colonisation has affected the health of Indigenous communities in a number of ways. Before European colonisation, Indigenous people were hunter–gatherers who had lived in isolation from other populations for tens of thousands of years. In traditional times, they gathered, trapped and hunted indigenous foods that were predominantly low in dietary energy, fat, salt and sugar, and high in fibre and complex carbohydrates. They also expended considerable physical energy in obtaining sufficient water and food to survive (Horton, D, 1994) At the time of first European contact, Indigenous people were described as “slimly built, sinewy featherweights” (Elphinstone JJ, 1971). They were free from chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension or diabetes mellitus. One of the most devastating impacts of European colonisation on Aboriginal people was the introduction of and exposure to communicable infectious diseases such as smallpox, influenza, venereal disease, typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, measles and whooping cough. For example, many of the Eora people who lived on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour died from smallpox in the first years of the European occupation (Anderson & Grossman p182).
Rather than go into the specifics and statistical data relating to individual groups (i.e. age, gender, he life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is between 16-18 years less non-Indigenous Australians etc.) and rates of diseases impacting Indiginous health, I will address the broader impact of colonisation as a whole on the health of the aboriningal population.
It is well documented that the poor health of Indigenous Australians in contemporary society can be largely attributed to the European invasion. After James Cook reached the shore of Sydney Cove in 1788 and colonisation of the land began, the previous tranquillity of Aboriginal people’s lives changed forever. Colonisation not only disrupted traditional Aboriginal lifestyle but it also has been identified as the most important factor contributing to the poor health status of Aboriginal people today.
It is essential to understand the meaning of health to Aboriginal people because contrary to the Western meaning of well-being, it is a multi-dimensional concept embracing all aspects of living. According to the National Aboriginal and Island Health Organisation the definition of health is as follows: “Not just the physical well being of the individual but the social emotional and cultural well-being of the whole community. This is a whole-of-life view and it also includes the cyclical concept of life.” (Eckermann et al 1992). Therefore, it is not just the physical contact of Europen settlers that influnced the decline of Indignous health but the mental/emotional pain and destruction of culture – all of which impact the individual and community wellbeing as a whole.
The colonisers, usually Christian, had a dramatically differing view of health to that of the colonised, creating incompatible principals and beliefs between Western medical practioners and Aboriginal people. For example, an Aboriginal person might see (and often does) a hospital as a place to die, and so they will stay away from hospitals at all costs. So resistence in this particular instance takes the form of not going to the doctor, not taking medicine, or simply returning to their own community healers and making their own medicines.
In the hunter-gatherer semi nomadic lifestyle, Indigenous Australians had free access to the land and its resources with traditional medicine that made it possible to maintain a fairly healthy and well-nourished population. Within a few years, however this healthy population became the poorest and sickest minority group in Australia. Dispossession of Aboriginal land and consequently the destruction of the economic sphere of Aboriginal people in conjunction with the range of introduced diseases had resulted in a rapid population loss and detiroration in health generally.
Colonialism destroys the cultural patterns by which traditional societies survive, and in the case of Australian Indiginous people, this relates particularly to the kinship bond. Once these traditional patterns and infrastructures are disrupted, all kinds of other imbalances occur. For example, within a few years of European settlement essential conditions in order to maintain good health were absent from Aboriginal peoples’ lives. The Better Heath Commission identified these conditions as a range of material and non-material factors such as adequate shelter, suitable nutrition, companionship, income and healthy environment. In addition to these things, Aboriginal peoples’ health was jeopardised by many so called introduced diseases against which they had not developed natural immunity as these illnesses were unknown in their tradition life (Saggers and Gray 1991).
From the 1890’s under the government protection policy, segregation of Aboriginal people started, which meant that indigenous Australians who had previously been forced to leave their traditional ‘countries’ became incarcerated in settlements, reserves and missions (Knowles 2001). Hundreds of people including adults, children and elders were squeezed in these institutions thereby creating an ideal environment for the transmission of communicable diseases. In addition to overcrowding, living conditions in these institutions were intolerable. The responsible government had no intention to spend any money on basic facilities such as sanitation etc. Dense population and poor nutrition all contributed to the distribution of diseases. In the case of infectious diseases, most particularly in the case of leprosy and venereal diseaes, the response of European people was appalling. Instead of providing health care to Aboriginal people they instead proceeded to move them away. It was not until 1911 that the first medical examination was ordered for Aboriginal people, though not to improve the indiginous health crisis, but to appease the fears of European settlers that they might catch a contagious illness.
Aboriginal people had to endure the policies of these institutions which also had the implication of loosing the freedom of choice, independence and mobility. Many children were forcibly removed from their families and raised on missions and settlements. Many of them suffered emotional distress as they were lost halfway between two cultures. Further, institutionalisation had a negative psychological impact on Aboriginal people which took the form of depression and frustration and still has a devastating effect on contemporary Aboriginal life. They could no longer care for the land or for each other, hence the anhiliation of the indiginous wholistic approach to health and well-being.
Today, the significant increase in “lifestyle” diseases, particularly over the past few decades, may be linked to the rapid shift towards “Westernised” diets and lifestyles and a decline in physical activity patterns. High-risk behaviours, such as a sedentary lifestyle, poor nutrition, excessive alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking, are implicated as contributors to these adverse outcomes and are more prevalent among Indigenous Australians (Trewin D, 2005). Furthermore, clustering of such risk behaviours is common, and the effects of multiple adverse health-related behaviours compound the problem. The excessive consumption of alcohol as an example has important nutritional implications, as well as negative social impacts on individuals, families and communities.
But these factors do not fully explain the complexities and dynamics of the disturbing upsurge in chronic disease in Indigenous people. Social factors such as poverty, inferior housing, severe overcrowding, poor standards of domestic and community hygiene, racial discrimination, educational disadvantage, high unemployment rates, heavy dependence on social welfare, limited access to affordable and nutritious foods, and poor understanding of health and nutrition all increase the risk of chronic disease in Indigenous people (Reid J, Tromp F., 1994). Limited access to quality health care, disease prevention and health promotion programs is another contributory factor. All of these underlying factors have a direct correlation to colonisation and must be corrected to overcome the health inequities experienced by Indigenous people today.
The Colonisation Experience And Racism
Dr William Jonas
Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islamd, Social Justice Commissioner
In Australia, racism is undeniably linked to the history of colonisation. As previously discussed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were dispossessed of their land and were discriminated against by the first British and European settlers. Racial discrimination has continued to influence the lives of Indigenous Australians in the two centuries following white settlement.
Until 1969, state-run Aboriginal Protection or Welfare Boards controlled and supervised the lives of Indigenous Australians. These boards, which began operating in the early 1900s, could decide where Indigenous people could live, whom they might marry or have relationships with and where and how their children could be raised. They also determined which jobs Indigenous people could have, and withheld their wages indefinitely. They governed what property Indigenous people could own and how they disposed of it and also where people could travel whom they could visit. Certain exemptions were made for those Indigenous people who were deemed to have reached 'acceptable' standards of non-Indigenous civilisation, that is, a European lifestyle. These people were granted a type of 'honorary' citizenship, which could nevertheless be withdrawn by the authorities. Aboriginal people referred to these exemption certificates as 'dog tags' or 'dog licences'.
Until recent years, racist policies and practices were also embedded within Australian laws and institutions. The most telling examples of these were the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and the denial of full citizenship rights to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people. Finally in 1969, the Protection Board was disbanded and the Commonwealth assumed responsibility for Indigenous affairs. This meant that under the Constitution, Indigenous Australians were entitled to the same rights as all other Australian citizens. While legislation now exists to protect the rights of all citizens, there is a continuing legacy today for the indigenous community from the effects of these racist practices that date back to the time of colonisation.
Most of the problems facing Indigenous people today stem from generations of oppression and have resulted in a lack of trust of white society. Colonisation meant oppression and genocide. White man could not relate and so reacted brutally. Aboriginal people were denied the right to live by their own rules, to decide on their own policies. They were denied the freedom to run their own economic and family lives. They could not necessarily marry the person they chose, mix with people of their choice, speak to people of a certain skin colour, live in a particular street etc.
Children were taken from mothers after birth, others were taken once they reached the age of three or four years. Many Aboriginal families were thus denied the right to nurture, to rear and educate, to love their own children and to see them grow up. They lost these children, and the children became lost themselves. As noted in Vol.2 of the National Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (p.518), often these children had been taught to detest everything Aboriginal, and this hatred could extend to themselves once they realised their skin was not white.
With such damaging historical records it is little wonder that social issues have become increasingly common within Indigenous society. However, the strength of family affiliation goes a long way to explain the preservation of a distinct culture that has defied assimilation despite aggressive government policies for over a century (Walker, 1993; Eversley 1984). Aboriginal family life has many positive aspects, which in most cases prevail over the hardships and the pain. Despite the disadvantages in terms of housing, employment, education and training, family bonds remain strong. A dominant characteristic of the family is the sense of kinship - the feeling of family togetherness, the ability to rely on each other, and the creation of spiritual bonding which helps to give hope and strength to Aboriginal people. (Walker, 1993)
Racism is something all Aboriginal people are familiar with. It has caused problems for indigenous people since the beginning of white settlement. Racism is an external factor that has permeated all aspects of contemporary Indigenous society. It has caused great disadvantage in employment, housing, health, education and training, and this in turn puts an incredible strain on Aboriginal family life. Some families have faced racist attitudes head on, by educating themselves in an attempt to fight the white man's system on white man's level. These people can help other families to stand up and deal with situations in the best way possible. But there are many families unable to deal with racist attitudes in such a way and as a result these people are pushed into the ground by the system - they are labelled, or put into a category, and their levels of self-esteem are so destroyed that they feel that their lives are hardly worth living. In a society that barely recognises the existence of Aboriginal people, where culture and language have been stripped from many, it is difficult to accept white ways.
Another telling way of countering racism is the raising of public awareness on the nature of contemporary urban Aboriginal society and culture, through the media. The issue of stereotypes - a form of racism often perpetuated through the media - covers a wider range of attitudes than one may expect. On one hand, there are the attitudes that Indigenous people are lazy, drunks, un-educated no hopers, involved in too much crime; that they receive too much from welfare, get treated too leniently by police and courts, and that do not want to work. On the other hand, there are perceptual stereotypes: if an Aboriginal person does not fit the image of a dark- skinned, wide-nosed person then they are not 'real' Aborigines - 'real' Aborigines being full-bloods living a traditional tribal lifestyle. Both of these stereotypical attitudes can be very damaging to social, psychological, physical and economic wellbeing, individually and within the family unit.
The education system also contributes to stereotypes in the wider community. Too often students learn of the negative aspects of Aboriginal history (if Aboriginal history is taught at all) rather than contemporary Aboriginal studies which can be very positive, especially with regard to political, sporting and educational achievements.
Racist beliefs are also at the core of the resentment expressed by some people at measures taken by governments to address the disadvantages of particular groups of people. Affirmative measures and positive discrimination are frequently seen as the preferential treatment of one group at the expense of another rather than the means of redressing the disadvantage inherent in society. Examples include opposition to Aboriginal land rights, calls for the removal of special benefits for particular groups and the “one size fits all” approach as seen in the recent government intervention. These beliefs are compounded by the notion that treating all people in the same way equates to equity and social justice when in fact not everyone begins life with the same opportunities.
There is nothing "new" about the current resurgence of racism in Australia. It is important to counter the misinformation propagated by racists, by presenting factual historical information about the effect of colonisation on Aboriginal people and about the hardships faced by later immigrants from Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the positive contributions they have made and continue to make to Australian society. It is also important to ensure that overdue legislative innovations relating to native title and against racial vilification are implemented as soon as possible.
Racism affects everyone. It damages communities by limiting the contributions of its members and disrupts peaceful co-existence and co-operation between groups. It damages individuals by destroying self-confidence and preventing them from achieving their potential. It is particularly damaging for children as it hampers social development and limits educational opportunities. The consequences of racism - social injustice, a less productive economy and a divided community - are clearly detrimental, not only for Indigenous communities but to Australian society as a whole.
Conclusion
Dr William Jonas
Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islamd, Social Justice Commissioner
I have described breifly the impact that colonlialism has had on contempory Indiginous Australians and why Aboriginal people continue to be disadvantaged in the area of health and in the face of racism. European colonisation destroyed the kinship infrastructure and the access to the land and bushfood that was necessary for the mainenence of Aboriginal health. In addition to this, moving Aboriginal people away from families has created long –term social and psychological issues for them, a form of dislocation in their own country.
Programs to address inequities in Indigenous health require sensitive and focused strategies in order to succeed. One of the most important elements required is the meaningful involvement of Indigenous people in programs that affect their own health and wellbeing. Australian governments and their agencies must commit to the task of reducing chronic disease in the Indigenous population. Indigenous people can help by being involved in community-based programs that work collaboratively with non-Aboriginal initiatives, or by working independently with Aboriginal-run organisations. The “Strong women, strong babies, strong culture” program is a good example of such an approach. (Fejo L, Hobson V; 1998)
Curtailing racism in this country will be a long and strenuous process. It has to be 'nipped in the bud', that is, teaching all children from a very young age to be open- minded, understanding Aboriginal Affairs in a contemporary as well as an historical light, with a focus on the positive aspects rather than the negative. As pointed out by the Race Discrimination Commissioner, Irene Moss, in 'The Australian' 13.7.93, 'young Australians are as racist as their parents, although they believe they are more tolerant of other cultures'. The answer is education, and to begin, Aboriginal studies should be a compulsory subject in every curriculum, in every school, at all levels.
The most significant contribution to change however comes in the form of Self determination. This is an ‘on going process of choice’ to ensure that Indigenous communities are able to meet their social, cultural and economic needs. The right to self determination is based on the simple acknowledgment that Indigenous peoples are Australia’s first people. The loss of this right to live according to a set of common values and beliefs, and to have that right respected by others, is at the heart of the current disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians. Without self-determination it is not possible for Indigenous Australians to fully overcome the legacy of colonisation and dispossession.
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