This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards.(December 2019) |
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Total population | |
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517,000, 2.5% of Australia's population (in 2006) [1] [2] | |
Languages | |
Several hundred Indigenous Australian languages (many extinct or nearly so), Australian English, Australian Aboriginal English, Torres Strait Creole, Kriol | |
Religion | |
Majority Christianity, with minority following traditional animist (Dreamtime) beliefs. | |
Related ethnic groups | |
see List of Indigenous Australian group names |
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Torres Strait Islanders are Indigenous to the Torres Strait Islands, which are at the northernmost tip of Queensland near Papua New Guinea. The term "Aboriginal" has traditionally been applied to Indigenous inhabitants of mainland Australia, Tasmania, and some of the other adjacent islands. Since the colonisation of Australia in 1788, Indigenous Australians have been segregated from European Australians both in their rights and socially within society. The 'firsts' listed in this article contain historical steps that have changed this initial racist segregation both legally and culturally.
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18th century |
First time First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families as a result of government policies. Now known as the "Stolen Generation".
...the earliest record that we could find was the PhD awarded to Dr Bill Jonas in 1980 by the University of Papua New Guinea... we estimate that approximately 25 Indigenous people were awarded their doctorate [during the 1980s]
Koori is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal. For some people and groups, it has been described as a reclaiming of Indigenous language and culture, as opposed to relying on European titles such as "Aboriginal". The term is also used with reference to institutions involving Koori communities and individuals, such as the Koori Court, Koori Radio and Koori Knockout.
Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal peoples of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people living in mainland Australia than on the Islands.
The Australian Aboriginal Flag is the official flag of Aboriginal Australians. It was granted official status in 1995 under the Flags Act 1953, together with the Torres Strait Islander Flag, in recognition of their status as Indigenous peoples of Australia. The two flags are often flown together with the Australian National Flag.
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, publishing, and research institute and is considered to be Australia's premier resource for information about the cultures and societies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Bennelong Society was a conservative think-tank dedicated to Indigenous Australian affairs. The society was named after the Eora man Bennelong, who served as an interlocutor between the Indigenous Australian and British cultures, both in Sydney and in the United Kingdom almost from the start of British settlement of Australia in 1788. It was affiliated with conservative commentators in debates on Indigenous affairs. The society was established to:
The Koori Mail is an Australian newspaper written and owned by Indigenous Australians since 1991. It is published fortnightly in printed form and electronic copies are available. Owned by five community-based Aboriginal organisations based in Lismore, in northern New South Wales, its profits are spent on community projects and needs. "Koori" is a demonym for the Aboriginal peoples of parts of New South Wales and Victoria.
The Redfern Park Speech, also known as the Redfern speech or Redfern address, was made on 10 December 1992 by the then Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, at Redfern Park, which is in Redfern, New South Wales, an inner city suburb of Sydney. The speech dealt with the challenges faced by Indigenous Australians, both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is still remembered as one of the most powerful speeches in Australian history, both for its rhetorical eloquence and for its ground-breaking admission of the negative impact of white settlement in Australia on its Indigenous peoples, culture and society, in the first acknowledgement by the Australian Government of the dispossession of its First Peoples. It has been described as "a defining moment in the nation's reconciliation with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, and/or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of present day Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, which includes many ethnic groups: the Aboriginal Australians of the mainland and many islands, including Tasmania, and the Torres Strait Islanders of the seas between Queensland and Papua New Guinea, located in Melanesia. The term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or the person's specific cultural group, is often preferred, though the terms First Nations of Australia, First Peoples of Australia and First Australians are also increasingly common; 812,728 people self-identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the 2021 Australian Census, representing 3.2% of the total population of Australia. Of these Indigenous Australians, 91.4% identified as Aboriginal; 4.2% identified as Torres Strait Islander; while 4.4% identified with both groups. Since 1995, the Australian Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag have been official flags of Australia.
Koori Radio, is a community radio station based in Redfern broadcasting to Sydney on a citywide licence. Since the early 1990s it has been part of the Gadigal Information Service (GIS), and is the only radio station in Sydney providing full-time broadcasting to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
The 2013 Deadly Awards were hosted by Luke Carroll and Karla Grant at the Sydney Opera House on 10 September 2013. The Awards program was broadcast nationally on SBS One on 14 September 2013. The awards event was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community.
Thomas Edwin Calma,, is an Aboriginal Australian human rights and social justice campaigner, and 2023 senior Australian of the Year. He is the sixth chancellor of the University of Canberra, a post held since January 2014, after two years as deputy chancellor. Calma is the second Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to hold the position of chancellor of any Australian university.
The NAIDOC Awards are annual Australian awards conferred on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals during the national celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples known as NAIDOC Week.
The Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognise Indigenous Australians that have achieved at the highest level of their chosen sport. It was a joint project of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and Macquarie University, under the management of Colin Tatz. Inductees are sometimes referred to as "Black Diamonds", being the name of the first book of the project, published in 1996.
Indigenous Australian literature is the fiction, plays, poems, essays and other works authored by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.
Brenda L. Croft is an Aboriginal Australian artist, curator, writer, and educator working across contemporary Indigenous and mainstream arts and cultural sectors. Croft was a founding member of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative in 1987.
Gladys Dorothy O’Shane was an Australian Aboriginal activist, the sixth child of parents Caroline, née Brown, and Edgar Davis, a labourer, at Mossman, Queensland.
Kirstie Parker is a Yuwallarai journalist, policy administrator and Aboriginal Australian activist. From 2013 to 2015 she served as the co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples and during her tenure pressed for policies that allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to gain the ability for self-determination.
Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians refers to various proposals for changes to the Australian Constitution to recognise Indigenous Australians in the document. Various proposals have been suggested to symbolically recognise the special place Indigenous Australians have as the first peoples of Australia, along with substantial changes, such as prohibitions on racial discrimination, the protection of languages and the addition of new institutions. In 2017, the Uluru Statement from the Heart was released by Indigenous leaders, which called for the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament as their preferred form of recognition. When submitted to a national referendum in 2023 by the Albanese government, the proposal was heavily defeated.
Elsie Heiss, also known as Aunty Elsie, is an Indigenous Australian, a Wiradjuri elder and a Catholic religious leader. She has led Aboriginal Catholic Ministry programs for over three decades and was NAIDOC Female Elder of the Year in 2009.