Recognizing the Truth of the Past Assignment 2022

Recognising the Truth of the Past 1
RECOGNISING THE TRUTH OF THE PAST: THE FUTURE OF THE INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA
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Recognising the Truth of the Past 2
Recognising the Truth of the Past: The Future of the Indigenous People of Australia
Thesis Statement:
It began with the destruction of economic and social structures of Indigenous groups, then
followed land dispossession, suppression of the religious systems on missions and the languages
of the Indigenous and the destruction of kinship and family networks in the Stolen Generations.
The struggle of country between the white settlers and the Indigenous people due to colonisation
has been the source of most issues that face the Aboriginals of Australia. Such arguments are
both theoretical in their consideration of the country of Indigenous people within their law and
the coloniser's law, and also is ‘practical' deeply in their implications. Therefore, the essay goes
to the heart of comprehending why Indigenous people began their discussions on change and
reform within the system of justice with a demand for respect, negotiation, and recognition for
Indigenous self-determination; a desire to reposition Indigenous people as colonised people.
Introduction
Since the Britons colonized Australia in the late 18th century, Australian history has been
a struggle between the colonizers and Indigenous people. The struggle between the white settlers
and Indigenous people in its broader meaning continues to be the core to comprehending the
political and social positioning of Indigenous people within Australia and her institutions
(Edmonds 2010); this includes the traditional relationships to land that the Australian
Aboriginals have differed from the modern relationships to land that the Western people have
overall.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 3
Summary reflection of the Process of Colonisation linked to Aboriginal history
After the idyllic dreaming world, a system and lifestyle of beliefs and customs preserved
stories and legends from the past; the Indigenous people would have experienced a denial sense
originally after the Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, following short visitations from
the earlier explorers. The invasion of 1788, when the visitors (white settlers) brought diseases
with them and tried to massacre the Indigenous people resulted in the sense of despair and
isolation. The Aboriginal Australians decreased in numbers in some regions of the country,
where they were environed by the white settlers who did not comprehend or recognize their
traditional ways of life and culture (Nelson et al. 2010, p.18).
In the early 20th century, the beliefs of the government regarding the Indigenous people's
protection led to practices and laws which are now viewed at best as being patronizing at best
and at worst as discriminatory (Nelson et al. 2010, p.18). Policies which encouraged the
Indigenous people's assimilation failed to recognize their beliefs, customs, laws, and traditions,
claiming that the best action course was to encourage them to find their place in the white society
and ‘fit in.'
A sense of depression over the loss of their culture often weighed upon the Indigenous
people, who experienced an identity crisis as they ended up in alienation from their traditions and
frequently separated from their tribe and families. Moving on from their despair, the Indigenous
people proceeded into a desire of self-determination which became pre-dominant, most notably
in terms of moving towards Native Title and the yearning to attain their associations with the
lands of the dreaming which they held a traditional spiritual connection.