Importance of Aboriginal History and Culture in Australia

This essay delves into the significance of Aboriginal history and culture in Australia, emphasizing the need for all Australians to understand this rich heritage. It highlights the historical disparities between Aboriginal and European cultures, and the impact of these differences. The essay explores how healthcare professionals' cultural beliefs influence their decisions, underscoring the importance of considering Aboriginal cultural values in healthcare settings. It also discusses the role of individual responsibility in improving Aboriginal health, acknowledging the challenges faced by Aboriginal people while advocating for the adoption of modern healthcare practices. The essay emphasizes the importance of cultural sensitivity and understanding in healthcare, aiming to improve the quality of care provided to Aboriginal Australians.

Running head: ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
All Australians need to understand Aboriginal history and culture
As stated by Warwick et al. (2019), the aboriginals of Australia are an integral part of the
concerned nation and had been residing within the concerned nation for more than 50,000 years.
Canuto et al. (2019) are of the viewpoint that despite residing within the nation under discussion
here for more than 50,000 years these individuals had to face discrimination, stigmatization,
ostracism, social depravity and other kinds of societal evils within the societal framework of the
concerned nation. More importantly, despite having a rich cultural heritage and history, it is seen
that the recent history of these people within Australia is marked by oppression, suppression,
exploitation, depravation of basic human rights, fundamental rights and others. Furthermore, an
analysis of the historical annals of Australia clearly indicates the fact that the history and the
cultural traditions followed by the aboriginals and the European settlers are starkly different to
one another (Langham et al., 2017). These differences between the two groups of people within
Australia had been the root cause of the various disputes or the conflicts between them.
I strongly agree with the fact that all the people of Australia need to have a working
knowledge regarding the history as well as the culture of the aboriginals or the indigenous people
of the concerned nation. This is important since by way of knowing the history as well as the
culture of the aboriginals the individuals of the concerned nation would be able to know the rich
history and the cultural heritage of the nation. More importantly, this would also help them to
understand the aboriginal people of the nation and thereby would not only help them to
acknowledge the rich diversity of the nation but would also enable them to celebrate the same as
well (Zambas & Wright, 2016). However, at the same time it needs to be said that there are many
individuals who are of the viewpoint that it is not essential to have a knowledge regarding the

2ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
history as well as the culture of the aboriginal people of Australia. Larkins et al. (2019) are of the
viewpoint that this viewpoint of the individuals can be explained on the basis of the fact that the
aboriginals or the indigenous people have been able to attain the required inclusion within the
Australian society and thereby do not have to face the societal evils that they had to face in the
past. More importantly, remembering the past evils or for that matter the past history of these
people is likely to only enhance the bitterness without making any significant contribution
towards the present condition of their lives. It is in the light of these aspects that many
individuals do not feel the need to remember the history or the culture which had been followed
by the aboriginals or the indigenous people since they have been assimilated within the
Australian culture and thus there is no need to remember or even to hold on to the past.
However, at the same time it needs to be said that having an effective idea or knowledge
regarding the history or the culture of the indigenous or the aboriginal people is important since
these have substantially shaped the views, outlook, the practices, the behavior and other aspects
of the life of these people (Naccho.org.au, 2020). These aspects become even more important
from the perspective of the nurses, the care providers, the healthcare professionals and the other
individuals related to the healthcare industry. This can be explained on the basis of the fact that
the aboriginals people despite the inclusion as well as the growth attained by them still try to
hold on to their roots and the impact of this becomes prominent when their outlook towards
diseases and healthcare treatment services are being taken into consideration (Canuto et al.,
2018). As a matter of fact, it is seen that even in the present times there are many aboriginal
people who do not like to take injections, take the help of pagan medical practices and others.
Thus, it becomes important for the nurses, care providers and also the healthcare professionals to
substantially modify the treatment approaches that they use while they are dealing with the

3ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
indigenous people. In the light of these aspects, it becomes clear that having an effective
knowledge regarding the history and the culture of the aboriginals or the indigenous people of
Australia is likely to substantially improve the quality of the care or for that matter the treatment
services which are being offered by the nurses, care providers and the healthcare professionals of
the concerned nation to them.
Health professionals’ own cultural beliefs influence their health care decisions
Smith, Fatima and Knight (2017) are of the viewpoint that the important factors which
greatly affect the healthcare decisions that are being made by the healthcare professionals can be
attributed to the values, cultural beliefs, traditions and others held by the healthcare
professionals. Adding to this, Larkins et al. (2016) have noted that the decisions made by the
healthcare professionals are important since they not only impact the quality of healthcare
services which are being offered by them to the patients but also the outcomes of the same for
the patients as well. In this relation, I would like to say that I strongly agree with the fact that the
healthcare professionals’ own cultural beliefs substantially influence their healthcare decisions.
This can be explained on the basis of the fact that the cultural beliefs, traditions, values and
others held by the individuals not only form an integral part of their identity but also their actions
as well. For instance, the decisions regarding the healthcare services made by the indigenous or
for that matter the aboriginal people is being made by them on the basis of their cultural heritage,
the values as well as the beliefs that they hold and other important factors (Harfield et al., 2018).
This even holds true in the particular context of the healthcare professionals as well since it had
been seen that the decisions regarding the healthcare services made by the healthcare
professionals are greatly influenced by their cultural beliefs. As a matter of fact, within the
nation of Australia itself it is seen that the Australian healthcare professionals in the majority of

4ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
the cases make decisions on the basis of cultural beliefs held by them while disregarding the
cultural beliefs held by the indigenous or the aboriginal people (Islam et al., 2018). It is because
of the disregard of the cultural beliefs held by the indigenous or the aboriginal people that the
majority of these people do not like to avail the healthcare services which are presently being
offered by the Australian government to them.
There are various people who do not agree with the idea that the cultural beliefs held by
the healthcare professionals influence the healthcare decisions which are being made by them.
However, an analysis of the decisions made by the healthcare professionals and also the cultural
beliefs held by them clearly indicates that this is not true. For instance, a healthcare professional
related to the indigenous background is most likely to make the different healthcare related
decisions on the basis of the cultural beliefs, values, traditions and others held by him or her and
vice versa (Canuto et al., 2018). This as a matter of fact has important implications for the
healthcare professionals since rather than making the healthcare related decisions on the basis of
the cultural beliefs held by them they need to take into account the cultural beliefs held by the
patients for offering them the required healthcare services. Warwick et al. (2019) are of the
viewpoint that this will help the healthcare professionals to make healthcare decisions and also
offer healthcare services which would be in synchronicity with the cultural beliefs as well as the
needs of the patients. I personally believe that this will not only enable the healthcare
professionals to offer patient-centric care to the patients but also improve the quality of the
healthcare treatment services which are being offered by them as well.

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Aboriginal people should take more individual responsibility for improving their own
health
Gwynne, Jeffries and Lincoln (2019) are of the viewpoint that the aboriginals or the
indigenous people of the nation of Australia because of the different societal evils that they have
faced within the societal framework of the nation of Australia post the arrival of the European
settlers had developed a negative attitude or outlook towards the same. Adding to this, Lloyd et
al. (2015) have noted that this had led to the utter disregard of the different services which are
being offered by the Australian government to these people for their welfare or development like
educational services, employment services, healthcare services and others. However, at the same
time it needs to be said that the important issue arises since it had been seen that over the years
the indigenous people have undertaken very few initiatives for the improvement of their health
condition (Langham et al., 2017).
More importantly, rather than availing the modern healthcare services offered by the
Australian healthcare department, it is seen that they are still relying on the age-old traditional
measures or approaches that they had been following since the traditional times for recovering
from the various health issues experienced by them (Freeman et al., 2014). As a matter of fact,
they still use different herbs, roots and other materials for recovering from the various health
issues faced by them, prefer not to use injections, contraceptives and prefer to give birth to
children at their homes (Healthdirect.gov.au, 2020). These in turn had substantially enhanced the
health risks faced by them and had directly contributed towards the different health issues as well
as the high death rate among these individuals (Larkins et al., 2016). In addition to these, the
high consumption of alcohol, tobacco, different kinds of substances and others by these people
have also directly contributed towards the poor health condition of aboriginals (Harfield et al.,

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2018). These in short are some of the important reasons why the indigenous people suffer from
different health issues and thus it becomes for these individuals to take personal responsibility
for the improvement of their own health.
I personally believe that because of the above mentioned reasons it is important for the
indigenous people to take personal responsibility for the improvement of their own health
conditions. However, at the same it is seen that there are various people who do not agree with
this viewpoint and think that the indigenous people take adequate initiatives for the improvement
of their health conditions and these initiatives have helped them to survive within the nation of
Australia for more than 50,000 years. Having said this, the large number of health issues that
these individuals are presently facing, the high death rate among them, the large infection rate
among them and others clearly point towards the need on the part of these individuals to take
adequate initiatives for the improvement of their health conditions (Canuto et al., 2019). As a
matter of fact, these individuals need to realize the fact that the traditional healthcare or medical
measures used by them are no longer beneficial for them and thus they need to embrace the
modern healthcare services which are being offered to them by the Australian government
(Smith, Fatima & Knight, 2017). However, at the same time it needs to be said that the nurse,
care providers and also the different healthcare professionals while offering the healthcare
services to these individuals need to take into account and also respect the cultural beliefs,
values, traditions and others that these people hold (Freeman et al., 2014). In addition to these,
the indigenous people also need to cooperate with the healthcare professionals and also
understand the fact that the healthcare services which are being offered by the healthcare
professionals are intended for the improvement of their health condition. This in turn would help

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the healthcare professionals to offer the best quality healthcare services to the indigenous people
and also the indigenous people would be able to maintain adequate health standards as well.

8ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND CULTURE
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