Diversity Report: Socio-Cultural Analysis of Indigenous Australians

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, focusing on their demographic characteristics, geographic distribution, socio-cultural traits, and interactions with social institutions. It examines population size, gender distribution, age profiles, religious affiliations, income brackets, educational attainment, and prevalence of disabilities within this population group. The report also details the geographic concentration of Indigenous Australians in the Sydney area, exploring potential reasons for these settlement patterns. Furthermore, it delves into the socio-cultural characteristics that define this group, including their family structures, cultural practices, and spiritual beliefs. The report concludes with a discussion of how this diversity group interacts with and is affected by key social institutions, such as the Australian legal system and federal government policies, highlighting the historical context and ongoing challenges faced by Indigenous Australians. The report references various studies and census data to support its findings.

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DIVERSITY
By (Student’s Name)
Professor’s Name
College
Course
Date

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THE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES
Introduction
The United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous matters have estimated 370 million
indigenous people around the globe. The persons inhabit across 70 countries with each
community practicing unique traditions with adverse social, economic, political and cultural
characteristics (Hall and Fenelon 2015). These people possess special attachment to their
traditional lands and territories. However, the word indigenous has not been in use since the UN
is more concerned by identification of these people rather than definition, this report focuses on
the country Australia’s indigenous peoples, of two distinct cultural groups, known as the Torres
Strait Islander and the Aboriginal people.
Demographic information
Population size
The population of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been on the rising
trend since the 1971 census. By the year 2016, the census indicated their population to be
649,200 people, this was 18% rise from the census of 2011. According to 2016 census, the Strait
Islander and the Aboriginal people represented up to 2.8% of the total population of Australia,
this was a rise of 2.5% from the year 2011 and 2.3% from the year 2006 (Biddle and Crawford
2015). Among the population of 649200 people, 90.9% of the people were recognized to be of

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the Aboriginal background with 5.0% being the Torres Islander and the remaining 4.1% were
identified to sharing the same origin of both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal.
Population structure
Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander population has a higher age profile of the young
when put in comparison with the non-native people. According to 2016 census, 53% which is
more than half of the Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal people were of 25 years of age
and below, this was higher than the younger population of non-indigenous people which stood at
31%. Similarly, the percentage of the native people who were aged 65 years and above were
considerably smaller compared to the people of the non-native population (O’Donnell and
Raymer 2015). The females’ population is almost similar to the male population; the population
shows very little disparity with the female population being slightly higher than the male
population with the population of the young being higher than the population of the elderly
people.
Religion
According to the census of 2006, 13% of Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal
population did not respond to the question of religious affiliation. 1% reported being of
Australian Traditional Aboriginal religion. 73% of the indigenous population reported being
affiliated by Christian denomination by the year 2006 (Kite and Davy 2016). Approximate of
one-third were Catholics and another one-third reported being Anglicans
Income brackets

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According to the census of the year 2011, about 13 percent of Torres Strait Islander and
Aboriginal population whose ages were 15years and above reported gross personal income of
$1,000 and above weekly. The males reported additional gross personal income of about 16%
compared to the females whose percentage was 10%. Slightly above the half of the population,
52%, of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported income of amid $1 and $599
weekly, the female counterparts were likely to report more income in this range as compared to
males. (Altman 2018). The indigenous population reported a 20% likelihood of equalized
household income compared to 41% of the non-native population. The proportions of the two
groups showed an increase of 13% and 33% respectively, however, the disparity between the
groups remained constant. By the year 2016 census, about 2.9% of the Aboriginal and the Torres
Strait Islander population reported equalized household income of about $2,000 and above as
compared to 9.6% of the non-native population.
Education
According to the 2016 census, 47% of the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal
population of the persons aged amid 20years to 24years reported a completion of Year 12 or its
equivalent level of education (Wilks and Wilson 2015). This indicated an increase from 32$ of
2006 to 47% of 2016. The women of the age between 20 to 24 years showed 51% more
likeliness of completing the Year 12 compared to 43% of men.
Disabilities

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals are prone to several disabilities.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 50% of the population of 15 years of age and
above had a long-term health condition or a disability. The adults of the population have a
possibility of disability of 1.5 higher compared to that of the non-indigenous people and were
more expected to have intellectual disability, about three times the as compared to other non-
indigenous populations. (Gilroy and Donelly 2016). By the year 2008, 7.7% of the Torres Strait
Islander and the Aboriginal peopulation had an intellectual disability with a similar number
reporting psychological disability. According to the census of 2006, 6.7% of the population
reported that they would need assistance in core activities due to disabilities. This was an
increase in the proportion as compared to the year 2011 when the percentage stood at 5.4%
Geographic location
Almost two third of the native population lives in the eastern part of Australia, Sydney
with 68% of the population living in Queensland, Victoria, and South Wales. Western Sydney
reported the highest concentration of inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal
population, according to the 2006 census, almost 2 million people were living area with
identification of Aboriginal. The population is spread across Sydney with the highest
concentration being in Wollongong, Liverpool, and Shellharbour respectively. The life in the
specific places due to their cultural attachment to the geographical places which they consider to
be part of their origin hence playing a greater part in their cultural heritage (Gray and
Tesfaghiorghis 2018). Their political belief is highly attached to the places which they consider

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themselves belonging to, this makes it difficult for their movements outside the places since their
lives are highly dictated by religion and spiritual beliefs.
Socio-cultural information
They live in defined territories which comprise of small family groups of semi-nomadic
individuals. At certain times, they would gather together for social, cultural ceremonies and
trade. The gathering can contain up to about 500 people. The membership within every family
grouping was defined by birthright, common language, and cultural responsibilities to the family
group. Their houses are semi-permanent and they are relatively not materialistic, this is attributed
to their nomadic nature (Kite and Davy 2016) Their activities are highly dictated by spiritual and
cultural beliefs. The religion was based on the philosophy of oneness with the existing
environment upon which they lived The group had defined roles for people in accordance with
their age and gender. Their land was fundamental to them, at the individual and communal level.
They believe that each individual belongs to a specific territory within their family groupings
hence they do not own the land but rather they belonged to the land.
Social Institutions Information
Australian legal system
The indigenous people had their own complex system that they have kept in use since the
ancient times, years before application of British laws in Australia. In the year 1986, the
Australian Law Reform Commission recommended the acknowledgement of the Aboriginal
ordinary laws as part of the laws of the soil. It further analyzed whether to allow the Aboriginal

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community to apply their own criminal laws or whether to use the laws collectively as state laws.
Another report of the same commission in 2015 tackled difficulties in the pieces of evidence of
the traditional laws and customs of the indigenous groups and therefore recommended that the
native titles be recognized for commercial purposes (Short 2016). It gave a suggestion of
strengthening the internal governance capacity of the native groups and allowing the exercise of
their traditional authority.
Federal government policies
The government came up with indigenous policy and programs which were delivered in
2013 to a range of government departments. The responsibility of the Australian government
indigenous policy program was put under the department of the prime minister and cabinet. The
office is advised by the Indigenous Advisory Council (Altman 2018). The top government
priorities being considered to be the attendance in school, employment, and education as a whole
plus ensuring community safety. The government has emphasized on special programs with an
aim of ensuring that the indigenous groups get employment and that they are fully empowered
hence they can be able to be incorporated into the country social activities like sporting (Howse
and Dwyer 2016). With the nation of the law which recognizes their cultural laws, their culture is
therefore preserved hence their social organization is protected and allowed to continue through
legal empowerment.
Conclusion

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The report has looked into the diversity of the population of Australian people known as
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It has covered the demographical information of the
group, their geographical information, their socio-cultural information, and the social institution
information.
References
Altman, J.C., 2018. A national survey of Indigenous Australians: Options and implications.
Canberra, ACT: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social
Sciences, College of Arts & Social Sciences, The Australian National University.
Altman, J.C., 2018. Aboriginal employment equity by the year 2000. Canberra, ACT: Centre for
Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts &
Social Sciences, The Australian National University.
Biddle, N. and Crawford, H., 2015. The changing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
population: Evidence from the 2006–11 Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset.

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Gilroy, J. and Donelly, M., 2016. Australian indigenous people with a disability: Ethics and
standpoint theory. In Disability in the Global South (pp. 545-566). Springer, Cham.
Gray, A. and Tesfaghiorghis, H., 2018. Social indicators of the Aboriginal population of
Australia.
Hall, T.D. and Fenelon, J.V., 2015. Indigenous peoples and Globalization: Resistance and
revitalization. Routledge.
Howse, G. and Dwyer, J., 2016. Legally invisible: stewardship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander health. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 40(S1), pp.S14-S20.
Kite, E. and Davy, C., 2016. Using Indigenist and Indigenous methodologies to connect to
deeper understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ quality of life. Health
Promotion Journal of Australia, 26(3), pp.191-194.
Kite, E. and Davy, C., 2016. Using Indigenist and Indigenous methodologies to connect to
deeper understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ quality of life. Health
Promotion Journal of Australia, 26(3), pp.191-194.
O’Donnell, J. and Raymer, J., 2015. Identification change and its effect on projections of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Australia. Journal of Population
Research, 32(3-4), pp.297-319.
Short, D., 2016. Reconciliation and colonial power: Indigenous rights in Australia. Routledge.

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Wilks, J. and Wilson, K., 2015. A profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher
education student population. Australian Universities' Review, The, 57(2), p.17.