Engineering Ethics and Indigenous Australians: A Discussion

This essay examines the ethical considerations in engineering concerning Indigenous Australians, highlighting the historical context of colonization and its impact on the native population. The author argues for the importance of integrating Aboriginal values and cultural ethics into engineering pra...Read More

Running head: ENGINEERING INNOVATION AND ETHICS
ENGINEERING INNOVATION AND ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Engineering Ethics in light of indigenous Australians
I have leant that in 1770 Captain James Cook drafted a map of the Australian Coast and
returned to England with results that favored colonization of Sydney (then known as botany bay)
(Roberts, 2013). In 1788 the first British fleet to commence colonization of Australia arrived in
Sydney and thus the colony of New South Wales was formed. Captain Arthur Philip was the
commanding officer for the expedition and the day is now commemorated as “Australia Day”
(Bashford, 2013). Australia then was used for convict settlements which was because criminals
with grave sentences were transported to Australia with the aim of ex-communicating them from
England. The native population of Australia was thus driven away from their natural homes and
forced to settle in parts that were yet to be colonized (Malaspinas et al., 2016). It is evident from
my personal experience that the indigenous population of Australia since then had seen a rapid
fall in density. However the treatment of the indigenous population has evolved into a more
ethical and humane approach and innovations in even the field of engineering makes ethical
considerations for the indigenous population. The following paragraphs will elaborate on these
consideration and the advantages ushered in by them in communicating with the indigenous
population.
In my opinion the social inclusion and social integration of Aboriginal or Torres Strait
inlanders have been attempted by the provision of subsidized education and welfare policies.
There are universities that would even provide scholarships for indigenous Australians who wish
to enroll in courses purely based on their domicile (Leigh et al., 2015). However, despite these
efforts indigenous Australian students seldom enroll for courses in fields such as technology and
innovation (Engineering). Research has shown that this could ideally be a consequence of the

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non-integration of indigenous Australian values and cultural ethics into these fields (Lublin &
Wright, 2013). Thus it may be inferred, from my perspective that the indigenous population
would be more inclined to participate in technological advancement and innovation if the
discipline itself embodied their cultural ethics and value system. A consistent problem with
indigenous Australian students who enroll in courses is that they are the first in their families to
receive university education. In such a case they lack the guidance towards such disciples that
traditional students receive from their families. Another important problem is the lack of role
models in the same context (Goldfinch & Hollis, 2016). Thus by incorporating such ethical
principles that would aid in filling these gaps is the best recourse for this situation.
According to my analysis the knowledge held by the indigenous population with regard
to technological advancements and the field of engineering is not amply clear and thus needs to
be researched. Furthermore, technological advancements and achievements within the
indigenous population have not been highlighted enough to successfully spread awareness about
the same. The first major difference between the students from the indigenous population and
traditional student is that the use of land to a traditional student is the mobilization of personal
property with an aim of gaining profits from the venture (Kennedy et al., 2016). In indigenous
Australian culture land has a higher position than that of a means of mobilization of property and
is regarded with a deeper meaning. This makes it evident that the treatment of land as merely
personal property is not a proper approach in terms of educating the indigenous population. This
concept would thus have to be integrated into the courses to ensure that the understanding of the
subject is not varied when imparting knowledge to the traditional students and indigenous
students.

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The second important ethical consideration in my opinion, which would mostly create a
situation where indigenous student would be more inclined to enroll in such courses, is the
integration of Aboriginal engineering into the course framework of engineering courses. This
would mean looking into the technological changes in the aboriginal communities over the years
and including an understanding of these changes into the framework of the course. This is a
challenging ordeal as communicating with the aboriginal communities is evidently difficult.
There is also room for misinterpretation when making these communications. However, having
an understanding of their knowledge of engineering is en ethical consideration that must be made
when attempting to change the present scenario in relation to enrollment of indigenous
Australian students (Nicholas, 2016). This would also help make the course more relatable for
these students and would also encourage them to involve themselves in the field more when their
traditional counterparts gain an adequate knowledge of Aboriginal engineering.
The third consideration would be researching into the overlapping areas of the traditional
approach to engineering and the aboriginal approach to engineering to find overlapping areas.
These overlapping areas ensure that the course in more informative to the aboriginal students in
ways that is they can relate to (Kutay & Leigh, 2017). These overlapping areas would also ensure
that other students enrolled in the same courses would have a proper understanding of the
intellectual bridges in engineering education.
These changes would thus increase the student density of indigenous Australians in
universities that offer engineering courses. The entire point of proposing these changes is a larger
involvement of the indigenous community in the education sector. Technological changes that
embody these ethical considerations also ensure that the indigenous population of Australia is
more reliant on the quality of life offered in other communities in Australia. These steps would

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also help realize any innovations currently paused due to gaps in the understanding of
engineering in the aboriginal community. These communities are closely knit and have very
limited interaction with the outside world but an incorporation of these ethical principles would
ideally invite these communities to communicate in a better way with other communities and be
more involved with the societal structure of Australia. These efforts are thus the first step to a
more inclusive approach to the profession of engineering.
I have also leant that engineers have a prescribed code of conduct which is formulated by
the Institute of Engineers Australia (Nicholas, 2016). An incorporation of these ethical
considerations into the prescribed code of conduct would also help further the purpose of such
inclusion. An incorporation of these ideals would also help outside communities have a better
understanding of the aboriginal communities.
In my opinion an inclusion of these ethical principles would help me understand the
aboriginal perspective in a more comprehensive way. This understanding would aid in
communication with aboriginal communities and would help in identifying the extent of their
understanding of engineering and the gaps in the same. I would also be able to relate to their
value system and the attributed ideals involved in the decision making process when formulating
a particular innovation (McRae-Williams & Guenther, 2014). The aboriginal community would
also be more accepting when dealing with people who have an idea of their perspective on
ethical considerations. Their technological advancements would also be highlighted and all
sections of the aboriginal community would thus be made aware of the same. These would also
inspire subsequent generations to engage in the field of technology and further enhance the
technological stand of that community.

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Reference list
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Kennedy, J., Goldfinch, T., Leigh, E., McCarthy, T., Prpic, J. K., & Dawes, L. (2016). A
Beginners Guide to Incorporating Aboriginal Perspectives into Engineering Curricula.
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