Early Childhood Education and Care: European Settlement's Impact

This report examines the impact of European settlement on the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal populations in Australia. It explores the historical context, including the pre-settlement cultures and the reasons for migration. The report details the effects of European settlement on family str...Read More

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Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Early Childhood Education and Care
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Author’s note

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Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Before the migration of European settlers in 1788 the Torres strait and the Aboriginal
population occupied a major part of Australia. Individuals belonging to Torres Strait Islander and
aboriginal community have different culture and ethnic context.According to the reports, the
population of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is about 2.8% of the total
Australian population in the year 2017(Gale, 2016).There are several reasons of their migration
to other countries like floods, famines and political issues .This report demonstrates the impact of
European settlement on the Torres strait and the Aboriginal population.
Family Structure
The individuals living in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific are quite similar in cultural aspects.
Torres Strait Islander has 2 communities which reside near the coast of mainland at Bamaga and
Seisia. The individuals belonging to this community performs business with the ones who live in
Papua New Guinea. After the European settlement, these individuals faced discrimination from
the individuals of non- indigenous population because of their origin, ethnicity and financial
issues. They have different lifestyles and a diverse cultural and religious background. Torres
Strait Islander and Aboriginal population have young individuals as compared to the individuals
of non-indigenous population in Australia.
Health and well being
After the European settlement, Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal population of Australia
did not get proper access to health care services. There are also several risk and protective factors
that have a negative affect on the health conditions of individuals belonging to Torres Strait
Islander community. These factors include health problems, different health beliefs, cultural
perception about health, financial problems, discrimination based on caste, creed, religion etc. A

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Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
large number of individuals belonging to the Torres Strait Islander community got infected from
HIV as they had no access to medical facilities. There are several social determinants of HIV that
include discrimination of people infected with the disease, biasness based on gender, financial
problems and sexual abuse faced by them during the childhood phase. They also did not receive
proper diet which exposed them to many health risk (Barton et al.2017).
Self-determination
This population lacked self determination and self esteem as they were discriminated
from on-indigenous population. This led to depression, sadness an anxiety among them .There
was also lack of proper education among young individuals.There are several policies and
measures that have helped to the individuals belonging to the indigenous population.The
Assimilation policy played an important role in providing training to the individuals who
migrated to Australia in order to improve their learning about its culture.
Loss of culture/ language/ land/ kinship
After the settlement of European migrators, individuals belonging to Torres and Islander
population experienced a discrimination based on their culture and language. They also lost
their land and had no proper shelter to live (Woinarski, Burbidge and Harrison, 2015).
Education and employment
Indigenous children did not receive proper education and employment after the European
settlement as compared to non-Indigenous children.The children belonging to Toress and
Aboriginal population did not receive early childhood education which led to low socioeconomic
status (Harrison and Sellwood, 2016).

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Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
References
Barton, S.S., Thommasen, H.V., Tallio, B., Zhang, W. and Michalos, A.C., 2017. Health and
quality of life of Aboriginal residential school survivors, Bella Coola Valley, 2001.
In Connecting the Quality of Life Theory to Health, Well-being and Education (pp. 123-135).
Springer International Publishing.
Gale, F., 2016. Aboriginal Australia: survival by separation. Shared Space: Divided Space:
Essays on Conflict and Territorial Organization, p.217.
Harrison, N.E. and Sellwood, J., 2016. Learning and teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander education. South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Woinarski, J.C., Burbidge, A.A. and Harrison, P.L., 2015. Ongoing unraveling of a continental
fauna: decline and extinction of Australian mammals since European settlement. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, 112(15), pp.4531-4540.