Reflective Essay on Treatment of Indigenous Australians: Ethics

This reflective essay delves into the historical treatment of Indigenous Australians over the past century, examining its profound implications for the ethical practice of engineering. The essay employs the Describe, Interpret, Evaluate, and Plan (DIEP) framework to systematically analyze the historical context, including instances of racial discrimination, forced cultural assimilation, and denial of basic rights. It interprets how this history should influence engineers' ethical responsibilities, emphasizing the need for equal treatment, cultural sensitivity, and awareness of past injustices. The essay evaluates the impact of this history on communication with Aboriginal communities and representatives, highlighting the importance of building trust, understanding diverse perspectives, and advocating for equitable practices. Finally, it proposes actionable plans for future engineering practice, including incorporating indigenous knowledge, promoting inclusive design, and actively contributing to reconciliation efforts within the engineering field. The essay stresses the importance of acknowledging past wrongs and working towards a more just and equitable future for Indigenous Australians.

Running Head: Treatment of Indigenous Australians
REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON TREATMENT OF
INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS

1
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Impact of history upon ethical practices of engineering:...........................................................2
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................4
References:.................................................................................................................................5

2
Introduction:
Indigenous Australians are considered as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of
Australia.They had descended from the existing group in Australia and surrounding islands
before the British colonization. The aim of this essay is to reflect my view based on the
history of the treatment of indigenous Australians over the last century. The reflection has
been written based on DIEP framework to discuss the impact of this treatment on the ethical
learning practices. I have also discussed the influence of this learning in communicating with
the aboriginals and the representatives of engineers.
Impact of history upon ethical practices of engineering:
The aboriginals were given the liberties, but they were also forced to adopt the culture of the
Non-indigenous people. The people also faced racial discrimination, and they do not get
proper justice for their humiliation. Moreover, the Australian government introduces new
rights which can affect ethical practices. As they are described as racist, the legislations make
it difficult for the Aborigines to reclaim their lands (Fahd &Venkatraman, 2019). They are
considered as the slaves in the past centuries. The neck chains were used for the aboriginal
men while they were marched from their homelands to prisons and the camps. The aboriginal
women were also forced into slavery as the servants. Due to the government interventions
and recently developed policies, any aboriginals were removed from their parents (Lawton,
McDonald, Snelling, Hughes & Cass, 2017). The Australian government tries to wipe out the
culture and rights of the Indigenous Australians and the ill-treatment forces them for
committing suicide, alcohol abuse, domestic abuses and the usage of tobacco. However, they
also do not have access to use public health care facilities.
The history defines the ill-treatment with the indigenous Australians in the community. Based
on the engineering ethics, the engineers need to consider all the public as equal and they
should not be forced to adopt other culture in their community (Adams et al. 2015). I think
the aboriginals were already facing issues regarding racial discrimination. This ill-treatment
already increased the suicidal tendency among them, which can violate the engineering
ethics. Based on engineering ethics, all the persons should be treated equally, and they should
be encouraged without gender biases, race, religion, and ethnicity. However, I understood

3
that the Australians do not follow this and continuously discriminated the aboriginals and
treated like their slaves.
From the engineering ethics and the learning of the history of the treatment of Indigenous
Australians in the past century, I observed the racial biases among the Australians, which
molded their behaviors towards aboriginals (Nelson, MacDonald, Dufty-Jones, Dunn
&Paradies, 2016). As the aboriginals are considered as one of the most well-known
communities of Australia, they could have their different cultural thoughts and multiple
norms. Every person has the right to follow their own culture, and the other Australians do
not have any right to force them to follow their culture. Moreover, as per my view, the
engineers have their merit to serve the society and attend them to the progress of the majority
(Waterworth, Dimmock, Pescud, Braham & Rosenberg, 2016). They do not follow, and they
take the lands from them and as a result, the children were got detached from their parents.
From the previous issues in treating the aboriginals, I have learned that they are not confident
enough to seek help from government representatives and the other professionals. Their
suicidal tendency has become a huge issue, and they do not feel familiar to move to the
hospitals when they are sick (Leskeet al. 2016). I will be taking the help from some
government regulations and some of the Australian welfare communities about the health
improvement of them, and this cannot be done without giving them proper education about
the health awareness in Australia. As they are from different cultural background, I will try to
include them in their government program and some decision-making program in society,
which can be helpful to boost their confidence in the future.
Influence of communicating with aboriginal communities and representatives as engineers:
The history of the treatment of Indigenous Australians mainly describes the racial
discrimination among them, which make them as the slaves of others. As they are following
different cultures, therefore, they have to tolerate torture. They got neck chained and sent to
the prison as slaves (Priest, King, Bécares& Kavanagh, 2016). They got addicted to Tobacco,
alcohol and other drugs. On the other hand, the government introduces different laws to take
their lands and based on the law ;they do not have any chance to grab their lands. They even
do not have the opportunity to go to public hospitals for their treatment.I have gained
knowledge about the issue of their treatment by other Australians. This treatment influenced
me to discuss with the aboriginals about their problems in the Australian community
(Meiklejohnet al. 2016). I have gone through the statistics of Aboriginals, and I have

4
observed drastic changes in their population. As they have no access to get the treatment in
hospitals, they died without any treatment (Waterworth, Pescud, Braham, Dimmock&
Rosenberg, 2015). Moreover, they do not get any mental and physical treatment in the
Australian community. I do not think it is right not to give the facility to check their health in
the same hospitals where the other Australians check. They should also get the chance to deal
with their physical problems; otherwise, the suicidal tendency can be increased.I have
evaluated the ill-treatment of aboriginals to deal with the issues of racial discrimination. The
indigenous Australians did not discuss their health problems, and this became the reason to
their chronic health diseases. I have gone through the government policies that had created
their life miserable, they lost the land rights, and they could not ask about their land rights.
They got neck chained, and they were made as slaves, this created the suicidal tendency
among them. I could communicate with the government-appointed members and the other
people in the Australian community not to discriminate them in the society. They will also be
told by me, and other professionals to provide the indigenous Australians the opportunity to
check their health issues (Enset al. 2015). They should be educated to make them aware of
the new government policies. I will try to make them aware of the health hazards and will try
to convince them other Australian to include them in some decision-making strategies. This
could help to decrease the suicidal tendency among the Indigenous Australians.
Conclusion:
From the given study, it can be inferred that the Indigenous Australians are ill-treated for
their different cultures and norms and they are also discriminated based on race. This essay
discussed the engineering ethics, which can create a positive impact on their treatment. The
communicational strategies are developed, and as a recommendation, they could have been
informed about the importance of newly developed policies to resolve the suicidal tendency
among the aboriginals.

5
References:
Adams, J., Valery, P. C., Sibbritt, D., Bernardes, C. M., Broom, A., & Garvey, G. (2015).Use
of traditional Indigenous medicine and complementary medicine among Indigenous
cancer patients in Queensland, Australia.Integrative cancer therapies, 14(4), 359-365.
Ens, E. J., Pert, P., Clarke, P. A., Budden, M., Clubb, L., Doran, B., ...& Locke, J. (2015).
Indigenous biocultural knowledge in ecosystem science and management: review and
insight from Australia.Biological Conservation, 181, 133-149.
Fahd, K., &Venkatraman, S. (2019). Racial Inclusion in Education: An Australian
Context.Economies, 7(2), 27.
Lawton, P. D., McDonald, S. P., Snelling, P. L., Hughes, J., & Cass, A. (2017). Organ
transplantation in Australia: Inequities in access and outcome for Indigenous
Australians.Transplantation, 101(11), e345-e346.
Leske, S., Harris, M. G., Charlson, F. J., Ferrari, A. J., Baxter, A. J., Logan, J.
M., ...&Whiteford, H. (2016). Systematic review of interventions for Indigenous
adults with mental and substance use disorders in Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and the United States.Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 50(11), 1040-
1054.
Meiklejohn, J. A., Adams, J., Valery, P. C., Walpole, E. T., Martin, J. H., Williams, H. M., &
Garvey, G. (2016). Health professional's perspectives of the barriers and enablers to
cancer care for Indigenous Australians. European journal of cancer care, 25(2), 254-
261.
Nelson, J., MacDonald, H., Dufty-Jones, R., Dunn, K., &Paradies, Y. (2016). Ethnic
discrimination in private rental housing markets in Australia. In Housing in 21st-
Century Australia (pp. 53-70).Routledge.
Priest, N., King, T., Bécares, L., & Kavanagh, A. M. (2016).Bullying victimization and racial
discrimination among Australian children.American journal of public health, 106(10),
1882-1884.

6
Waterworth, P., Dimmock, J., Pescud, M., Braham, R., & Rosenberg, M. (2016).Factors
affecting indigenous west Australians’ health behavior: Indigenous
perspectives.Qualitative health research, 26(1), 55-68.
Waterworth, P., Pescud, M., Braham, R., Dimmock, J., & Rosenberg, M. (2015).Factors
influencing the health behaviour of indigenous Australians: Perspectives from support
people.PloS one, 10(11), e0142323.