2017-09-02
Chris Johansen
Growing up in the 1950s my only exposure to aborigines was fleeting glances of humpies on the outskirts of country towns, as we drove past at high speed, and of them sometimes wandering seemingly aimlessly in those towns. There were also some 'slightly more tanned than European kids in the Perth suburbs which must have been stolen generation kids fostered out to white families for their 'salvation; although I was not made aware of that at the time. I was told, in school and elsewhere, that Australian aborigines were a dying race and thus there was not much point in worrying about them as they would indeed soon die out. In later years I learned that this had been told to kids over the previous 50 years at least, and perhaps before Federation which is why reference to aboriginals was omitted from the Australian constitution, other than that those remaining came under state jurisdiction.
When I became more socially conscious in the early 1960s I focussed my attention on the exploits of MK Gandhi in throwing off the yolk of British colonialism, the gaining of independence of other British colonies through the 1950s, the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the USA, the Vietnam war, etc. Shamefully, the continuing plight of indigenous Australians did not find much space within my social conscience. Perhaps because I had been so successfully indoctrinated in the 1950s that if they are still here, well, they surely wouldnt be for too much longer.
However, I was reminded of the aboriginal plight by the Freedom Rides in western NSW organized by Charles Perkins in the mid-1960s. Then there was the 1967 referendum sanctioning the federal government to pass laws and implement measures for the benefit of aboriginal people, and even allowing them to vote – essentially, for the first time recognizing them as actual human beings and thus citizens. At the time, I couldnt quite get my head around this, mainly because I had never learned the details of how their humanity had been stripped away over the previous 200 years. But, I didnt get too involved in these aboriginal rights causes at the time, mainly because I was up to my neck in anti-Vietnam war involvement.
I perhaps gained greater insight into the plight of Australian aboriginals while living in South Asia for some 25 years. The countries there had been free of British colonial rule since 1947, yet the shadow of the Empire lingered on. I couldnt avoid noticing the widespread manifestation of an 'inferiority complex, or perhaps more precisely a 'lack of self-esteem, even though the colonial rulers who had been responsible for inculcating those traits into the indigenous population had departed decades before. So many people limited their own horizons when clearly, to an outsider at least, they were capable of so much more. It was as if 'lack of self-esteem genes had been implanted in the DNA, and it would take several generations to exorcise them.
However, the plight of the indigenous people of Australia is considerably worse than those of South Asia in that they are still under essentially the same colonial rule which began in 1788, despite being elevated to the status of 'citizens in 1967. The attrition against indigenous peoples through forgotten, or even unreported, wars, introduced disease and subjugation of survivors in various forms of bondage and exploitation up until my lifetime could not but fail to produce a sense of low self-esteem. My contention is that the perceived dysfunctional behaviour among indigenous communities can only be tackled by raising that sense of self-esteem.
Of course, many people of indigenous origin have excelled in various fields but I would think that they would have had to overcome several more hurdles than achievers from other backgrounds. Hurdles that would be a little too high for most people, certainly including myself, whom I consider to have had a fortunate run through life facilitated by my European-derived origin.
An important step in raising indigenous self-esteem was the efforts of Eddie Mabo in achieving recognition of land rights in 1992 and thus recognition that the continent was indeed not terra nullius after all. However, this has not translated into an increasing self-esteem as it should have. This is because the recognized land rights have often been overridden or made secondary to by other laws, or by excruciatingly prolonged legal process.
Another step towards restoration of self-esteem was the Kevin Rudd apology for the stolen generations in 2008, but this has so far had no substantial discernible effect on the well-being of many indigenous communities.
The next step is the proposed referendum to change the constitution so as to appropriately recognize indigenous Australians. What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are after is embodied in the 'Uluru Statement from the Heart – a voice in the national parliament and 'Makarrata, which means coming together after a struggle and truth telling about history. What shape a 'voice in parliament may take remains to be defined and there seems to be much non-indigenous uneasiness about having to enter into a 'Makaratta, which they interpret as 'peace treaties (no need, we won long ago!). But these aspirations, particularly when expressed by the indigenous communities themselves, seem to be fundamental to eventual restoration of self-esteem.
Although over the years there have been many well-intentioned attempts to improve the well-being of indigenous communities, they have remained largely top-down approaches. A recent example is the cashless welfare card trial carried out in Ceduna, SA, and the Kimberley. The aim was to reduce incidence of alcoholism, drug abuse, gambling, child abuse, etc., specifically targeted at aboriginal communities, by providing welfare debit cards that ensure 80% of due payment is spent on groceries. This overlooks the fact that prohibition doesnt work (e.g. Al Capone), the possibility of bartering groceries and other allowed purchases for cash (or alcohol or drugs) or the temptation for robbery (as reported to be on the increase in Kununurra). Surely the way forward is increased training and funding for indigenous social workers who could specifically target individuals and problems.
Eventual restoration of self-esteem among indigenous communities can only come from within those communities. The best that the government and other sections of the community can do is to facilitate that process, by removing the extra hurdles indigenous people must jump over to achieve. As loss of self-esteem occurred over a period exceeding 200 years, unfortunately it will likely take generations to be regained (as suggested by the experience in South Asia).
A particularly important reward awaiting non-indigenous Australians for the successful restoration of indigenous self-esteem is what we can learn from indigenous culture. Europeans coming here have, to this day, considered the land, and environment generally, as there to be exploited for immediate gratification, with few concerns about its sustainability. Indigenous culture, developed over 60-70,000 years, is based on how to respect, live with and look after the total environment, something the rest of us need to learn pretty quickly before completely soiling our nest.
Photo: Uluru. Source: http://www.recognise.org.au/news/uluru-statement-heart