Page 15 - Indiginous Australians

Mary Alp
there was slavery in Australia involving both Islanders & Indigenous Australians. When referring to Lord Vestey’s cattle stations the anthropologists Ronald & Catherine Berndt commented - ... (Aboriginals) owned neither their huts in which they lived not the land on which these were built, they had no rights of tenue, and
51
in some cases have been sold or transferred with the property’
.
1976 saw the NT Aboriginal Land rights Act passed. This was the first attempt to
legally recognize Aboriginal ownership & inalienable freehold title. Other states
52
ratified similar legislation at different times. Some outcomes included: The
Northern Territory which resulted in 50% of land being transferred to collective Aboriginal ownership; South Australia the 1981 APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Land Rights Act resulted in 10.2% of the state’s land transferred to collective ownership (this land butts onto W.A & Central Australian borders); and in 1984 land in the Great Western Desert was returned to the Maralinga Tjarutja people (including the land contaminated by the British nuclear weapon
53
1970s saw the Aboriginal Homeland Movement where Indigenous people moved back to their traditional & often remote lands. Reasons stated for this were the influence of the Land rights movement; the need to maintain customs; the escape from the dysfunction of their people happening in major settlements ; the duty to uphold birth country; & the rejection of government policies that didn’t reflect
testing site at Maralinga).
54
‘In My Blood’. It depicts a Central Australian Aboriginal youth who was heading
Aboriginal needs or input.
towards incarceration but who was saved by returning to country.
We can see the benefits of this movement in the DVD 55
51 The Conversation, authors Professor of law UTS & Senior Lecturer faculty of law Monash, ‘Was slavery in Australia? Yes. It shouldn’t even be up for debate’
52 SBS, Nitv,’The Aboriginal Land Right NT’
53 Wikipedia, ‘Native title in Australia,
54 Creative Spirits, ‘Aboriginal Homelands & Outstaions’p.2. 55 Closer Productions 2019, ‘In My Blood’.
15 | P a g e