Page 32 - EarthHeroes

Torres Strait Islanders face the loss of their islands to the ocean, since many are less than a metre above sea level.
It was Amelia’s Aboriginal roots that first led her to climate change activism. Amelia grew up on the coast of New South Wales with two brothers, spending lots of time outdoors exploring the beaches, mountains and bushland near her home. Her mother is from New Zealand and her father is from the Bundjalung nation and of South Sea Islander descent. While at high school, Amelia was learning about climate change when she noticed that the coast near her own home was affected by erosion – the land was being worn away by the sea. She felt a deep responsibility to protect the natural world, so she joined her school climate action group. Soon she was on the school environment committee and helped to get recycling introduced and solar panels installed at the school. She and her fellow students went on to write a 10-year plan, explaining how the school could move to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2023.
It was while learning about climate change that Amelia became aware of its effects on Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Theirs is
the oldest living culture on Earth. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples feel that they belong to the land, rather than the land belonging to them, and this influences how they take care of it. They have always lived sustainably, using natural resources with care. The desert, mountains, bush and sea – the individual rocks and trees – hold special meaning for them, and when the land is damaged or destroyed they are affected very deeply.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had lived in Australia for around 50,000 years when Captain Cook landed in 1770 and claimed it as British territory. Britain began sending convicted criminals there in the late 1700s and seized land for farms and ranches. Over two centuries, the settlers killed many of the Indigenous peoples, and in later years children were taken away
32