Australian History And Its Impact On Indigenous Australians

Analyzing the Impact of Australian History on Indigenous Australians

The history of colonization across the world is full of ambiguity. The forces that acted as the ruler forcing colonization always said they introduced their slaves to the civilized ways of life. The slaves, when they woke up from the slumber of slavery always said that their native culture was better, it was not a reform, and it was a distortion of the culture that their emperors forced on them (Peggy Brock, 2017).  

The story of the indigenous people living in Australia is no different. They are also known as aboriginal people as well. Many studies conducted in the year 2007 gives an idea that during the 16^th century, aboriginal people were carrying forward a rich tradition of learning and education (Nicole, 2011). They were not aware of the writing techniques; however, they were having a sense of history. They were transmitting it with the help of oral education where a person has to learn it by heart and then pass it on to the next generation. It was the wisdom that they were passing on from one generation to the other (Hogarth, 2015).

Many scholars may raise this question that the education system of the aboriginal people was lacking scientific temperament (Nina Burridge, 2012). It was not progressive; it was not connecting them to the modern way of thinking. However, now when we are already living in the postmodern era, now when the mainstream of the human race has already touched the pinnacle of the education systems, we are actually returning towards innocence and unlearning many things that we learned under the pretext that we were modern.

Luckily we are living in a society that gives us the permission to think and question. Luckily we are not a part of a totalitarian society. We can question the deeds of our ancestors and improve a few things to correct the mistakes of the past. In the case of aboriginal people, we can see it very clearly that they were living in a different kind of eco-system, their education and teachings were giving sustainability to their eco-systems (Muller, 2014). Indeed there were some shortcomings, however, every system has its own share of shortcomings, we should remove them and this is how a progressive society works. During the 17^th and 18^th century, different sovereigns and ruler tried to change the systems and thought processes of aboriginal people (Broome, 2010). They were putting up an act by saying that they are progressive in their approach. However, they were introducing aboriginal people towards some radical changes in their way of thinking, living, and culture (Nation, 2011).

Anyone following a different set of thoughts or ideas may be different from us; however, it never means that he or she is wrong. Aboriginal people felt this unfortunate pang of being wrong because they were different (Jon Altman, 2010). The world of education has its own share of seasons. During the 17^th century, 18^th century and 19^th century it was the era of STEM education. Rest of the subjects were just following the footprints of these four streams. Science was conquering the world and promoting the culture of rationalism. Any stream which was not close to this STEM rationalism was gradually becoming out-dated and redundant. The colonization of aboriginal people in Australia was following this school of thought. Some scholars can consider it as a progressive approach because aboriginal people were getting an exposure to the mainstream society of the world. However, the intentions behind this change over were contrived (Sullivan, 2011). The rulers were discarding the principles like free will thinking and scientific temper; instead, they were taming a population for their commercial interests. A new sky of the education was opening in the life of the aboriginal people, however; the horizons of true wisdom and free will thinking were out of sight for them (James L. Cox, 2016).

The Role of Oral Tradition in Aboriginal Education

This colonial hangover of this contrived education system lasted even after the freedom of the aboriginal people. They were scattered by every means. They were not connected with their roots and the mainstream society was not ready to accept them because they were different and regressive. The era of the colonization forced them to have an education so that they can become useful to their masters (Heiss, 2018). However, when the rest of the societies of Australia were celebrating a much deserve freedom. Aboriginal people were suffering from the idiosyncrasies of the past and present (Pope, 2011).

 It was the time of the emancipation for the others who were educated. Here we would like to raise an issue connected to the educational status of a community. In a democratic country like Australia, every community can demand equal rights and sometimes they can even demand privileges if they belong to a weaker or underprivileged section of the society (Gammage, 2012). The overall education level of the community plays a crucial role in it. Only an educated community can procure proper representatives that can act as a bridge between the authorities and the community (Steven Strong, 2017).

Now when we turn the pages of the history and check the history of the civil rights of aboriginal people in Australia then we find a blank space for almost five decades.  During the decade of the 1950’s many organizations and individuals came up with some pleas to bring in equal civil rights for the aboriginal people (Jang, 2015). They were pleading to include a minority in the mainstream. Most of us think that voting rights for the aboriginal people during the first few years of the sixth decade of the 2oth century were the turning point of the history for the aboriginal people (Melinda Hinkson, 2010). Voting gives us a voice, however, we need words and wisdom to speak, and this is where education makes an entry in our life and gives us the strength to cast our vote more intelligently.

Voting rights and rights to education are a different thing. A herd of uneducated voters can do no good for the basic spirit of the democracy. It is the education that really matters. The real turning point in the history of Australian aboriginal people was the referendum of 1967 when the government of Australia decided to include Aboriginal people in the census of the country. Census is not a head count; it gives us an idea of the human resource that forms the backbone of any democracy. A presence in the census always increases the responsibilities of the government sector to include a community in the mainstream. The planners of the economy can quantify the efforts, they can launch some studies based on the geographical presence of the community and finally, they can draft a document of the reforms.

At the beginning of this compilation of the facts and thoughts, we talked about some studies where they researched the education culture prevailing among the aboriginal communities during the era of the 17^th and 18^th century. This research was an outcome of the success of the planning commission in identifying the strength and density of the aboriginal population in Australia.

Colonization, Education, and Indigenous Australians

Any successful education standard reform program needs numbers. It needs the identification of key result areas. Now let’s check the timeline of the history once again, in the year 1963 Charles Perkins won the degree of Graduate of art from the University of Sydney. Why we are treating this degree as the first step of Neil Alden Armstrong on the moon.  We have a strong reason behind it, with this degree; Mr. Perkins became the first ever aboriginal graduate of Australia. On the timeline of almost sixty-three years, he was the only graduate till that time. The 1967 referendum became functional by 1971 (Jon Altman, 2010). Since then the educational reforms never took a back seat, we always saw an increase in the number of the aboriginal students.

Conclusion

An increase in the attendance levels and a decrease in the number of the dropouts may hold the key

How can the census make a difference? The census allows us to check the growth of the literacy rates and other tangents connected to the education on a different scale. One such scale is the national minimum standard of the education. Let’s have a look at some data gained through the census of 2016 and try to draw some conclusions out of it. When it comes to the knowledge of numeracy and reading at the level of class three, here we find that ninety-five percent of the students of the aboriginal status are either above the line or on the line. In this similar fashion, when it comes to grammar and punctuation, 51 percent of students are not above the line of national minimum standards. We are able to produce this data because, first the census identified the presence of aboriginal students and later on the researchers worked upon them to find out the truth behind it (Jang, 2015). When we talk about the literacy rates of Australia in general then we face a different set of questions because we are dealing with an educated community. However, in the case of the aboriginal population, the parameters change drastically.  For instance, a simple increase in the attendance of a student in the school and colleges can give us hope that the rate of the literacy will increase in the coming years.

The stream of an education is an energy that has the power to change the personality and the thought process of a person, grab them when they are kids, if we can intervene them during the primary school days and introduce education as a new lifestyle to them then we can find great results and keep a check on the number of the dropouts and expect more graduates in the future.  

On micro-level authorities can come up with special training programs for the teachers that are involved with the studies and welfare of the aboriginal people. The policymakers can provide a kind of artillery support to the teachers working on the ground zero with aboriginal people. Let’s take the example of Koorie Group working in the state of Victoria. In order to keep a check on the dropout rate, they started an education plan where apart from the kids they also educate the parents with the right tips on parenting. It was a great initiative; the teachers interacted with the parents and help them in getting the subsidy offered by the state government. The active participation of the teacher is important. Any teacher should never forget that he or she is acting as a face behind the numbers of the success (Heiss, 2018).

The Struggle for Equal Civil Rights

Koori foundation also set an example of sorts when they came up with some multifunctional centers to look after the overall wellbeing of the aboriginal kids. This value addition increased the loyalty of aboriginal children with the system and the education. This example also gives us a theory that instead of just focusing on the learning process of the kid, a teacher should act as a social intervention in the life of a kid. He should try to create an eco-system around the kid where fruits like education and wisdom can flourish. In the case of an aboriginal child heading towards literacy, the role of a teacher is not confined to classroom alone. He should act like a mentor for the kid. Education is not the final output; the application of the education for the welfare of the kid is the ultimate output that they should seek (Gammage, 2012).

According to an estimate, aboriginal people are a minority in Australia they represent only the three percent of the overall population. The referendum of 1967 did have a “before and after” impact on the education-related numbers and standards of the aboriginal people because it was the time when census started counting their presence. This data helped planning commissions of the states and country to come up with welfare schemes. With each census, they introduced new variables to evaluate the success and failures of previous programs. These evaluations also helped the educationalists to figure out some new roles and responsibilities for the teachers. With the help of census data, they perceived a macro picture of this minority population. With the help of the feedbacks of the teachers, social servants and humanitarian experts sitting at the helm of the NGO’s, also got an insight about allocating the funds in the right direction for the best impacts. If we consider 1900 as the activation point of the timeline for the reform attempts guided for the welfare of aboriginal people, then it took sixty years when Australian education system finally produced the first ever graduate student that represented the aboriginal community in the league of scholars. It happened in 1960, two years down the line, in 2020, sixty more years will pass, we are optimistic that this time Australian education system will present a bright picture of educated aboriginal people.

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