Impact Of European Settlement On Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People And Families

Family Structure and the Stolen Generation

The Torres Strait Islanders had their presence in one part of the continent. Their community was home to a number of languages and cultures. The arrival of the European settlers brought about a huge change on this tribe. The islanders lost their home, their children and were forced to follow culture that was not their own. This report tries to present the impact that the settlers had on these natives.

The European settlements had a profound effect on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Their impact has been elaborated broadly below:

The entire family structure broke and their children were separated from them. They belonged to the stolen generation who were being brought up either European institutions or by European families. They grew up to be foster children growing up in the European culture.   

The European settlers brought a number of infectious diseases along with them and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were infected by these. The diseases ultimately led to the death of a number of Islanders.

The settlers implemented a number of laws on the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders. In addition to this the laws separated them from the rest of the Australian population. This complete removal from their position and identity left them with the least self-determination.

The Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders suffered huge losses due to European settlements. It was home to a number of languages but with these settlements there was a sharp decline both in the number of people as well as variety of languages. They were forced to leave their lands and give away the traditional form of lifestyle. A part of the group resisted this change and was met with violence (Calma, Dudgeon & Bray, 2017). The Aboriginals were shifted to reserves where they were forced to leave their languages and cultural traditions.

The children who were being shifted to foster care or other European institutions were receiving education in accordance with the European culture (Funston & Herring, 2016).

Things have changed now from what it was earlier. Keeping in mind the conditions that were faced by them during the past years, certain changes have been brought about by the government. They are currently located only in two regions which are Queensland and New South Wales. There are services that are being organized for their betterment. Now it can be estimated that the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders are in a much better position. 

Principle: To provide care to the child and support the family.

Practice: The IHC program provides care to the child in home environment and supports their families.

Learning Outcome: This has been able to provide the families with better support and the children to have received the necessary care. 

1. My cultural identity has shaped my life. It has allowed me to think of this environment as a diverse one. We have been brought up in a diverse community where growing up with individuals from various communities has had a positive effect. This has allowed me not only to take up my own cultural values but have even helped me in respecting the values of the other communities.
2. My life and the values that I have grown up with have allowed me to see all the cultures equally. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are not much different than any other population. Their values might be different and they might have a difference in language but my culture has taught me equally respect every culture with their diversity.
3. In order to develop my personal cultural competency further I would like to gain more knowledge about the various cultures. This would allow me to understand them better. In addition to this I would like to learn a few more languages or at least try to understand the language used by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders so that I can understand their culture better.
4. Language spoken at home by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders:

Population speaking Australian Indigenous Languages & English:

Australian Aboriginal Traditional Religions are followed by 222 males, 246 females and 466 persons in general (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016).

The languages spoken by non-indigenous people

1. The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre allows women from these communities to avail a number of services. This organization caters to the health issues and provides them with a number of reforms.
2. a. Badu Island is home to the Badugal and Muagal Community. The langusge of this community is Kala Lagaw Ya.

The adults in the community still speak in the native language while the students from this community use a creole known as “Yumpla Tok”.

This community was previously recognized to be fierce head hunters. They were engaged generally in warfare. This continued till 1870 and after that when settlers arrived they engaged in the trading of shells and pearls. Much of the population has now moved to urban areas in search of work. They represent their artworks in the form of murals and this is what they employ while telling cultural stories.

I was not aware of a community that practiced head hunting within the Torres Islands. Other than this I was not even aware of this language but this research has helped me in gaining knowledge about a new language.

1. In order to create connections with the local Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander Community it would be really essential to show them the due respect. I need to make it clear to them that I understand their values and at the same time have ample respect towards it. This would help me in interacting with them.
2. I have retrieved the details from the website of: https://www.tsra.gov.au/the-torres-strait/community-profiles/httpwww.tsra.gov.authe-torres-straitcommunity-profilesbadu.aspx 

1. Wini and Khadi belong to an Aboriginal family and they are new to this area. This family has not engaged much with the other populations and has remained within their community. Winnie was comfortable in her language and did not prefer something else. The family referred to the other communities as “them mob”. The term children or kids were used only to refer to children from their community.
2. The staff knew that Winnie belonged to the Aboriginal community and none of the other members of the class belonged to that community. So the staff needed to provide much more care and attention on the first day. Correcting Winnie on her language for too many times was a disrespect that she showed to her culture. The staff could have abstained from it and that would have allowed Wini the scope to get adjusted further.
3. In order to promote respect and understanding towards the language and culture of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders among the other families would be to allow them to interact. A community interaction session can be held where people can learn about the community (NQS, 2018). Wini’s father could come and speak on behalf of his community. The other thing that can be done is to teach the children the importance of diversity and to engage them in such learning sessions where they get to know each other well.
4.  According to the Codes of Ethics it is the responsibility of the teachers to “uphold integrity, respect and responsibility” (Forster, 2012). So in this given situation the responsibility of the teacher would be to enhance respect towards each of the communities.
5. Wini might have been withdrawn on her first day because she was not comfortable in the surroundings. Secondly, the repetitive corrections on the language that was being made by the staff withdrew her further.
6. The learning framework of the early years is available in over 20 languages and this would help Wini and her family (Ward, Branch & Fridkin, 2016). In addition to this, culturally motivated postcards will help Wini to concentrate more and she might find the sessions interesting. Both Wini and her family would be able to interact if things are provide to them in their own language and this would help Wini in her growth years.  
7. The two benefits for care service when they employ educators who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander are:
8. They have a variety of experiences to share and their knowledge and thought process is quite different from those of the other communities.
9. Other than that the indigenous people help in creating cultural awareness among the non- indigenous people.
10. In order to support other educators belonging to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community, I need to know them. Communication is really important and knowing their values would offer me with the scope to support them in this process. I would providing them assistance and even show much respect towards their community so that they willingly work as educators. 

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016). 2016 Census Community Profiles. Retrieved from: https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/communityprofile/1GSYD?opendocument

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (2018). National Quality Standard. Retrieved from: https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard

Calma, T., Dudgeon, P., & Bray, A. (2017). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing and mental health. Australian Psychologist, 52(4), 255-260.

Forster, D. J. (2012). Codes of Ethics in Australian Education: Towards a National Perspective. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(9), n9.

Funston, L., & Herring, S. (2016). When will the stolen generations end?: A qualitative critical exploration of contemporary’child protection’practices in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand, 7(1), 51.

Ward, C., Branch, C. & Fridkin, A. (2016). What is Indigenous Cultural Safety—and Why Should I Care About It? Retrieved from: https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/indigenous-people-vol11/what-is-indigenous-cultural-safety-and-why-should-i-care-about-it

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