January 26th marks the celebration of the 1788 colonial invasion of Australia, known as ‘Australia Day’. This was the day that thousands of indigenous Australians were slaughtered and forcefully had their land pillaged from them. To this day, this is a nation-wide celebration.
Rottnest Island is a popular tourist destination, by turning the concentration camp which enslaved the aboriginals into a hotel.
On May 24th 2020, the worlds second largest metal and mining corporation, Rio Tinto, blew up 46,000 year-old sacred aboriginal caves dating back to the last ice-age.
The unemployment rate for aboriginals is close to 3 times higher than that of the non-aboriginal population.
Australia incarcerates more First Nation children than any other country in the world.
45% of inmates are First Nation people, despite only making 2.9% overall population.
Indigenous people are the most victimised by the police, courts and prisons, along with suffering higher rates of crime.
A 2001 study in NSW found that the indigenous community are:
- 5.5x more likely to suffer domestic violence
- 3.4 times more likely to suffer assault
- 2.8 times more likely to suffer sexual assault
- 2.5 times more likely to be murdered.
The “stolen generation” refers to aboriginal babies and children purposely being taken from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions – with the “intention to integrate them into white society”. This occurred between 1905-1967.
After speaking with an Elder yesterday, he informed me that children of lighter skin complexion “were chosen to be removed to blend out their skin colour”.
Raise awareness to racism.