Opening the Doors

Working with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander young people

Aboriginal people and the history of non-Aboriginal intervention

Aboriginal people have been in Australia for over 40,000 years. Australia was home to hundreds of Aboriginal nations, each with their own language, culture and land.

During the first 150 years of European settlement many Aboriginal people were massacred for their land. These massacres were widespread and continued up until the 1920s.

Other Aboriginal people were moved off their traditional land and herded onto reserves with people from other Aboriginal nations.

Thousands of Aboriginal children were taken from their families all over Australia. The children were taken away purely on the basis of their Aboriginality. This practice continued until 1969.

In a recent national survey, 38% of Aboriginal people aged 15 years and older reported that they had either been removed as a child and/or had relatives who had been removed from their natural family as a child. 6

Many Aboriginal people still suffer social and emotional loss from having their children taken or from being taken. Many children and parents never saw each other again and many are still searching for their loved ones.

As a result of the Stolen Generations some Aboriginal people lost parts of their culture because they were separated from their families and children.

The experience of Aboriginal people with non-Aboriginal or European people has been one of devastation. The last 200 years has been a history of non-Aboriginal experts and institutions saying that they know what is best for Aboriginal people, often with devastating consequences.

Aboriginal people faced many racist practices from non-Aboriginal people in authority such as teachers, welfare workers, government departments, the health system, the justice system and the police. This experience impacts on the way Aboriginal people feel about and use mainstream services.

It is important to remember this history when working with Aboriginal communities. Many Aboriginal people may, understandably, have caution, suspicion or mistrust of non-Aboriginal people who want to do things for them or control them.

Self-determination is an important principle. Self determination means Aboriginal people being able to do things for themselves, rather than having other people decide what is in their best interests.

This means you need to work with Aboriginal communities, and support their efforts for self-determination, rather than setting up a program where you do things for them.

For most people our understanding of Aboriginal history and issues comes from non-Aboriginal experts such as politicians, the media, teachers, our family and friends. It is important to remember that many of our assumptions are based on non-Aboriginal opinions and experiences and can be inaccurate or even racist. We need to remember that there are two sides to every story and hear the views of Aboriginal people. 2, 14, 21, 22, 23

Definition

An Aboriginal person is someone who:

• is of Aboriginal descent, and
• identifies as an Aboriginal person, and
• is accepted as such by the community in which they live or have lived. 18,19

Demographics

There are over 5,000 Aboriginal people living in the Nepean region. 17

Local Government Area	Total population	Indigenous population	Percentage of the total population that is Aboriginal	Indigenous persons aged 9-18 years	Percentage of Indigenous persons who are aged 9-18 years
Blue Mountains	73,675	863	1.17%	225	25.9%
Hawkesbury	60,887	1,023	1.68%	282	27.6%
Penrith	171,870	3,478	2.02%	838	24.0%

Source : ABS, Census 2001, Indigenous Area Profiles, Tables 101 + 103

49% of the Metro West Indigenous population is aged under 18 years, compared to 29.1% of the total Metro West population aged under 18 years. 17

While Australia as a whole has an ageing population, this trend is reversed for Aboriginal people. Children and young people form a large proportion of the Aboriginal population. 1

For example, Aboriginal people comprise 1.9% of the total population but 3.25% of the youth population of Australia. 27

A large proportion of the Aboriginal population of the Nepean area are children and young people.

Terminology

Aboriginal and Indigenous are acceptable words for referring to Aboriginal people.

Kooris are the Aboriginal tribes from most of NSW and Victoria. Murries are the people from northern NSW and Queensland.

The majority of Indigenous people in the Nepean area are Kooris. There are also Murries, Torres Strait Islanders and people from other tribes living in the Nepean area.

We have used the word Aboriginal in this manual to refer to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

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