NEWS
EVENTS
The hidden story of the Aboriginals
Many of us have heard of the struggle of the Native Americans, the uprising of African Americans and the courageous spirit of millions of Jews in Nazi Germany. But few of us know how disturbing the Aboriginal story is.
Hidden Australia is Reggie Yates most recent documentary on being ‘black in the outback.’ Unlike popular belief Australia isn’t just made up of blonde haired and blue eyed babes. It is also home to Aboriginal Australians, these dark skinned and raven-haired people are indigenous to Australia.
Yates follows a community living in Wilcannia and finds Aborigines struggling with alcoholism, drugs and a bleak future. But Yates pushes us to look past the stereotypes and prejudices of Aborigines, to see their humanity and pain. ‘We will not be judged by anybody. You know there’s a lot of hurt. Alcohol and drugs that’s just like a Band-Aid,’ says a Aboriginal native to Yates.
For Aboriginals it all started over 200 years ago when European colonists took a sudden interest in the Island they were already settled in. What followed next is hard to stomach. The British forcefully took land from several indigenous communities and attempted to ‘civilise’ them. This led to the Stolen Generation, a government policy of Assimilation between 1910 and the 1970s. Founded on the idea that if Aborigine people could not ‘die out’ naturally then they had to be made accustomed to the white way of life.
Children were removed from their families and taught to be ashamed of their heritage. Several of the Stolen Generations were psychologically, physically and sexually abused during this time; and a lot of the indigenous oral culture and cultural knowledge was lost too. Lendal a young person living in Wilcannia explains the heart-breaking consequences of these actions. ‘We’ve got nothing. We are even losing our Barkindji. We are all growing up to speak English.’
Like many other young people in the indigenous community Lendal is unemployed. Even though Aboriginals only make up 2% of the population, every 1 in 3 people in Australian jails are black. So in a country that once passed the Flora and Fauna Act in 1966, essentially declaring that indigenous people where animals. It is no surprise that the suicide rate among young Aborigine men is one of the highest in the world.
Under the sheer weight of black history the Aboriginal stories and struggles have been frequently buried. But attempts have been made to reconcile the past with the present. In 1998 a group of communities declared May 26th to be the National Sorry Day. A day of healing for the Stolen Generations, and atonement for the country. Yet it took another decade for the Australian government to even announce an official apology.
