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5. European colonisation has had a devastating effect on Indigenous culture in Australia. Do you agree?

European colonisation of Australia took place since the 1700s when this new land became part of
Britain. However, before the arrival of white people, there were native inhabitants who are known as
Indigenous Australians who form the group of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. During this
period there was a significant impact on the Aboriginal population. There are people who believe that
Aboriginal Australians have achieved better outcomes in several aspects of their lifestyle since the European
settlement. However, Indigenous culture in Australia has been deeply affected due to the colonisation, since
they had suffered severe injustices. This essay will discuss some difficulties that Indigenous Australians had
to face including issues of health, stolen generations and language.

One of the most devastating effects that the European settlement caused in the indigenous
Australians has an implication with health issues. When white people arrived in the new land, Aboriginal
population suffered from new diseases, as a result, there was a disruption in their habits and lifestyle (Tourism
Australia 2014). As Nerelle (2012, p. 5) explains that the complexity of health for Indigenous Australians
encloses not only the physical conditions, but also the social and spiritual conditions and after the arrival of
Europeans this conception of health was relegated. Senier & Barker (2013, p. 6) emphasises that the
suppression of cultural practices like traditional medicine, ceremony, and even language has been shown to
have devastating effects on indigenous health and indigenous bodies. This means that the Indigenous
Australians had their own procedures and practices to relieve the illnesses that they were used to, but after the
arrival of white people they were forced to cease those practices. Despite the effort for having better
treatments concerning to the healthcare, the Aboriginal community is still having troubles in health due to the
indifference of the politics about this topic (Special Broadcasting Services 2013). It is well known that when a
community is living in an insulated environment as the aboriginals did, they are not able to combat the
unknown diseases, therefore they are the perfect target to be affected by these diseases, additionally their own
traditional medicine and treatments were depreciated by the colonialists and did not work well on the new
diseases causing indirectly an interruption in their culture.

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Another relevant effect in the Indigenous Australian culture has a close relationship with the dark
episode of the Australian history known as the Stolen Generations. This episode took place during the last
century and refers to the children separated from their families being a clear example of cultural genocide
(Van Krieken 2004, p. 8). As the Department of Social Services (2013) states that this group of children were
raised into another culture different than their original, they were forced to adopt the European culture
producing a gap in the traditional aboriginal culture. One of the main consequences of the policy resulting on
the Stolen Generations was that the Indigenous Australian culture was affected by reducing their traditional
population while the European settlement increased and mixed with the Aborigines sexually resulting in the
creation of a half-caste problem (Van Kreken 1999). It was considered a problem because this half-caste
population was not accepted neither by the Aboriginal people nor the European Australians, additionally it
weakened the traditional culture. During 2008, the Australian Parliament and the Australian nation recognized
the devastating effects that this policy caused in the Aboriginal culture, the government apologized with the
Indigenous Australians for all the damage that the European settlement caused in the Indigenous Australians
(Department of Social Services 2009). The removal of children from their families is clearly an episode that
marked a profound suffering for Indigenous Australians in several aspects of their life since this generation
was deprived of its own culture and they did not continue with the transmission of the habits and customs.

The loss of the traditional Aboriginal languages is another critical negative effect produced by the
European colonisation. In fact the Aboriginals were forced to learn the customs and language of the
Europeans losing their cultural identity (Commonwealth of Australia 2005). As Walsh (1993) writes that
before the European settlement there were around 250 languages European colonisation of Australia took
place since the 1700s when this new land became part of Britain. However, before the arrival of white
people, there were native inhabitants who are known as Indigenous Australians who form the group of
Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. During this period there was a significant impact on the
Aboriginal population. There are people who believe that Aboriginal Australians have achieved better
outcomes in several aspects of their lifestyle since the European settlement. However, Indigenous culture in
Australia has been deeply affected due to the colonisation, since they had suffered severe injustices. This
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essay will discuss some difficulties that Indigenous Australians had to face including issues of health, stolen
generations and language.

As in almost every topic, there are always discrepancies, and this topic is not the exception. There
are some people who consider that the European colonisation has brought beneficial outcomes for the
Indigenous Australians. As the Aboriginal people had a primitive lifestyle some people, especially white
Australians think that the European settlement brought the civilization and all the advantages that it has such
as education, healthcare, work and more. Even though the colonisation may have had some positive aspects,
the negative aspects are far heavier creating an imbalance in the Indigenous Australian population. It can be
illustrated by the notable difference in the life expectancy between Indigenous Australians and non-
Indigenous Australians which shows that for the Indigenous is lower than for the non-indigenous Australians
(Australian Health Ministers, cited in Commonwealth of Australia, 2005). As a result, it should not be
recognized that the European settlement brought beneficial results in the Indigenous Australian culture.

To sum up, the European colonisation have caused serious negative effects in the Indigenous
Australian culture. Some of these effects include health issues, effects of the Stolen Generations and the loss
of traditional languages. The effects provoked in their culture will never be repaired, but it could be
minimized, and the government and white Australians have started a new era by recognizing the damage and
apologizing to the Indigenous community. Even though the government has taken care about Indigenous
Australian issues during the last years, there is still a high difference between the Indigenous people and non-
Indigenous people. The importance of the traditional culture is significant for this nation and should be treated
with diligence.

Word count: 1051



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