- This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law. For more general information on Aboriginal Australians go to Indigenous Australians.
| Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders |
  |
|
 ,  ,  |
Ernie Dingo, David Wirrpanda, Adam Goodes
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| Total population |
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517,000[1]
2.6% of Australia's population
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| Regions with significant populations |
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| Languages |
| Several hundred Indigenous Australian languages (many extinct or nearly so), Australian English, Australian Aboriginal English, Torres Strait Creole, Kriol |
| Religion |
| Primarily Christian, with minorities of other religions including Islam and various forms of Traditional belief systems based around the Dreamtime |
| Related ethnic groups |
| see List of Indigenous Australian group names |
Australian Aborigines (æbəˈɹɪdʒɪni (help·info), aka Aboriginal Australians) are a class of peoples who are identified by Australian law as being members of a race indigenous to the Australian continent.
From the High Court of Australia
In the High Court of Australia, Australian Aborigines have been specifically identified as a class of people who share, in common, biological ancestry back to the original occupants of this continent[2] .
Justice Dean of the High Court famously described and defined an Australian Aboriginal person as:
"..a person of Aboriginal descent, albeit mixed, who identifies himself as such and who is recognised by the Aboriginal community as an Aboriginal.."[3]
From Australian Aborigines
Eve Fesi, an Aboriginal Australian from the Gabi Gabi people, published in the Aboriginal Law Bulletin describing how she and other Australian Aborigines preferred to be identified:
"The word 'aborigine' refers to an indigenous person of any country. If it is to be used to refer to us as a specific group of people, it should be spelt with a capital 'A', i.e. 'Aborigine'..."[4]
More recently, Lowitja O'Donoghue AC, CBE, commenting on the prospect of possible amendments to Australia's constitution, is quoted in an article entitled 'Call us Aboriginal' as saying:
"I really can't tell you of a time when 'indigenous' became current, but I personally have an objection to it, and so do many other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people... This has just really crept up on us ... like thieves in the night."
"We are very happy with our involvement with indigenous people around the world, on the international forum ... because they're our brothers and sisters...But we do object to it being used here in Australia."[5]
The proportion of Aboriginal adults married (de facto or de jure) to non-Aboriginal spouses was 69% according to the 2001 census, up from 64% in 1996, 51% in 1991 and 46% in 1986.
The census figures show there were more intermixed Aboriginal couples in capital cities: 87 per cent in 2001 compared to 60 per cent in rural and regional Australia.
From Australian Academia
Dean of Indigenous Research and Education at Charles Darwin University, Professor MaryAnn Bin-Sallik, has publicly lectured on the ways Australian Aborigines have been categorised and labelled over time[6]:
"Professor Bin-Sallik’s lecture offered a new perspective on the terms “urban” and “traditional” and “of Indigenous descent” as used to define and categorise Aboriginal Australians."
“Not only are these categories inappropriate, they serve to divide us,” Professor Bin-Sallik said.
“Government’s insistence on categorising us with modern words like ‘urban’, ‘traditional’ and ‘of Aboriginal descent’ are really only replacing old terms ‘half-caste’ and ‘full-blood’ – based on our colouring.”
"She called for a replacement of this terminology by the word: Aborigine .. “irrespective of hue”"
See also
External links
References
- ^ [1]Australian Bureau of Statistics
- ^ Plevitz, Loretta D & Croft, Larry (2003) "Aboriginality Under The Microscope: The Biological Descent Test In Australian Law" QUT Law & Justice Journal Number 7Accessed 25 March 2008
- ^ Dean, J (1984) Tasmania v Commonwealth. 158 CLR. Page 243.
- ^ Fesi, Eve (1986) "‘Aborigine’ and ‘Aboriginal’" Aboriginal Law Bulletin. Number 39. Accessed 25 March 2008
- ^ Salna, Karlis (2008) "Call us Aboriginal - ATSIC chair". The Australian. 1 May 2008 Accessed 2 May 2008
- ^ Charles Darwin University newsroom (12 May 2008) "First public lecture focuses on racist language" Accessed 13 May 2008
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