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Conflict Between Australia and Aborigine Property Rights In the past centuries a peaceful yet devastating fight on the territory of Australia occurred. The fight happened between the natives of the continent the Aborigines, and newcomers the European settlers. Aborigines have lost it and became the minority in Australia, a country they used to be the sole occupants of. Their relationship to the government as a minority has affected them profusely. Many of the policies the government has constructed for them have changed their customs, religion and ways of life. In this paper we will look at the history of Aboriginal property rights movement developed, who were the main players, issues, and the strategies of this conflict resolution.
We will note the importance of the correctly chosen strategy and its application to a particular conflict resolution. Aborigines have populated Australia for over forty thousand years; it is believed that they originated from Asia at about that time. Australia, the last discovered continent, was found by the Spanish in the mid 1500 s, but they did little with that knowledge. After capturing a group of Spaniards in 1767, the British learned of its existence.
The British rediscovered it in 1770. In 1788 the British began colonizing the continent with convicts in the area known as Botany Bay, in New South Wales. Their thoughts for creating the penal colony were that it was inaccessible and therefore difficult to escape, and that the small group of natives present in the area could be easily cowed (Bartlett 34). During colonization, the government began pacification of the native tribes. Through this process, it is estimated that around twenty thousand natives died, of a population at the time estimated to be around three hundred thousand. Many Aborigines were massacred at this time.
This was probably was the very first example of the conflict between the aborigines and Australian official authorities. The Aborigines approach to the conflict was poorly chosen. According to the five conflict styles, at this point of time, out of all options of: Forcing, Accommodating, Avoiding, Compromising or Collaborating, the Aborigines only the latter choice would have been correct (Whetten). The attempt to collaborate with newcomers could have helped them [Aborigines] to pursue their interests and defend own rights.
Though, taking into the consideration the moral and ethic standards of late eighteenth century conquerors, the success percentage of the alternative is doubtfully high, it still would have been more promising than the chosen strategy of Avoiding. The failure of Aborigines can be fairly explained by their inactivity and poor information, the weak resistance could not stand against the numerous invaders, and there was nowhere to wait for help from. Having understood the inability of the Aborigines to oppose Great Britain, after the aforementioned policy of pacification the British began a new movement of segregation. In this policy, through government command, Aborigines were gathered up and forced to live on reserves or missions run by the church, separated from the rest of the country. Similarly, this occurred to the Native inhabitants of the U. S.
as well as Canada. Many of the Native people died at this time from diseases unknown to them, introduced by the Europeans. By 1880 all indigenous people not residing at missions or reserves were forced to live at reserves by the Aborigines Protection Board. Methods used by the Board involved withdrawal of rations, seizure of children (who were placed in the care of the Department of Neglected Children) and forcible transfer under police escort (Clark). By the late 1800 s the Aboriginal population was estimated to be about sixty thousand, an eighty percent decrease in only a hundred years.
Even throughout much of the twentieth century, Natives were seen as subordinate. Max Muller in 1870, in the Anthropological Review, London, classified the human race into seven categories on an ascending scale - with the Aborigines on the lowest rung and the "Aryan" type supreme. They were the fringe dwellers of society for a long time, sticking to themselves and have only in very recent history begun to live semi-normal lives. In 1901 with the introduction of the White Australian Policy there was a concerted move, at a national level, to prevent colored people from immigrating into the country. There was also the desire that those colored people who were already here (Aboriginal Australians, Chinese, West Indian, and African), would eventually fit into the Anglo-Saxon, Christian society. Broadly speaking the policy aimed to assimilate the remnants into white society and to become one people without admixture of other races.
The White Australia Policy was one of the most discriminate policies against different cultures in Australias history. This policy determined Australia to be a white country by definition. It was considered white at the highest level of government. The policy denied the existence of Aborigines and defined the country in racist terms (London 45). The policy had very negative effects. Many Australians grew up in a society where it was perceived that to be aboriginal was to be worthless.
The effects of this policy may still linger, since the act was not repealed until 1972. Therefore many Australians grew up being taught this policy, which may have shaped prejudicial views. Also, the same year this policy was placed into affect, the government wrote the following in their constitution, Section 51 (xxvi). The Parliament shall, subject to the Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to the people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make laws. Through the White Australia policy and the following constitutional article, the government basically inferred that non-white people were of lesser value than whites. Another government policy that has greatly affected the lives of aboriginals is the Assimilation Policy.
At about the time of the Second World War, a strong movement by the Aborigines was initiated to seek equal rights. They gained a voice and in 1935 the League of Nations began focusing attention on the treatment of Australian Aborigines. The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science also supported this movement. The Government though, was slow to take action towards the equalization of rights between citizens of aboriginal background and those of European descent.
The various governments of Australia, in 1936, began to yield to the enlightened public opinion and withdraw from policies that isolated Aborigines. In 1938, (the hundred fiftieth anniversary of European possession of Australia) festivities were planned by the government for the 26 th of January. Aboriginal activists, William Ferguson and Jack Patten planned protests for that day. Aborigines came from all round Australia to Sydney to protest, in a Day of Mourning. In a speech he gave that day, Mr. Ferguson said: We want ordinary citizen rights.
We want the right to own land that our fathers and mothers have owned from time immemorial... and ask for a new policy which would raise aborigines to full citizens. William Ferguson and Jack Pattern founded a newspaper called The Australian Abo Call. Their paper called for the rights of Aborigine to be acknowledged. June 27, 1937 Ferguson held a general assembly, to re-establish the Aborigines Progressive Association. Their goals were for complete citizenship rights and fair representation for Aborigines by Parliament.
A combination of these events led to the governments creation of the Assimilation Policy. The purpose of the policy, formed in response to demands for equality, was not equivalence, but to prepare Aboriginal people for full citizenship and their ultimate absorption by the people of the commonwealth (Ward 13). In this assimilation policy Aborigines were taken from their homes and reservations by police and moved to different areas. In some cases, children were taken from their families and placed with white families. One of the issues that this policy has led to at the present time is the Stolen Generation Aborigines. In October 1996, five hundred fifty Aborigines who were forcibly removed from their homes and parents as children under the assimilation policy took up legal action against the Australian government.
These people are seeking damage claims from the government because of what they endured through the Assimilation policy. They argue that the government, recklessly and negligently breached the duty of care owed to the children in its custody, causing injury, loss and damage to the plaintiffs. Other debates that have been long going are the many land disputes. These disputes have been going on ever since the British claimed Australia as its own and began colonizing it. The British gave out land to white settlers through both freehold titles and pastoral leases. They completely ignored aboriginal land rights.
Their legal justification for doing this was called terra nucleus or empty land. The British crown applied this term. [It] rendered Aborigines incapable of any interest in real property. In effect, Australian law codified the wholesale dispossession of Aboriginal lands and the relocation of these people throughout the continent (Wood). One of the first cases in which natives tried to gain back their original lands, was the case of Mabo versus Queensland. In this case Aborigines sued the government for recognition of their rights to land that was stolen from them. The court recognized the Native title to the land, and stated that the governments actions were in contrast to the Racial Discriminations Act of 1975 (RDA).
The court also abolished terra nucleus, saying it was fictional. The National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) was formed in response to this, to act as a mediating body between Aboriginal groups making claims to land and parties with existing interests in disputed areas (Bartlett 198). The Mabo decision and Native Title Act established a basis for the recognition of the Aboriginal People's special attachments to Australia. The judgment found that a native title to land existed in 1788 and may continue to exist provided it has not been extinguished by subsequent acts of government and provided Aborigines continue to observe their traditional laws and customs. The Act has resulted in approximately forty-two percent of the territory becoming Aboriginal in perpetuity under inalienable freehold title.
The Act gives Aboriginal traditional owners certain controls over use of their land including a veto on mineral exploration. The traditional belief system of the Aborigines of Australia is very different than many of the main religions of the world. Aborigines believe that their ancestral spirits created the world in a time period known as the Dreamtime. They formed the earth and its features, as well as creating the cultural practices and ceremonies they perform today. They believe that when they die, they become stars in the sky, rocks in caves, or they disappear into water wholes. There is no belief in an afterlife whether good or bad.
Therefore they place a very strong value in the land; it has great importance to them. In many ways the government has affected the religious aspect of the native people of Australia. Assimilation of native tribes, for example, had a great affect on Native beliefs. In many cases, children of mixed blood (who had light skin tones) were taken from their parents and adopted into all white homes without being told that they were native until they had grown up. They were completely deprived of their culture and the beliefs practiced within it. Also, by being assimilated into the predominately white culture of mainstream Australia, Natives were basically told that their beliefs were wrong and that they should accept the Christian faiths of the culture they were being assimilated into.
The underlying message appeared to be that Aboriginal cultural beliefs and loyalties did not matter while Aboriginal people were to accept the prevailing views, however, they were not in reality given the rights of other Australians. The above-mentioned case of land disputes has been failed by the Aborigines mainly due to their inability to negotiate with the whites of Australia. Even if the attempts to negotiate were present, the Aborigines addressed them to the wrong people. Thus, when they received no reply, the Aborigines became disappointed with these attempts, and, of course, did not want to continue. There are two alternatives to negotiating: BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) and WATNA (Worst Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). BATNA can be explained as the best way to fulfill the needs and interests of one without the others agreement.
Knowing the limits gives the negotiator the strength and confidence to walk away when needed. However, there must be an alternative left whenever possible. Having set limits is good but the Aborigines had to avoid making the bottom line so inflexible that you they could not reexamine the offer of the authorities in a different light. Nelson Bunker suggests that there is always another choice for the negotiation process.
WATNA is a tool with the help of which the Aborigines could use to analyze the worst cases for both themselves and the whites. The message to the authorities could have been as follows: Not only the best thing that can happen if an agreement isnt reach but also the worst thing that can happen. The Aborigines displayed themselves as quite a weak nationality. Having population of about 300, 000 people they could have began the resistance. The past experience of dealing with the conqueror should have been a good advise to the Natives that probably the best choice of this conflicts resolution is war. Besides, as noted above the great number of people who could fight for the Aborigine side could isolate the first invasions of Europeans.
Much of the original culture of the Aborigines has died out since the arrival of Europeans and their colonization. As said above, before any people arrived in Australia, the indigenous population was around 300, 000. The population now, has just finally reached that point again. There used to be around six hundred individual tribes, with over two hundred fifty native languages, over fifty of which are now extinct (Palfreeman 47).
The most recent political dealings with the Natives have been positive steps taken to correct past actions. In 1995 the Government launched an Inquiry into the assimilation of Aborigines. The chair of the inquiry, which was chosen by the Government, was a former High Court judge, Sir Ronald Wilson. He published his findings in a report called Bringing Them Home, it told of the suffering endured by Aboriginals as a result of Government policy. It labels government policies genocidal. This was not a judgment on the families and institutions in which the children had been placed - some were well cared for, though many were not.
But the policy's aim was the disappearance of Aborigines as a distinct group; and this was genocide, as defined in the Convention on Genocide ratified by Australia in 1949. A national apology was called for, and measures for reparation. Now the Government has announced that it will make available 50 million dollars over four years for counseling and family reunion services. Not only this, but on May 26, 1998 Australia observed its inaugural National Sorry Day and week of reconciliation.
The whole point was to apologize to the natives for how they had been treated by the government. The entire country observed a minute of silence and many different activities were held throughout the nation. Sorry Day was suggested by Wilson in the end of his report, though the government tabled the whole idea when they first heard it, they ended up having it one year after they had dismissed his findings. The indigenous people of Australia have been affected greatly by the policies of the government.
These policies have affected Aboriginal religion, beliefs, and culture. They have been degraded and denied existence by their own government through the White Australia Policy and the Assimilation Policy. Their minority status has changed their way of life, most likely forever. Land and property rights fueled an important civil rights movement in the 1970 s. Aborigines site ut fr equal rights, and specifically fr land rights fr property that had been forcibly taken by British settlers.
The Aboriginal Land Rights Act, passed in 1976, became instrumental in territories with tribal associations. The 1990 s witnessed further rights milestones, including government legislation that returned a great degree f autumn, and increased wages and welfare benefits t aboriginal people. However, despite the latest achievements in the spheres of independence from the Australian government the past political strategy of Aborigines can be considered as failed. The inability of the Natives to behave correctly in the conflicts and their resolution has lead the original inhabitants of Australian continent to lose all influence on the internal affairs within the country.
Besides, the Aborigines have allowed to be marked as inferior nation for many centuries to come. The current relief in their situation is nothing more than just a global initiative of the developed countries to improve the cooperation between nationalities for the sake of free markets and globalization expansion. Works Cited Along, R. J. , & Kuzuhara, L. W. Organizational behavior and management: An integrated skills approach.
Cincinnati, OH: South-Western Thomson Learning. 2001. Clark, Geoff. web 1999 London, H. I. Non-White Immigration and the "White Australia" Policy, Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1970. Palfreeman, A.
C. The Administration of the White Australia Policy, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1967. Ward, Russel. The History of Australia The 20 th Century. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1977. Whetten, D.
A. , & Cameron, K. S. Developing management skills, (5 th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2002.
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Research essay sample on Conflict Between Australia And Aborigine Property Rights
