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What is a stereotype?

Before we discuss stereotypes we need to know what a stereotype is.

Definition: Stereotype

The Wikipedia defines a stereotype as

a generalised perception of first impressions,

judging with the eyes/criticising ones outer appearance,

a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image,

forms of social consensus rather than individual judgements.

The word 'stereotype' comes from the Greek 'stereo' and 'typos' = 'solid impression'.

Stereotypes surface when you are with a group of people and you hear them affirming that, for example, "all Aboriginals are lazy". If you asked that person you would probably find out that they actually have never met an Aboriginal person which would have allowed them to reach an informed opinion.

Stereotypes are dangerous and can lead to prejudice and racism.

Stereotypes are incomplete and inaccurate beliefs that some people hold about groups of other people .

Example: Aboriginal Associate Professor Karen Martin teaches university students in Queensland. She found that of the 600 students in her classes, fewer than one third had ever had a conversation with an Aboriginal person. "And yet most had a strongly held opinion or belief about Aboriginal people-generally negative," she says .

Scientists found that our brain responds more strongly to information about groups who are portrayed unfavourably , which is often the case with Aboriginal people in the media. The negative groups then become treated as more and more negative.

When we cluster people into groups with a variety of expected traits we are less overwhelmed by information. But negative stereotypes are more difficult to reverse, and if you haven't been brought up in a liberal family you might have more difficulties unlearning prejudice.

I once received an email asking for "information on this wonderful history" of Aboriginal people in Australia. Had the author known more about Aboriginal history they wouldn't have used the word "wonderful".

Test: Do you hold stereotypes?

Many reduce their perception of Aboriginal people to either be disadvantaged or talented exceptions. Is the following all you do?

You celebrate individuals such as Rover Thomas, the Bangarra Dance Theatre or Cathy Freeman.

You admire dot paintings on lounge room walls.

You condemn endemic violence and out-of-sight Third World conditions.

You hope the Australian government will do something, anything, about it.

You ignore the drunks on the street and avoid walking the streets of Redfern.

I'm Aboriginal, But I'm Not...

Listen to Aboriginal people who don't fit the common stereotype:

Homework: How would you respond to these statements?

Unfortunately a large portion of the majority - that is, white Australians - accept a certain level of prejudice. You can tell when you listen carefully:

"I don't have a problem with [insert minority group], provided they come the right way / assimilate..."

"Aboriginal people need to get over the past and get on with things..."

"I don't have a problem with racism, I just don't like [insert minority group], that's different..."

"Don't be so politically correct, it's all in good fun [usually said after racist remark]..."

"I'm not racist, my [insert friend, colleague etc] is [insert race reference]..."

Write a response you could give to each of these statements.

What could your response trigger in the other person? Could you improve your response?

Stereotypes about Aboriginal Australians

Research has found "entrenched negative stereotypes" of Aboriginal people in Australia .

Stereotypes can take many forms and shapes. Some of the more common ones say that Aboriginal people...

are primitive and nomadic,

lack complex laws and social organisation,

are drunks,

are violent,

live in the outback,

are un-educated no hopers,

are involved in too much crime,

receive too much from welfare,

get more than the whites,

eat the wrong foods (white sugar, flour, McDonalds, etc.),

don't have a religion, have sinned and need to pray for forgiveness,

don't use the land they get for free,

get treated too leniently by police and courts,

do not want to work and are lazy,

must fit the image of a dark-skinned, wide-nosed person (i.e. a 'full-blood'),

live a traditional tribal/ancient lifestyle,

are not really attached to their land because they live on the fringe of towns and cities,

are like leeches and drain away each others' resources,

are problems ('the Aboriginal problem') and Aboriginal people have problems.

Deconstructing stereotypes

If I asked you to name three symbols of Aboriginal culture, you wouldn't disagree with dot-paintings, boomerangs and didgeridoos, right?

While the tourist industry wants to make us believe these are items that represent Australian Aboriginal culture, they actually don't.

First we need to remember that there is no single Aboriginal culture. Australia is home to many Aboriginal nations who are as diverse as other groups of nations, for example Europe.

All three symbols come from specific areas of Australia because they won't work elsewhere or wouldn't be available in other places.

Dot-painting is an art form that emerged when a European art teacher worked with an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory in the 1970s. They were a result of abstracting sacred patterns.

Boomerangs need wide, open spaces to be able to fly the typical arcs that bring them back to their thrower. This would be impossible in any of the forested areas of Australia.

Didgeridoos are made from wood that has been hollowed by termites. But the inside of trees is only one of five habitats of termites because many termite species don't eat wood. Since these drywood termites obtain all their moisture from the wood they need high humidity to survive. This limits the areas where artists can find hollow wood.

Spot the stereotype!

In a parody of One Direction's song What Makes You Beautiful, Frankie Jackson takes to comedy to portray some of the stereotypes about Aboriginal people. How many can you find in this clip?

Stereotypes are myths we copied from others without inquisitive verification. But you'll be surprised that most of the myths about Aboriginal culture are not true.

Besides individuals who readily believe those stereotypes, the mainstream media's focus on negative Aboriginal issues creates much hurt when it presents the problems of individual Aboriginal people as problems of all Indigenous Australians.

The education system also contributes to stereotypes when students learn of the negative aspects of Aboriginal history rather than contemporary Aboriginal studies which can be very positive, especially with regard to sporting (such as Rugby League) and educational achievements.

Further, many Australians believe that 'we are not responsible for the past' and don't owe Aboriginal people anything, a view advocated for many years by former Prime Minister John Howard.

The racist stereotyping is alive and well in Australian culture. Never mind that these stereotypes can be shown for the lies that they are, racists never let truth or facts hold them back. I'm Aboriginal and I am aware of the crap every freakin' day!
- wotzthepoint? on Yahoo Answers

Homework: Spot the stereotypes!

The following text is a comment from Creative Spirits' Facebook page in response to a post about the Western Australian government considering shutting down Aboriginal communities.

Examine the comment carefully:

"Has anyone considered that leaving these communities open is continuing to keep the aboriginal community out of site [sic] and out of mind. By all means keep your cultural heritage which is vital for any race, but let's get real. A community that has no chance of a sustainable income producing industry, no chance of continuing employment and small family populations is going no where [sic]. What about the children in these communities who never learn to speak english and have trouble putting a sentance [sic] together. What chance are they going to have in the real world."

Questions

How many stereotypes are in the text above?

Which ones are they?

Story: They call you...

They call you Boong, they call you Abo, they call you Coon. They see your skin and think it's dirty.

When you smile they say 'they're a happy one'. They see you work hard and say 'they must be one of the good ones'.

They congratulate you not for what you have done, but just that you were able to do it... 'they have potential'. When you argue with your intellect, they are surprised by your intelligence... 'they're smart for one of them'.

They don't see your culture, they don't see your pride, they don't see that you are a person in your own right. Yes, you are a good black man. But you are also a good man.

They say you are smart for a black woman. This discounts your intelligence; you are a smart woman. We call you strong, we call you proud, we call you black.

We see your skin as a coat of armour, protecting your spirit and your Dreaming.

You smile because your spirit is strong. You smile because they cannot harm you with their hurtful words.

You work hard, not for their accolades, but for your own and you work for your family. This, they do not understand... but they have potential.

Intellectually you are beyond their par, for you know their world and your own. They only know their way... but they are smart for one of them.

Every day you carry your culture, every day you carry your humanity, every day you carry with you your Dreaming. This makes you a strong black person.

Yes, you are a good man. And I feel strong that you never lose sight of the fact you are a good black man.

You are a smart woman. And I am proud to say you are an intelligent and inspirational black woman.

They call you names. All but your own.

I will call to them, and say 'these may be your words' but he is my brother, she is my sister, and today your hurtful words mean nothing.

Resource

Susans Birthday Party is a short 5-minute film about a six-year-old Aboriginal girl with red hair and fair skin who's teased at school as she is not the stereotypical Aboriginal.

Written and directed by Maureen Logan, the film is available through Keeaira Press.

An old stereotype is in your wallet

Did you know that an old stereotype about Aboriginal Australians is in your wallet? Take out one coin each for five cents, ten cents, twenty cents, one dollar and two dollars, then see what you get.

Australia's coins as shown above represent Australia's fauna-or do they? Which coin is the odd one out?

Most coins were designed and introduced in February 1966 , more than a year before Aboriginal people were counted as citizens in their own country. It was a time when they were still thought to 'die out' eventually and politics of the Stolen Generations would be carried on for at least another ten years.

The series of coins suggests that Aboriginal people were seen as part of the landscape. Ironically the 'native tree' shown next to the head of the Aboriginal man used to be called 'blackboy', a reference to Indigenous people not only because the grass tree, as it is now known, has a black stem after a bushfire, but also because it develops a spear-like shoot which holds the flower and can be up to two metres in height.

You see, this is where we fit into the white scheme of things, as fauna, part of the animal kingdom, part of the landscape.
- 'Craig', an Aboriginal character in John Damalis' book 'Riding the Black Cockatoo'

One might argue that the one dollar and two dollars coins are not really part of the others because they were designed and added in 1983 and 1987. The fact remains, however, that Aboriginal people might be offended and think otherwise.

Where do stereotypes come from?

The definition of a stereotype above implies that people who communicate them rely on unverified first impressions and oversimplified concepts. Because they don't want to or cannot find out the truth they rely on views readily available to them.

The media is a prime supplier of these simplified views and itself prone to, and a distributor of, stereotypes.

How many times did you read about a dysfunctional, violent Aboriginal community or drunk Aboriginal people getting into trouble?

And how many times did you read a success story about an Aboriginal person, in health, sport or business?

This is where the media forms and reinforces Aboriginal stereotypes. Racial stereotyping in the media is institutional and results from news values and editorial policies .

For Aboriginal artist Bindi Cole this leads to a disconnection between the broader community and the Aboriginal community. "People don't even understand that in urban areas there [once] were Aboriginal people. They see what they see on TV and think 'that's what Aboriginal people are' and, if you don't fit into that, you're not Aboriginal. They think there can't have been any evolution of Aboriginal people in the last 200 years."

Politicians who fail to visit a broad range of Aboriginal communities to discuss matters with people first hand are susceptible to stereotypes which then influence their politics. John Howard's first visit to an Aboriginal community came in February 1998, two years after he took office, and during his 12 years as Prime Minister he never visited any communities other than in far north Queensland and the Northern Territory .

People stereotype the Aboriginal race,
But theirs I never do disgrace.
Drugs, no school, drinkers that's all they know
Of a people with so much more to show.
I hold my head up so high
For my race I would die...

Poem by Salote Bovoro, a 14-year-old girl.

Aboriginal youth become the stereotypes they see

A dangerous thing about stereotypes is that they can influence a young Aboriginal person growing up. As they realise their different heritage and start searching for their identity, they are vulnerable to internalising the beliefs and misconceptions their fellow Australians hold about them.

"If this is what people think that being Aboriginal is, then maybe that's what I'm supposed to be," says young Aboriginal woman Belinda Huntress from northern NSW about this identity-searching time in her life. "So what I started doing was colluding to these stereotypes."

Watch her full speech on TEDxYouth:

How can I avoid stereotyping?

It is not easy to detect that you are holding stereotypes when you are on autopilot. Follow these steps to change:

1. Become aware that you hold stereotypes. We are all human and hold stereotypes of some kind. The first step is to raise your awareness that you do without judging yourself for it. Realise that you copied certain beliefs from others without verification (this is much easier anyway).

2. Question statements. With your sharpened awareness you can now detect generalising statements like "All Aboriginal people are lazy". Start questioning them by asking "Why do you think so?" Question not only people, but also any media you consume.

3. Inform yourself. Well done for reading Creative Spirits. Information is the best cure to stereotypes. Start investigating, 'Are Aboriginal people really lazy?' Check out publications from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is vital that you go to trustworthy, authoritative sources as others might just offer a different stereotype.

4. Help disproving them. Armed with knowledge you can now offer the real view and say 'I disagree, the ABS found that in the last decade the number of Aboriginal students in higher education grew by 20%'.

After experiencing Aboriginal culture first-hand for 4 weeks during the series First Contact, Bo-dene Stieler realised her false beliefs:

"Before the journey, I would never have thought that my biggest life inspiration would come from Aboriginal people. Looking back, I can't believe the ignorance I showed and the disrespect I showed by not even taking the pro-active approach to find out more and just believing everything that I had been told."

I never realised that I would share so many connections with Aboriginal people. I always thought that there was some huge divide that could never be crossed. But I was wrong.
- Bo-dene Stieler, participant in First Contact

'Good' stereotypes: Australia's tourism industry

Stereotypes don't need to be bad. The tourism industry of Australia relies heavily on the stereotype of an ancient and mythical Aboriginal Australia to sell its products.

In the history section the website stops to tell about Aboriginal people beyond the 1967 Referendum. The 'Culture' section refers to the Bangarra Dance Theatre's style as 'traditional' whereas it is, in fact, also very contemporary.

The tourism industry has perfected the art of creating the good stereotype in the minds of readers of their promotional material without saying anything that's untrue.

Read the following extract of a text by Tourism Australia which appeared in a German newsletter about Australia :

The Aborigines of Australia are the keepers of one of the oldest existing cultures. They are proud of their culture and traditions. They love to share their traditional music, ritual dances and knowledge about their land. Tourists who let themselves into meeting Aborigines during a tour into the outback can visit unique places, sense the spirituality of ancient customs, experience the spectacular nature or get close to how these people live during a stay in an Aboriginal community.

You meet Aboriginal art and culture everywhere in Australia. If along the coast, in the heart of Australia or even at Circular Quay in Sydney or the Botanic Gardens of Melbourne - Aboriginal art and culture is present in the entire country. Tourists have many options to experience it. In urban regions, for example, galleries and exhibitions offer views into contemporary Aboriginal Australia.

View the original German text

Show

Die Ureinwohner Australiens sind die Hüter einer der ältesten noch bestehenden Kulturen. Die Aborigines sind stolz auf ihre Kultur und Traditionen. Ihre überlieferte Musik, ihre rituellen Tänze und ihr Wissen über ihr Land teilen sie gerne mit Besuchern. Touristen, die sich auf die Begegnung einlassen, sehen bei Touren im Outback einmalige Plätze in Australien, spüren die Spiritualität der uralten Bräuche, erleben die spektakuläre Natur oder erfahren bei einem Aufenthalt in einer Aborigine Gemeinde hautnah die Lebensweise der Menschen.

Auf die Kunst und Kultur der Aborigines trifft man überall in Australien. Ob entlang der Küste, mitten im Herzen Australiens oder sogar am Hafen von Sydney oder in den Botanischen Gärten Melbournes - die Kunst und Kultur der Ureinwohner ist im ganzen Land präsent. Touristen haben viele verschiedene Möglichkeiten, sie zu erleben. In urbanen Regionen etwa bieten Galerien und Ausstellungen Einblicke in das zeitgenössische aboriginale Australien.

Wouldn't you agree that you just saw a fur-clad Aboriginal person holding a spear and boomerang?

Analysing the text we find words and attributes such as 'keepers', 'oldest', 'traditions', 'ritual' and 'ancient'. The text serves the stereotype of Aboriginal people 'living a traditional tribal/ancient lifestyle' mentioned earlier. It's all in the words. 'Contemporary' is only mentioned in conjunction with galleries and exhibitions.

95% of Australian tourists want to experience Aboriginal culture during their trip and that's why Tourism Australia has chosen to feature the image of an Aboriginal tour guide prominently on their website (see image above). But I have to disappoint you.

Many Aboriginal people struggle to get jobs, even in the tourism industry. Some Aboriginal people might not even know about their own culture, have lost their family ties or don't practise any traditional customs at all.

We don't practise our Aboriginal culture much because my nanna was stolen when she was eight years old and put in a dormitory and required to work for a white couple, so we're missing a part of our ancestry.
- Stephen Pitt, Sunshine Coast, QLD

Stephen's nanna was 'stolen' because she is a member of the Stolen Generations, Aboriginal people who were taken away by the Australian governments "for their better" and to be trained as domestic servants or workers.

Here is another example for a 'good stereotype', also by Tourism Australia:

What tourist advertising does not tell

Australian tourists want to be served the good stereotypes of Aboriginal Australia. Imagine what would happen if we told them the truth about the contemporary situation Indigenous people are in:

The text on the left hand side is taken from Tourism Australia's website australia.com in 2008 . Next to it I've put my version, written with the background of more than a year's study of Aboriginal affairs by reading the National Indigenous Times and Koori Mail. I don't want to discredit australia.com, but show how different a picture you can get if you read elsewhere.
Sidenote: On 10 January 2011, the Supreme Court of Australia dismissed an appeal against a $500 fine imposed on the company who had built the drop toilet on sacred ground in November 2007. Under Northern Territory Intervention laws, evidence should have been presented citing the "detrimental effect of the desecration". The sacred site is considered ceremonially significant to many clans in the region of Arnhem Land, and is used several times during the year by local Aboriginal men and women.

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Stereotypes & prejudice of 'Aboriginal Australia'

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Don't believe everything you read about Aboriginal Australian people. We expose the common "good" stereotypes used in the tourist industry.

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TEDxDarwin - Chris Garner - Transforming the Teacher in Indigenous Education

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ATSI history and cultures ABC SPLASH resources

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ATSI history and cultures ABC SPLASH resources

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Curriculum-linked learning resources for primary and secondary school teachers and students. Videos, games and interactives covering English, maths, history, science and more!

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Curriculum-linked learning resources for primary and secondary school teachers and students. Videos, games and interactives covering English, maths, history, science and more!

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1965 FREEDOM RIDE AWOKE NATION TO RACIAL SEGREGATION OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLE

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Economy

For too long Aboriginal economic participation was limited.

Australia's mining boom opens a unique opportunity for Aboriginal economy to catch up-if it's done the right way.

Close this

Wishing you knew more about Aboriginal culture? Search no more.

Get key foundational knowledge about Aboriginal culture in a fun and engaging way.

This is no ordinary resource: It includes a fictional story, quizzes, crosswords and even a treasure hunt.
Stop feeling bad about not knowing. Make it fun to know better.
Sold! Show me how No, thank you

Aboriginal economic participation was limited for a long time

Up until the late 1960s many people thought that Aboriginal life was incompatible with modern economic life [1]. By the late 1980s, Aboriginal policy and much public discussion was based on the view that Aboriginal people were victims of a brutal colonial legacy. They were thought to live in remote regions where they strove to maintain what was left of a traditional way of life.

Australia treated its Aboriginal people as different and incapable of joining the Australian community and society. Their economic participation was limited [1] through:

Not being Australians. Aboriginal people only became Australian citizens after the 1967 referendum.

Working for the dole. The nearly half-century-old Community Development Employment Program (CDEP, a work-for-the-dole scheme) locked Aboriginal people out of full-time work.

Welfare dependency. Many Aboriginal people were entrenched in welfare dependency.

Discrimination. Many measures of the Northern Territory Emergency Intervention initially breached the Racial Discrimination Act.

Chances to catch up

Today, expectation are the reverse from what they were back in 1968.

Many of the significant changes in Aboriginal economy are due to the changes in the mining industry.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore was the first resources company to decide Aboriginal workers were good for business, and Argyle Diamonds in 2012 employed more Aboriginal Australians than any other company [2].

Most mining projects are located in remote and rural Australia; 60% of them are near Aboriginal communities [3].

Changes are a mixed bag and include [1][2]:

Employment. Mining offers employment opportunities as an alternative to welfare. About 9% of the employees at Rio Tinto Iron Ore and the Fortescue Metals Group are Aboriginal (although more than 30% of the NT's population is Aboriginal), 22% at Argyle Diamonds [2]. But despite the boom, about 33% of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley are welfare-dependent [2].

Contract opportunities. Mining companies offer Aboriginal businesses unprecedented opportunities to tender for contracts.

Australia's mining boom. It created about 27,000 jobs in the mining industry and looks like to continue for a number of years.

Emptied job market. Along with the boom came the industry's thirst for - and trouble finding - skilled employees.

"Social licenses". Mining companies are increasingly seeing Aboriginal employment as an important part of agreements to mine on their land. It maintains the companies' "social licence" to mine.

Reaping investment benefits. Companies with many Aboriginal employees have often provided literacy and numeracy programs, family and community support programs and mentoring of Aboriginal employees. Companies see these investments paying off.

Self-respect for workers. Jobs teach routine and provide skills to earn decent money, which gives Aboriginal workers self-respect. This in turn lowers the likelihood of alcohol abuse and domestic violence, both frequent problems in Aboriginal communities.

Relatives begging for money. Aboriginal people know their relatives working in mines earn well, so they frequently ask for money.

Government policies, media reportage and public attitudes have barely registered the extraordinary changes in the Aboriginal world of the last half century.-Marcia Langton, Aboriginal academic [1]

Fact In 2012 in the Pilbara, Rio Tinto and Fortescue employed 1,300 Aboriginal workers and awarded contracts worth $300 million to 52 Aboriginal companies [4].

Neville Stewart: From dirt to dreams

Neville Stewart began his working life at the wheel of a borrowed grader levelling red dirt roads in the heat-soaked Pilbara - Australia's quarry to the world.

Today he heads Australian Indigenous Enterprises (AIE) with Daniel Tucker, a fellow Aboriginal contractor and owner of Carey Mining. These days, AIE is valued at $140 million.

''Daniel and I have big dreams. We want to be the first listed Indigenous company in Australia,'' Stewart says.

''We want to own hotels, caravan parks, be big enough to have our [proposed] accounting and law firm staffed with Aboriginal men and women. We will pay accommodation and HECs fees for those willing to work and train with us.''

And that is just the beginning. They want to build AIE into a powerhouse of Indigenous enterprise. They have plans for a regional airline, solar power networks, and a mobile health service for remote communities, as well being the nation's biggest employer of Indigenous labour. [4]

How well-intentioned mining companies can get into trouble

Companies which hire Aboriginal workers and contractors should be praised, right? Not according to some.

While multinational companies advertise their Aboriginal employment initiatives, the "real traditional owners" are yet to see any employment opportunities, according to a discussion in the Australian Aboriginal Network [5].

Rather than non-Aboriginal organisations getting contracts and train, recruit and employ Aboriginal people, miners should engage Traditional Owners directly.

Aboriginal people ask miners to "support local Traditional Owners to set up their own businesses to provide employment and recruitment to the developers' Indigenous Employment Programs on their projects". Setting up mentoring programs would give Traditional Owners a head start, and help miners "demonstrate good social license".

Consultancy businesses already exist which help companies support and use local Traditional Owners, when they are doing works in their country.

Does mining kill the Dreaming?

Mining is not only a threat to Aboriginal land and Aboriginal Dreamtime places.

People can work together to preserve rituals while mining for resources. "We had to teach them about the Dreamtime," explains Chocolate Thomas, a senior Gidja man of the Warmun community in the Kimberley [2]. "Everything that happens at the [Argyle Diamonds] mine site is cleared by us. If they want to put down a bore, cut down a tree, they talk to us."

An agreement signed by the mine and traditional owners brought jobs, economic activity in surrounding towns and an extensive cultural engagement within the company's operations.

Each month a welcome ceremony involving smoke and water informs the ancestors that workers are welcome on the site and deserve protection [2].

We live in two worlds. Our world is made up of culture and family and the obligations tied to [those]. At the same time, there is the other world that includes work.-Nancy Davis, Aboriginal superintendent [2]

Aboriginal people are our landlords, they know what works and what doesn't, and we are respectful of that.-Kevin McLeish, managing director, Argyle Diamonds [2]

How is the north different to the south?

By 2040, half of the population of northern Australia will be Aboriginal. In the south, it will remain at about 2 or 3% [1]. Over half of the population will be younger than 25.

The economic interests of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in northern Australia are closely aligned - mining, cattle and tourism are the industries that fuel the northern economy.

In the south, the predominant issues concern human rights, reconciliation and self-determination. In the north, the predominant issues concern land acquisition, industry and commerce, education, training, employment, and health issues.

It looks like Aboriginal people in Australia's north are on the verge to be able to become a wealthy remote-area workforce.

Aboriginal economic participation was limited for a long time

Up until the late 1960s many people thought that Aboriginal life was incompatible with modern economic life [1]. By the late 1980s, Aboriginal policy and much public discussion was based on the view that Aboriginal people were victims of a brutal colonial legacy. They were thought to live in remote regions where they strove to maintain what was left of a traditional way of life.

Australia treated its Aboriginal people as different and incapable of joining the Australian community and society. Their economic participation was limited [1] through:

Not being Australians. Aboriginal people only became Australian citizens after the 1967 referendum.

Working for the dole. The nearly half-century-old Community Development Employment Program (CDEP, a work-for-the-dole scheme) locked Aboriginal people out of full-time work.

Welfare dependency. Many Aboriginal people were entrenched in welfare dependency.

Discrimination. Many measures of the Northern Territory Emergency Intervention initially breached the Racial Discrimination Act.

Chances to catch up

Today, expectation are the reverse from what they were back in 1968.

Many of the significant changes in Aboriginal economy are due to the changes in the mining industry.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore was the first resources company to decide Aboriginal workers were good for business, and Argyle Diamonds in 2012 employed more Aboriginal Australians than any other company [2].

Most mining projects are located in remote and rural Australia; 60% of them are near Aboriginal communities [3].

Changes are a mixed bag and include [1][2]:

Employment. Mining offers employment opportunities as an alternative to welfare. About 9% of the employees at Rio Tinto Iron Ore and the Fortescue Metals Group are Aboriginal (although more than 30% of the NT's population is Aboriginal), 22% at Argyle Diamonds [2]. But despite the boom, about 33% of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley are welfare-dependent [2].

Contract opportunities. Mining companies offer Aboriginal businesses unprecedented opportunities to tender for contracts.

Australia's mining boom. It created about 27,000 jobs in the mining industry and looks like to continue for a number of years.

Emptied job market. Along with the boom came the industry's thirst for - and trouble finding - skilled employees.

"Social licenses". Mining companies are increasingly seeing Aboriginal employment as an important part of agreements to mine on their land. It maintains the companies' "social licence" to mine.

Reaping investment benefits. Companies with many Aboriginal employees have often provided literacy and numeracy programs, family and community support programs and mentoring of Aboriginal employees. Companies see these investments paying off.

Self-respect for workers. Jobs teach routine and provide skills to earn decent money, which gives Aboriginal workers self-respect. This in turn lowers the likelihood of alcohol abuse and domestic violence, both frequent problems in Aboriginal communities.

Relatives begging for money. Aboriginal people know their relatives working in mines earn well, so they frequently ask for money.

Government policies, media reportage and public attitudes have barely registered the extraordinary changes in the Aboriginal world of the last half century.-Marcia Langton, Aboriginal academic [1]

Fact In 2012 in the Pilbara, Rio Tinto and Fortescue employed 1,300 Aboriginal workers and awarded contracts worth $300 million to 52 Aboriginal companies [4].

Neville Stewart: From dirt to dreams

Neville Stewart began his working life at the wheel of a borrowed grader levelling red dirt roads in the heat-soaked Pilbara - Australia's quarry to the world.

Today he heads Australian Indigenous Enterprises (AIE) with Daniel Tucker, a fellow Aboriginal contractor and owner of Carey Mining. These days, AIE is valued at $140 million.

''Daniel and I have big dreams. We want to be the first listed Indigenous company in Australia,'' Stewart says.

''We want to own hotels, caravan parks, be big enough to have our [proposed] accounting and law firm staffed with Aboriginal men and women. We will pay accommodation and HECs fees for those willing to work and train with us.''

And that is just the beginning. They want to build AIE into a powerhouse of Indigenous enterprise. They have plans for a regional airline, solar power networks, and a mobile health service for remote communities, as well being the nation's biggest employer of Indigenous labour. [4]

How well-intentioned mining companies can get into trouble

Companies which hire Aboriginal workers and contractors should be praised, right? Not according to some.

While multinational companies advertise their Aboriginal employment initiatives, the "real traditional owners" are yet to see any employment opportunities, according to a discussion in the Australian Aboriginal Network [5].

Rather than non-Aboriginal organisations getting contracts and train, recruit and employ Aboriginal people, miners should engage Traditional Owners directly.

Aboriginal people ask miners to "support local Traditional Owners to set up their own businesses to provide employment and recruitment to the developers' Indigenous Employment Programs on their projects". Setting up mentoring programs would give Traditional Owners a head start, and help miners "demonstrate good social license".

Consultancy businesses already exist which help companies support and use local Traditional Owners, when they are doing works in their country.

Does mining kill the Dreaming?

Mining is not only a threat to Aboriginal land and Aboriginal Dreamtime places.

People can work together to preserve rituals while mining for resources. "We had to teach them about the Dreamtime," explains Chocolate Thomas, a senior Gidja man of the Warmun community in the Kimberley [2]. "Everything that happens at the [Argyle Diamonds] mine site is cleared by us. If they want to put down a bore, cut down a tree, they talk to us."

An agreement signed by the mine and traditional owners brought jobs, economic activity in surrounding towns and an extensive cultural engagement within the company's operations.

Each month a welcome ceremony involving smoke and water informs the ancestors that workers are welcome on the site and deserve protection [2].

We live in two worlds. Our world is made up of culture and family and the obligations tied to [those]. At the same time, there is the other world that includes work.-Nancy Davis, Aboriginal superintendent [2]

Aboriginal people are our landlords, they know what works and what doesn't, and we are respectful of that.-Kevin McLeish, managing director, Argyle Diamonds [2]

How is the north different to the south?

By 2040, half of the population of northern Australia will be Aboriginal. In the south, it will remain at about 2 or 3% [1]. Over half of the population will be younger than 25.

The economic interests of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in northern Australia are closely aligned - mining, cattle and tourism are the industries that fuel the northern economy.

In the south, the predominant issues concern human rights, reconciliation and self-determination. In the north, the predominant issues concern land acquisition, industry and commerce, education, training, employment, and health issues.

It looks like Aboriginal people in Australia's north are on the verge to be able to become a wealthy remote-area workforce.

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Aboriginal economy: Can it catch up through mining?

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Economy For too long Aboriginal economic participation was limited. Australia's mining boom opens a unique opportunity for Aboriginal economy to catch up-if it's done the right way. Close this Get key foundational knowledge about Aboriginal culture in a fun and engaging way.

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(Geograph)

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Climb aboard the "Parks Victoria" ferry and take a trip to Melbourne's environmental sculpture park - Herring Island SUMMER ART PROGRAM About Herring Island | Getting to and What's on | Island Map | Artworks | Plants | Flowering Plants | Birds | Sir Edmund Herring | 6 seasons | Other Sculpture Parks To join the Friends | Annual Reports | Planting Days | Our other Friends

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AIATSIS acknowledges all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of Country and recognises their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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We are Australia's only national institution focused exclusively on the diverse history, cultures and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia.

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Crikey: Indigenous, Aboriginal or Aborigine? It's not black and white.

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Crikey: Indigenous, Aboriginal or Aborigine? It's not black and white.

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Indigenous Australian, Aborigine, Aboriginal, blacks -- unpicking the terminology around how Australia's first people are reported in the media means navigating a minefield packed with political explosives.

Freelance journalist in New York

Indigenous Australian, Aborigine, Aboriginal, blacks - unpicking the terminology around how Australia's first people are reported in the media means navigating a minefield packed with political explosives.

After an article on controversial NT politician Bess Price last week, Crikey was chastised by readers for the use of the word "indigenous" and "aborigine". One anonymous reader told us that "indigenous" and "aborigine" are both anachronisms. Martin Wardrop, director, Aboriginal Art Online, disagreed, telling Crikey: "Indigenous is not an anachronism - if anything, it is now more widely used than the longer phrase [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people]."

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Indigenous, Aboriginal or Aborigine? It's not black and white

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Indigenous Australian, Aborigine, Aboriginal, blacks -- unpicking the terminology around how Australia's first people are reported in the media means navigating a minefield packed with political explosives. Freelance journalist in New York Indigenous Australian, Aborigine, Aboriginal, blacks - unpicking the terminology around how Australia's first people are reported in the media means navigating a minefield packed with political explosives.

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ABC iview : You Can't Ask That - Series 1 Indigenous

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You Can't Ask That - Series 1 Indigenous : You Can't Ask That will give the public a chance to ask the awkward, embarrassing, naive, funny, silly, compassionate, even prejudiced questions they've always wanted to ask, but never had the courage or proximity to do so.

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You've come to the right place. And you're not alone. Many want to learn more about Aboriginal culture, sometimes for the first time.

Creative Spirits is an extensive resource for students, teachers and those hungry to know what they weren't taught-the truth.

I've distilled hundreds of sources into in-depth articles, an ebook, infographics and multimedia for you to explore.

Start by checking if you still believe the myths you have been told. Get your free list now!

Get the myths list

Thanks for spreading the word-and thank you for your cultural sensitivity.
- Laura, Wamba Wamba people

Archived by Pandora, Australia's Web Archive, est. by the National Library of Australia.

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Helping you learn and teach about Aboriginal culture

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Creative Spirits: Learn about Aboriginal culture and browse teacher & student resources like infographics, films and music.

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Koorie Heritage Trust - Home - Koorie Heritage Trust

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The Koorie Heritage Trust acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Custodians of Melbourne, on whose lands we are located.

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Smithsonian: Wikipedia wants more coverage of Indigenous Peoples

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Smithsonian: Wikipedia wants more coverage of Indigenous Peoples

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Why does the site that anyone can edit contain so little coverage of native people?

smithsonian.com

What do you know about Esther Belin? The Diné (Navajo) multimedia artist and poet won a Pushcart Prize for her work and has been named by bestselling author Sherman Alexie as one of his favorite poets. But no article exists about Belin on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is the first stop for many doing research. And Belin isn't the only Native American whose work is not present on Wikipedia. As the staff of the Indian Country Today media network reports, Wikipedia includes so little content about indigenous peoples that the foundation that runs the encyclopedia is inviting people to help improve its coverage.

This October, participants of Wikiconference North America, an annual conference for Wikipedia enthusiasts and editors, will be invited to attend an Indigenous Peoples' Day edit-a-thon. During the event, participants will attempt to flesh out articles about Native Americans and other indigenous peoples. The ICTMN staff notes that organizers hope that articles about tribes, movements and historical figures will be expanded, and new, noteworthy articles created.

It's a tactic already adopted by other people interested in expanding Wikipedia's coverage of marginalized or forgotten groups. After a 2011 survey of Wikipedia editors showed that only 8.5 percent of editors are women, a growing movement of feminist Wikipedians began to schedule edit-a-thons and challenges to increase women's contributions and expand the site's coverage of women's issues. The tactic has also been used to improve articles on everything from the life sciences to black history.

How can one of the world's biggest web projects-one that encompasses over 5.2 million articles in English alone and has over 29 million users-have such blind spots when it comes to content on indigenous peoples? The answer has to do with demographics and access. In 2015, researchers at the University of Oxford studied how editors represent places and cultures around the world. They found that local users rarely take on projects that represent or define their own cultures or countries, and that high-income countries were disproportionately represented. Users in North America, for example, were found to edit articles 100 times more often than users in Africa, and that broadband availability was often a deciding factor in whether or not would-be editors participated.

That's a tricky issue for Native Americans living on tribal lands. In 2015, a progress report by the FCC found that approximately 63 percent of tribal land residents don't have access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband. That number was even higher-85 percent-for people living in rural tribal areas.

Lack of access means that fewer people can contribute, but Wikipedia's own policies can also hinder the creation of pages with content about indigenous peoples. In 2013, Siobhan Senier, a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, worked with students of her 21st-Century Native American Literature class to add and update Wikipedia articles about Native American authors. However, many articles submitted by her students were either deleted or contested due to their supposed "lack of notability." Wikipedia's notability concept was intended to determine whether a topic warrants its own article, but Senier and her students found that the very fact that their subjects were underdocumented and not as well known put their work up for contest.

Luckily, you don't have to wait for the edit-a-thon to add or flesh out content on indigenous peoples on Wikipedia. Anyone can edit the site as long as they abide by its guidelines. Want to get going? This list of missing articles on indigenous peoples from the Americas is a good place to start.

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About Erin Blakemore

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Wikipedia Wants You to Improve Its Coverage of Indigenous Peoples

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smithsonian.com What do you know about Esther Belin? The Diné ( Navajo) multimedia artist and poet won a Pushcart Prize for her work and has been named by bestselling author Sherman Alexie as one of his favorite poets. But no article exists about Belin on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is the first stop for many doing research.