My grandad is one of four Indigenous children who were apart of the stolen generation and as a result were adopted by my great nan. Because of this my grandad and his siblings are still not 100% sure of where they are truly from, however they grew up in Yamatji country (Carnarvon), and were heavily involved with the Yamatji community.

Having grown up in Carnarvon for 8 years, alongside my family and being involved with the community I have been able to learn a great deal about my culture and who I am. Hearing stories of the dreamtime, listening to the didgeridoo and using clap sticks was a weekly occurrence and the whole community would get together and sit by the fire.

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA

Indigenous Australians have been on this land for over 60 000 years, who lived in small communities with each one having their own distinct history, language and culture (Working with Indigenous Australians, 2020). The beliefs held by Indigenous Australians is that our physical environment was created and shaped by the actions of our spiritual ancestors and that living and non-living things were consequences of the actions of the dreaming ancestors.

It wasn't until of recently, around 500 years ago that everything Indigenous Australians had come to know would be completely changed forever. In 1788 James cook arrived in Australia and this marked the beginning of white settlement (Working with Indigenous Australians, 2020).
What followed for Indigenous Australians was a range of injustices including mass killings, slavery, being taken from their family, displacement from traditional lands, being continuously discriminated against and many more horrific policies issued by the Australian Government (Working with Indigenous Australians, 2020).

In recent years there have been many formal apologies from the Australian Government, including National Sorry Day and attempts to try and connect as one nation.

Working with Indigenous Australians. (2020). History: Colonisation : Working with indigenous australians. Workingwithindigenousaustralians.info. http://www.workingwithindigenousaustralians.info/content/History_3_Colonisation.html

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