Archive for the ‘Aboriginal’ Category
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Stuart Rintoul; 2/7/09
Australian governments suffer from a “deep monolingualism” that has discriminated against teaching in Aboriginal languages, according to a new report criticising the dismantling of bilingual education in the Northern Territory. In an assault on the territory’s decision last year to teach the first four hours of the school day in English, the report’s authors say the decision “could spell the death of the remaining endangered indigenous languages in Australia” and marked a return to the “English-only” approach of the assimilationist era of the1950s. The authors, Jane Simpson, Jo Caffery and Patrick McConvell, all of whom have long experience in Aboriginal linguistics, say bilingualism in remote NT schools was ditched “without apparent regard for the evidence from research on how monolingual children learn a second language, or on the positive value of bilingual education, or the language rights of indigenous peoples, or the evidence from schools which had abandoned bilingual education”.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Education
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Tony Barrass & Matthew Franklin; 2/7/09
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett will today tell state and territory leaders that the axing of the Aboriginal work-for-the-dole program and new ventures in northern Australia will create unprecedented opportunities to get young Aborigines properly trained and working. With Kevin Rudd due to be told by the Productivity Commission today whether his multi-billion-dollar assault on indigenous disadvantage is working, Mr Barnett will brief the Council of Australian Governments on recent developments in the Kimberley, including the go-ahead for stage two of the Ord River scheme and the proposed LNG processing hub north of Broome. He believes the big multi-billion-dollar projects will translate into a training and jobs bonanza for indigenous youth.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Workers
Posted in Aboriginal, Aid / Trade, Australia, Workers | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Ashleigh Wilson; 30/6/09
For years it remained in storage in an American museum, with no documentation and few clues about its meaning. Then experts realised the significance of the object: a carved piece of stone, less than 1m in length, used for Aboriginal ceremonies in central Australia, and not to be seen by women, children or uninitiated men. It was a sacred object and out of place in the US. The Seattle Art Museum, which acquired the object in 1971, yesterday handed it over to the National Museum of Australia in the first stage of its eventual return to its true custodians. The NMA will temporarily store the object until its final repatriation. The museum will liase with communities in central Australia, along with representative bodies such as the Central Land Council, to determine where the object belongs before returning it to the appropriate community.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Religion, USA
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights, Religion | No Comments »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Thomas Graham; 29/6/09
At the turn of the 19th century the indigenous leader Pemulwuy was one of the most feared yet respected figures in Sydney. He became such a hero of the Aboriginal resistance that in May 1801 Governor King outlawed Pemulwuy and issued an order for his death or capture. He was shot the following month, and his head was severed and sent to England, at which Governor King wrote that the authorities had got rid of a “terrible pest to the colony, a brave and independent character”. To commemorate his life, the Aboriginal artist Brenda Saunders has created the Pemulwuy Cloak, based on the traditional possum-skin garment worn by her people in the past.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights, Racism | No Comments »
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
Rosemary Neil; 27/6/09
Film and television have started to tackle the indigenous crisis in remote Australia head-on but novelists are still dodging the issue Gonzo is a career drunk with a bushranger beard, a sociable manner and a liking for tinned spaghetti. He lives under a cement bridge in central Australia and is the most charismatic character in the award-winning feature film Samson and Delilah. Gonzo is based on real-life alcoholic Scott Thornton, who also plays him. Scott is the brother of S&D’s indigenous writer-director Warwick Thornton. “He actually owns that character,” Warwick says in the film’s production notes. “Under the bridge; mad as a cut snake; alcoholic; all of that sort of stuff. That is my brother, he actually is that person.” Scott Thornton went into rehab to prepare for his role, in which he excels as the only stranger to show Aboriginal teenagers Samson and Delilah kindness once they flee their broken-down community. In a rare, sunlit scene, Gonzo tries to warn Samson off the petrol he is sniffing, all the while suckling on the foil udder of a wine cask. “You wanna cut that shit out. It’ll f..k up your brain,” he counsels without irony. That Warwick Thornton has a brother with a serious drinking problem; that Rowan McNamara, the 15-year-old indigenous actor who plays Samson, lives in the rancid town camps of Alice Springs and has a sister who is a sniffer: these facts are significant, for they help explain S&D’s fearlessness in amplifying the indigenous-related problems other artists tend to ignore, downplay or project on to outside influences.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Racsim
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights, Racism | No Comments »
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
Joel Gibson;27/9/08
Australia’s native title laws are providing inspiration for indigenous claims in one of the most contested places on earth. Israel’s Bedouin people are preparing a landmark test case on behalf of a traditional landowner and have engaged an Australian expert on native title compensation to advise how the success of the late Eddie Mabo can be replicated in the Negev Desert. John Sheehan, an adjunct professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, and former president of the NSW division of the Australian Property Institute, travelled to Israel this month to assist in the formulation of the claim, which will be the first of its kind in Israel. He said the plight of the Bedouins, a semi-nomadic people who have travelled the desert regions of southern Israel since before Ottoman and British rule, was “virtually identical” to that of indigenous people before the High Court’s historic Mabo decision found native title persisted in Australia.
(more…)
Tags: Australia, Bedouin, Human Rights, Israel
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights, Israel & Palestine | No Comments »
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Stephen Lunn; 26/6/09;(2 Items)
Gino Vumbaca doesn’t mince his words about the high number of Aborigines in jail. “We’ve had numerous reports, papers, pledges and inquiries about prisons and their indigenous population. Yet despite all the good intentions, the proportion of Aborigines in detention continues to increase. “At some point we need to realise what we’ve been trying is on the periphery. The system is broken and we can’t keep trying to fix it up, we have to replace it. White justice just doesn’t work for indigenous people.” Vumbaca, executive director of the Australian National Council on Drugs will today join Health Minister Nicola Roxon in Canberra to launch a new ANCD report on indigenous incarceration and health, one that calls for radical changes to the status quo. The study, by the group’s National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee, presents a withering critique, highlighting the huge numbers of indigenous people in detention and concluding too many are locked up without sufficient regard to the underlying reasons behind their crimes, most typically alcohol and drug abuse.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Drugs, Global, Trade, UN
Posted in Aboriginal, Aid / Trade, Australia, Drugs, United Nations | No Comments »
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Patricia Karvelas; 26/6/09
Chief executive of the Kimberley Land Council Wayne Bergmann is lobbying senior ministers for a slice of the $65 billion the commonwealth will reap in royalties over the Woodside development of vast gas fields in the Browse Basin. In April, Mr Bergmann signed off on the liquefied natural gas hub 60km north of Broome. Indigenous people have agreed to a $1.5bn compensation deal that would allow a 1400ha industrial proposal at James Price Point to go to the next stage. But Mr Bergmann said the Rudd government must invest much more to change the lives of Aborigines in the Kimberley. It is understood the KLC wants at least $1bn from the commonwealth to invest in lifting living standards in schools, hospitals, and economic infrastructure. But the land council boss wants more from the government, which he says has an obligation to use its royalties to transform indigenous people’s lives. “The commonwealth are getting over $65bn in royalties if this project goes ahead,” he said.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, health, Human Rights, Trade
Posted in Aboriginal, Aid / Trade, Australia, Human Rights | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Nicolas Perpitch; 25/6/09
Aboriginal leader Peter Yu, who headed the review into the Northern Territory intervention, wants safe houses set up in the Kimberley as an alternative to remanding children in police lock-ups.Mr Yu, who played a key role in preparing the West Australian government’s Kimberley Custodial Plan that tackled issues facing juvenile and adult offenders, said it was simplistic to blame police for the problem. He said there needed to be more investment and accountability by child protection and other agencies. The Aboriginal Legal Service has lodged a complaint with the state’s Children’s Commissioner, Michelle Scott, over improper police practices involving Aboriginal children in the Kimberley. The ALS, which fears a child could die in police custody if the situation is not addressed, claimed police had improperly applied the Bail Act and failed to inform juveniles of their right to silence and right to a lawyer.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Children
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Paul Toohey; 25/6/09; (3 Items)
On Thursday, 16-year-old Alfaus Nabegeyo attended the Gunbalanya clinic complaining of a swollen right foot. By Saturday morning, he was dead in his parents’ bed after three days of agony. His parents, Elijah and Daisy, say Alfaus was weak from the effects of petrol sniffing, a habit they believed he had kicked. Others around Gunbalanya, formerly known as Oenpelli, about 300km east of Darwin, are not so sure Alfaus had given up and suggest his rapid decline was brought on by poor resistance and his malnourished state. By late Monday night, other petrol sniffers around town were lying low. Gunbalanya, with a population of 1200 and located on the doorway to Arnhem Land, has 29 active petrol sniffers.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Drugs
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Drugs, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Debbie Guest; 24/6/09
A private security guard, under investigation for her role in the death of a respected Aboriginal elder, said she was “just a grunt” who had been made the scapegoat. Nina Stokoe, sacked for her role in the death of Warburton elder Ward, who died after being transferred in the back of a security van in the West Australian outback, told The Australian that she and co-worker Graham Powell were the only people being blamed for the shocking tragedy. “Unfortunately people think that people are guilty instantly and there’s only two people getting the blame for this when there were a lot more people involved,” she said. “At the end of the day, I’m just a grunt and the grunts are going to pay for it.” Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Dennis Eggington said he would recommend to Director of Public Prosecutions Robert Cock, who is examining the case, that manslaughter charges be laid.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Death in Custody
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Peter Monaghan; 24/6/09
Worried about the loss of rainforests, the ozone layer, quokkas? Well, none of those is doing any worse than a large majority of the 6000 to 7000 languages that remain in use on earth. One-half of the survivors will almost certainly be gone by the middle of this century, while 40 per cent more will probably be well on their way out. In their place, almost all humans will speak one of a handful of megalanguages – Mandarin, English, Spanish – although often a poor version of them. Linguists know what causes languages to disappear. Demographic shifts, government neglect or suppression of regional and indigenous languages and the depredations of mass media all play a role. Less often remarked is what happens on theway to disappearance; languages’ vocabularies, grammars, and expressive potential all diminish. “Say a community goes over from speaking a traditional Aboriginal language to speaking a creole,” says Nick Evans, an Australian National University linguist and leading authority on Aboriginal languages.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Global
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Michael Owen; 24/6/09
The South Australian government has accused white administrators of the APY lands in the state’s far north of engaging in a power struggle by blocking the establishment of a specialist courts complex to address child sexual abuse in remote communities. The claim comes as details emerge of a confrontation between Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill and Anangu Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara general manager Ken Newman at a meeting of the APY executive board on June 11. That incident has sparked two legal letters to Mr Weatherill from Adelaide law firm Finlaysons, acting for the board, requesting Mr Weatherill to “either withdraw assertions of misconduct or substantiate them further so that they can be properly investigated”. Mr Newman yesterday told The Australian Mr Weatherill had made specific allegations about him abusing the permit system and trying to prevent a visit to the lands last year by himself and federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Pedophilia
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Health & Children, Sex Trade | No Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Nicolas Rothwell; 22/6/09
Early in last year’s dry season, abstract artist Ildiko Kovacs set out on a journey she had long yearned to make, up to Fitzroy Crossing in the far-off Kimberley. For three weeks, she haunted the Mangkaja Art Centre’s studio shed, and spent her days there with two desert painters she revered, Wakartu Cory Surprise and Jukuja Dolly Snell. Kovacs watched them; they watched her. The three women began to work together, separate, yet in tandem. Not quite collaboration, it grew into something much more precious: artists from two distinct worlds finding in each other’s company a mutual inspiration, a creative bridge. On one side, Kovacs, a painter of Hungarian descent, a woman for whom each brushstroke is an intuition, pondered and brought through a maze of hesitations. On the other, Wakartu and Jukuja, two senior women born in the fastness of the Great Sandy Desert, painting their country with quiet, grand resolve. The fruit of these painting sessions is on view at Darwin’s Raft Artspace. The gallery walls are bright with colour fields and strongly blocked-out forms of light and and dark. Eight works on paper and a single canvas by Kovacs hang alongside two pieces by Jukuja and 14 by Wakartu.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Art, Australia
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia | No Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Natasha Robinson; 22/6/09
The Northern Territory’s incarceration rate is now the third-highest in the world, while prison services in the state have been slammed for a lack of alcohol programs and sex offender treatment programs for inmates. A report by Western Australia’s former head of custodial services, Richard Harding, said there was a lack of mental health screening of prisoners, appalling conditions in Darwin’s Berrimah Prison, and a critical lack of drug and alcohol rehabilitation services in the territory. The report said Berrimah fell short of the standards of “decency” applied to prisons in Britain and other autonomous prison inspectorates.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Human Rights, Northern Territory
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Drugs, Human Rights, Sex Trade | No Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Michael McKenna; 22/6/09
The involvement of Aboriginal leaders in child sex abuse – and their role in covering it up – will become a focus of the Australian Crime Commission over the next year, as it expands its operations in the Northern Territory intervention into Queensland and NSW. In an interim report to police commissioners, Australia’s lead crime body said its specialist taskforce on child abuse had found leaders were using their position to facilitate violence and pedophilia, including the intimidation of victims and witnesses. The taskforce, which is expanding its investigations into Western NSW and Queensland’s Cape York communities, said it had passed on evidence to state police. It also intended to present a report to government on the systemic problem. The move to expand the operations of the taskforce from the Territory intervention, launched by the Howard government in June 2007, comes as the indigenous community debates a possible new body to replace the defunct ATSIC.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Pedophilia
Posted in Aboriginal, Australia, Health & Children, Sex Trade | No Comments »
