i first learnt of these Australian people while watching the well known television show of yesteryear, Surabhi, on Doordarshan. The hosts were speaking about the origin of Boomerang, the hunting weapon used by tribal communities in many parts of the world. Then is when i first heard of the Indigenous people of Australia, the Aborigines, who are considered to be the inventors of the Boomerang. This was something new, since i'd never before known of this lost culture of Australia.
Be it with the Native Americans of North America, the Dalits in
India, the black inhabitants of South Africa or the Aborigines of Australia, the limit of
human-induced abuse and torture on another human being was surpassed.
It’s surprising how one human race can be considered superior to another; and how somebody can do to a fellow human being what you don’t do to an animal! There are people who treat pets as family, how then can you consider a person lesser and take away his basic rights!
Various articles and accounts that on the indigenous people of
Australia narrate how, ironically, the native people were living in an
apartheid society since the arrival of the Europeans 200 years ago. With no access to modern education, and basic human rights,
these people were marginalised, abused and pushed to extinction in their own
native land of nearly 40,000 years. The rich
cultural heritage of the Aborigines now lives as mere artefacts and
sepia-toned pictures in the museums.
People have short memories, and the older memories, if any, are conveniently altered to one's comfort. It's truly dismaying, the fact that all our technological advances haven't really made way for intellectual advancements! While browsing through BBC's Magazine section i came across this article about an Indigenous Australian human rights activist, Eddie Koiki Mabo. The originally uneducated Eddie Mabo fought for Aboriginal land rights throughout his life. Success did come, in 1992, when an Australian Court passed the Mabo law for native Australian-held lands, though Eddie Mabo, Australia's own Nelson Mandela, was already dead for 5 months by then.
Among the most barbaric chapters of Aborigine-abuse was the era of the Stolen Generations of Australia. These were the children of the indigenous people that were snatched away from their families by State-funded missionaries and agencies. Some were killed, some abused and the others grew up hundreds of miles away from their families, thus losing all contact with the Aboriginal culture.
People have short memories, and the older memories, if any, are conveniently altered to one's comfort. It's truly dismaying, the fact that all our technological advances haven't really made way for intellectual advancements! While browsing through BBC's Magazine section i came across this article about an Indigenous Australian human rights activist, Eddie Koiki Mabo. The originally uneducated Eddie Mabo fought for Aboriginal land rights throughout his life. Success did come, in 1992, when an Australian Court passed the Mabo law for native Australian-held lands, though Eddie Mabo, Australia's own Nelson Mandela, was already dead for 5 months by then.
Among the most barbaric chapters of Aborigine-abuse was the era of the Stolen Generations of Australia. These were the children of the indigenous people that were snatched away from their families by State-funded missionaries and agencies. Some were killed, some abused and the others grew up hundreds of miles away from their families, thus losing all contact with the Aboriginal culture.
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| Photo: Bill Bachman, Courtesy: australiangeographic.com.au |
It’s surprising how one human race can be considered superior to another; and how somebody can do to a fellow human being what you don’t do to an animal! There are people who treat pets as family, how then can you consider a person lesser and take away his basic rights!
"You can play a tune on black keys, you can play a tune
on white keys, but both are needed for perfect harmony."
PASTOR DOUG
NICHOLLS
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