Close the Gap profile picture

Close the Gap

About Me

Aborigines have lived in Australia for about 35,000 to 70,000 years. There are about 500 recorded clans, some of which are Aranda, Bidjandjadjara, Gurindji, Gunwinggu, Kamilaroi, Murngin, Tiwi, Wailbri, Wurora, and Yir-yoront. The Aborigines were totally isolated until 1788, when the English arrived. At the time when the British came to Sydney Cove there were an estimated 750,000 Aborigines in Australia and about 250 different languages were spoken. After the arrival of the English many of the Aborigines got smallpox, measles, venereal disease, influenza, whooping cough, pneumonia, and tuberculosis and died. European invaders cut down forests and brought foreign animals to Australia. By 1860 there were 20 million sheep in Australia. The cattle and sheep destroyed the Aborigines' water holes. The Aboriginal people were classified in the same way as the animals and fauna of Australia and had no rights whatsoever. Contrary to what many are told the Aborigines fought for their land against the 'invasion' of white settlers and by the 1930's the indigenous population had plummeted to around 70,000. The tools of the Aborigines didn't have much chance against the guns and machinery of the British. It was not classified a crime to kill an Aboriginal person until approxiamately 1860/70, that's nearly 100 years after the British came to Australia. It was not until 1967 that the Aboriginal community was recognised as Australian citizens, that's nearly 200 years after the British came to Australia. Today, Australia is a rich, bountiful country that offers enormous opportunity for all but (ironically) the original people of the land. The average life expectancy for Indigenous men and women is 17 years less than non-Indigenous; 59 years for Indigenous men and 65 years of Indigenous women. Indigenous death rates are likely to be four times higher than those of non-Indigenous people. Infant mortality is 2.5 times higher in Indigenous communities than non-Indigenous. The number of Indigenous people who die from diabetes each year is 25 times the number of non-Indigenous. In my opinion this does not make sense. How in a world which has so much to offer can it be possible that people are living in such a crisis? This page is an open forum for anyone who would like to contribute information and thoughts on Aboriginal history and issues. Hopefully this will bring together people from different backgrounds who may or may not know about the true history of this country and create a place to express opinions. Please have a look around and message me with anything you may want to put on the page.

My Blog

INTERVIEW TWO

Interview Ruth Carr Year 9 Student Ok so do you study anything about Aboriginal History at school now?No not really, the last time to did study it was in primary school, but in history we mostly do th...
Posted by on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 19:03:00 GMT

INTERVIEW ONE

Carolyn Slater, Year 11 student Melbourne Victoria Do you study anything at school at the moment?-we do a compulsory subject called "Australian Society" but we don't learn anything about aboriginals.A...
Posted by on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 19:02:00 GMT

VELS

Education is the single most important thing a person can have. Everybody should have access to a free and thorough education that creates the possibility for positive outcomes in their lives. More sp...
Posted by on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:46:00 GMT

Bringing Them Home Report

..> Bringing Them Home Report This information was taken from http://www.nsdc.org.au and I express to readers that this is not my writing. I have put this on here because I feel it is importan...
Posted by on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:01:00 GMT

Introduction

Thanks for looking at our Myspace page. We are a group of university students from Victoria University Footscray studying a Bachelor of Education. This site is for an assignment but also&nbs...
Posted by on Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:28:00 GMT