Brief History, and outline, of some of the Human Rights violations under Colonial, and post-Colonial Australia toward Indigenous people.

By Nick


Like all colonial nations, established under the guidance and command of an empire, Australia has a history of Human rights abuses. What could be argued as an Apartheid-like-system was what Australia look liked; with racial segregation, racial oppression, and white dominance – and indeed, White Nationalist promotion by some of Australia’s – as a nation – founding fathers. Though White Nationalism is not a human rights abuse in itself, it is a mentality which leads to human rights abuses, in the form of racial oppression.

From the Bathurst Massacre of 1824, where martial law was declared and 100 Aboriginal people were killed; to the modern day example of the Northern Territory intervention – which Mob from Redfern and the N.T. have dubbed as the Northern Territory invasion – we can see this continue.

Historically, we have many examples.
The initial invasion of Australia in 1788 is in fact a breach of Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (of which we will refer to as UDHR), for it denied the right to a home – by the seizing of land by the invaders – as well as a the 3rd article, in which the British denied the right to security, liberty and life; as well as article 21 – of which an invasion always denies (the right to take part in the government of one’s country), as well as all other human rights, which the invasion removed (which is pretty much all of them).

After the initial invasion, the subsequent massacres which followed also are, quite obviously, major breaches of Indigenous Human Rights.
There are numerous examples of these massacres, such as the Waterloo Creek Massacre of 1838, where unmounted police attack a group of Kamilaroi people, killing between (what is estimated to be) between 100-300 people, of which no police officer was ever tried, or punished for.

Of course, these cannot necessarily be pinned on Australia, for it wasn’t a nation at that point, but rather, a series of racist, penal colonies.

Indeed, though prior to federation, what is now “Australia” were still in the same territory by the same system.
A pre-Federation example is the Amendment to the act, “An act to provide for the protection and management of Aboriginal Natives of Victoria”, is an example of a human rights violation, and systematic racial discrimination carried out by the state. Of which the right to freely marry who one chooses – whether on the basis of 'love' or tradition – was only possible with the approval of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines (a violation of article 16, and 3), also denying the right to their nationality and cultural practices, as it was an act of assimilation; the choice of where one was to live was also denied (violation of 17, 12, 7, and 13). Indeed, the lives of Indigenous people in Victoria (and later in W.A) were put under control of the state, which is a blatant violation of the most basic human rights.

After the Federation of Australia, and it becoming slightly more independent of the British Empire – slightly – the Human Rights abuses did not stop, despite a global push in most nations against such abuses – such as the American revolution, and some years later, the Russian Revolution – of which Liberty and justice were the foundations of these nation states (although, they had many other foundations, leading to the subsequent demise of these concepts in these nation states).

Indeed, after the Federation of Australia, the racial hierarchy was only reinforced, with Aboriginal people not being given the right to vote (violation of article 21), counted in the census, or even as human beings (violation of articles 5 and 6), but instead put under the Flora and Fauna act, which subsequently denied them many other basic human rights, such as liberty (3) and justice (6, 7), the right to own property (17), and the right to live free from persecution (14).

There are countless violations of Human Rights after the federation of Australia against Indigenous peoples. The simple establishment of Australia without any basic recognition of Indigenous peoples is an enormous one as is – as it ignores the role of the land to Indigenous life – culturally, spiritually, and as a means of subsistence – and essentially, is an invasion of their land, in which they're stripped of their culture, religion, and freedom, and everything that comes with it.

One of the biggest, State sponsored examples of this was a policy which was implemented in the early 20th Century which became known as the Stolen Generations, where “half caste” Aboriginal children were forcefully removed from their homes and families, and put on to missions, where they would be stripped of the Aboriginal culture – by not allowing Aboriginal children to speak their own languages, etc – by forcing British ethics, values, and religion onto the children (that being a violation of articles 15, 1, 3, 4, 5, [and much later, 8] 9, 12, 13, 18, 27, and 30).

Human Rights violations in Australia against Indigenous people, however, have never really ceased. Particularly instances of violations – such as the Stolen Generations has, but Australia, due to the nature of the state, and of it's foundations in racial and cultural hierarchies, the inequalities and injustice committed against Indigenous peoples continues to this day.

There are many examples of this.
As a general example, Indigenous peoples in Australia are some of the lowest on the socio-economic scale in Australia, if not the lowest.
This is not an example of systematic violations of human rights, but rather, covert racism, and sometimes overt, in employment sectors, where Indigenous peoples will struggle to get hired – due to their location, appearance, etc and the stereo types which are attached to that – and thus, be subjected to unemployment (violation of article 23), and numerous other factors.
This sometimes leading to other means of subsistence, some legal – such as welfare – and some not.

They make up 2% of the whole population of Australia, and 24% of the Prison population - in some states, such as the Northern Territory, Aboriginal peoples making up almost 80% of the prison population. This, too, can be drawn back to covert racism, and leads to human rights abuses (essentially, the right to be innocent until proven guilty [11]).

There are many examples of the violation of article 4, particularly around the subjection to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Indeed, the portrayal of Indigenous people in the media as drunken-child-molesters (something which has been reaffirmed by the recent actions by the Federal Government in the Northern Territory) could be seen as an example of degrading treatment of Indigenous people.

Inhuman and cruel treatments can be seen in the recent death of an Aboriginal man, Mulrunji Doomadgee, who mysteriously died in police custody on Palm Island on the 19th of November, 2004, from a ruptured spleen, 4 broken ribs and a liver torn almost in two.
The police officer, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley , who had arrested Mulrunji (alledgly, for singing “Who let the dogs out?” while walking down the street, which Sergeant Chris Hurley believed to be a reference to the police), was put on trial - only after a massive campaign was launched, headed by Palm Island locals, relatives, and indigenous leader Sam Watson, which got thousands of people marching on the street in Brisbane - but almost immediately acquitted despite the large amount of evidence to the contrary of what was claimed by the defence.
This being a violation of the right of article 8, in which no justice was achieved for the family of Mulrunji, as well as article 9, for which he was arrested on grounds which already violating innocence til proven guilty, but were clearly an act of racial profiling, though arrested anyway, and a violation of article 3, for which Mulrunji was killed that evening while in police custody.

An even more recent example of Human Rights violations was that committed by the State as a reaction to the “Little Children are Sacred” report, in which the Federal government sent troops and police to the Northern Territory, took away land (17), all rights and liberties (3), and presumed all Aboriginal men were Child molesters (both 11 and 12).

As we can see here, Australia has a long history, from the colonization, until the present of Human Rights violations against Indigenous peoples, from both the State – and all arms of it (from the police to the States and Territories, to Europeans).
Indeed, White Australia has a Black history, and it's certainly one covered in scars because of these violations, or rather, open wounds.