Aboriginal Australia
Jul 7th 2004, 11:51 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Aboriginal Australia
More cheery news, on the issue of Australia's indiginous peoples.
Aboriginals: Foreigners in their own land?
David Akinsanya
Reporter, This World
Before I went to Australia and met Aboriginals, I had a romantic image of them and how they lived.
I imagined them to be a dark-skinned people, the men with bushy beards, eking out a living in the country's outback.
Instead I found a lost people, bereft of their culture and struggling to survive as outsiders in a European society they have no real hope of being integrated in.
I went to Sydney to investigate how and why the death of an Aboriginal teenager sparked Australia's worst ever riots.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to family and friends, died on Valentine's Day 2004.
He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also known as The Block.
Rumours
No-one knows exactly what happened that day, but it's likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could.
The following day The Block, where TJ lived with most of the city's Aboriginals, erupted into violence amid rumours that the police had chased him to his death. This is vehemently denied by the local police.
The violence lasted for hours and its intensity shocked the nation as it was broadcast on TV screens across Australia. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle between Aboriginal youths and the police.
I spent one month with TJ's mother, Gail Hickey, and her six daughters. Through them I hoped to get a sense of what life was like for Aboriginals on The Block.
REDFERN RIOTS
Gail's life is a daily grind; her husband is in jail and she survives on government handouts. She doesn't have a home of her own, so spends her time staying with family and friends. This isn't unusual within the culture she comes from.
With no permanent home or fixed routine it's difficult to get the girls to attend school regularly. It's the same story with many other Aboriginal kids.
The Block is made up of a few inner-city streets that were handed over to Aboriginals in the 1970s to run and manage themselves. The government of the day bought run-down housing stock as a first step towards giving the indigenous population the chance to determine their own affairs.
But the experiment hasn't exactly been a great success.
My taxi dropped me outside Redfern train station. I'd asked the driver to take me to The Block but he told me he preferred to stop on the main road as taxis are targeted there.
I was anxious about what I was going to find.
Key facts
Life expectancy for Aboriginals is 20 years less than for white Australians
Indigenous children have the same life expectancy as their white counterparts had in 1900
Aboriginals account for 3% of Australia's population
They also make up 40% of Australia's prison population
Despite having been to many run down areas all over the world I didn't know what to expect from The Block - or its people.
Outside the station, watching over the shabby, main street were two police officers standing in the baking sun. The police were a permanent fixture during my five week stay here.
My first glimpse of the notorious Block was a group of men and women, some obviously worse for drink, taking cover from the sun under a few trees. They were sitting on crates, cardboard and an assortment of broken chairs, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. One man was on his back and seemed to be semi-conscious.
Drugs
It may have been shocking but it certainly wasn't as dangerous as people had made out. They were warm, friendly and everyone shook my hand as they introduced themselves. My anxieties evaporated.
I asked whether the guy on his back was drunk but they told me he was on heroin, which they say is as easy to get hold of on The Block as beer in a pub.
I knew that alcoholism was a real problem in many Aboriginal communities, but I was surprised to learn about the heroin problem.
I spoke to some of the riot ringleaders, who said that TJ's death had brought to a head years of tensions with the local police. They claimed they were second class citizens in their own land and that - sooner or later - their frustrations were bound to spill over into violence
They said white Australia had it coming.
It seems extraordinary that many white Australians have never met, or even seen, an Aboriginal. In Sydney they didn't appear to be integrated into the city at all. I didn't see a single Aboriginal commuting on trains, working in shops or even employed as a porter at my hotel.
Having spent a month with Gail Hickey and her family, I ended up feeling that there is no easy solution to the problems facing Australia's indigenous people.
Until Aboriginals themselves can find a way of managing their own affairs more successfully, they are going to remain foreigners in their own land.
Just before I left Sydney I went to the opening of the new Redfern community centre. It was ironic that at the launch, the organisers had to bring in didgeridoo players from outside to entertain the guests. There were no local Aboriginals who could provide this service.
It is also ironic that I was unable to find Aboriginal handicraft made in Australia.
Tourists are going home with boomerangs made in China.
This World: The Boy from The Block is broadcast in the UK on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Thursday, 8 July, 2004.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ld/3856187.stm
Published: 2004/07/07 01:46:29 GMT
© BBC MMIV
Aboriginals: Foreigners in their own land?
David Akinsanya
Reporter, This World
Before I went to Australia and met Aboriginals, I had a romantic image of them and how they lived.
I imagined them to be a dark-skinned people, the men with bushy beards, eking out a living in the country's outback.
Instead I found a lost people, bereft of their culture and struggling to survive as outsiders in a European society they have no real hope of being integrated in.
I went to Sydney to investigate how and why the death of an Aboriginal teenager sparked Australia's worst ever riots.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to family and friends, died on Valentine's Day 2004.
He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also known as The Block.
Rumours
No-one knows exactly what happened that day, but it's likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could.
The following day The Block, where TJ lived with most of the city's Aboriginals, erupted into violence amid rumours that the police had chased him to his death. This is vehemently denied by the local police.
The violence lasted for hours and its intensity shocked the nation as it was broadcast on TV screens across Australia. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle between Aboriginal youths and the police.
I spent one month with TJ's mother, Gail Hickey, and her six daughters. Through them I hoped to get a sense of what life was like for Aboriginals on The Block.
REDFERN RIOTS
Gail's life is a daily grind; her husband is in jail and she survives on government handouts. She doesn't have a home of her own, so spends her time staying with family and friends. This isn't unusual within the culture she comes from.
With no permanent home or fixed routine it's difficult to get the girls to attend school regularly. It's the same story with many other Aboriginal kids.
The Block is made up of a few inner-city streets that were handed over to Aboriginals in the 1970s to run and manage themselves. The government of the day bought run-down housing stock as a first step towards giving the indigenous population the chance to determine their own affairs.
But the experiment hasn't exactly been a great success.
My taxi dropped me outside Redfern train station. I'd asked the driver to take me to The Block but he told me he preferred to stop on the main road as taxis are targeted there.
I was anxious about what I was going to find.
Key facts
Life expectancy for Aboriginals is 20 years less than for white Australians
Indigenous children have the same life expectancy as their white counterparts had in 1900
Aboriginals account for 3% of Australia's population
They also make up 40% of Australia's prison population
Despite having been to many run down areas all over the world I didn't know what to expect from The Block - or its people.
Outside the station, watching over the shabby, main street were two police officers standing in the baking sun. The police were a permanent fixture during my five week stay here.
My first glimpse of the notorious Block was a group of men and women, some obviously worse for drink, taking cover from the sun under a few trees. They were sitting on crates, cardboard and an assortment of broken chairs, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. One man was on his back and seemed to be semi-conscious.
Drugs
It may have been shocking but it certainly wasn't as dangerous as people had made out. They were warm, friendly and everyone shook my hand as they introduced themselves. My anxieties evaporated.
I asked whether the guy on his back was drunk but they told me he was on heroin, which they say is as easy to get hold of on The Block as beer in a pub.
I knew that alcoholism was a real problem in many Aboriginal communities, but I was surprised to learn about the heroin problem.
I spoke to some of the riot ringleaders, who said that TJ's death had brought to a head years of tensions with the local police. They claimed they were second class citizens in their own land and that - sooner or later - their frustrations were bound to spill over into violence
They said white Australia had it coming.
It seems extraordinary that many white Australians have never met, or even seen, an Aboriginal. In Sydney they didn't appear to be integrated into the city at all. I didn't see a single Aboriginal commuting on trains, working in shops or even employed as a porter at my hotel.
Having spent a month with Gail Hickey and her family, I ended up feeling that there is no easy solution to the problems facing Australia's indigenous people.
Until Aboriginals themselves can find a way of managing their own affairs more successfully, they are going to remain foreigners in their own land.
Just before I left Sydney I went to the opening of the new Redfern community centre. It was ironic that at the launch, the organisers had to bring in didgeridoo players from outside to entertain the guests. There were no local Aboriginals who could provide this service.
It is also ironic that I was unable to find Aboriginal handicraft made in Australia.
Tourists are going home with boomerangs made in China.
This World: The Boy from The Block is broadcast in the UK on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Thursday, 8 July, 2004.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ld/3856187.stm
Published: 2004/07/07 01:46:29 GMT
© BBC MMIV
Jul 7th 2004, 11:55 am
#2
o_0
Joined: Apr 2004
Location: Northern Rivers
Posts: 1,642
Wank, wank, money in the bank. Another locked thread in the making.
Jul 7th 2004, 11:58 am
#3
Down Under and Lovin It
Joined: May 2004
Location: Ellenbrook, Perth, WA
Posts: 692
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by kong
More cheery news, on the issue of Australia's indiginous peoples.
Aboriginals: Foreigners in their own land?
David Akinsanya
Reporter, This World
Before I went to Australia and met Aboriginals, I had a romantic image of them and how they lived.
I imagined them to be a dark-skinned people, the men with bushy beards, eking out a living in the country's outback.
Instead I found a lost people, bereft of their culture and struggling to survive as outsiders in a European society they have no real hope of being integrated in.
I went to Sydney to investigate how and why the death of an Aboriginal teenager sparked Australia's worst ever riots.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to family and friends, died on Valentine's Day 2004.
He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also known as The Block.
Rumours
No-one knows exactly what happened that day, but it's likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could.
The following day The Block, where TJ lived with most of the city's Aboriginals, erupted into violence amid rumours that the police had chased him to his death. This is vehemently denied by the local police.
The violence lasted for hours and its intensity shocked the nation as it was broadcast on TV screens across Australia. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle between Aboriginal youths and the police.
I spent one month with TJ's mother, Gail Hickey, and her six daughters. Through them I hoped to get a sense of what life was like for Aboriginals on The Block.
REDFERN RIOTS
Gail's life is a daily grind; her husband is in jail and she survives on government handouts. She doesn't have a home of her own, so spends her time staying with family and friends. This isn't unusual within the culture she comes from.
With no permanent home or fixed routine it's difficult to get the girls to attend school regularly. It's the same story with many other Aboriginal kids.
The Block is made up of a few inner-city streets that were handed over to Aboriginals in the 1970s to run and manage themselves. The government of the day bought run-down housing stock as a first step towards giving the indigenous population the chance to determine their own affairs.
But the experiment hasn't exactly been a great success.
My taxi dropped me outside Redfern train station. I'd asked the driver to take me to The Block but he told me he preferred to stop on the main road as taxis are targeted there.
I was anxious about what I was going to find.
Key facts
Life expectancy for Aboriginals is 20 years less than for white Australians
Indigenous children have the same life expectancy as their white counterparts had in 1900
Aboriginals account for 3% of Australia's population
They also make up 40% of Australia's prison population
Despite having been to many run down areas all over the world I didn't know what to expect from The Block - or its people.
Outside the station, watching over the shabby, main street were two police officers standing in the baking sun. The police were a permanent fixture during my five week stay here.
My first glimpse of the notorious Block was a group of men and women, some obviously worse for drink, taking cover from the sun under a few trees. They were sitting on crates, cardboard and an assortment of broken chairs, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. One man was on his back and seemed to be semi-conscious.
Drugs
It may have been shocking but it certainly wasn't as dangerous as people had made out. They were warm, friendly and everyone shook my hand as they introduced themselves. My anxieties evaporated.
I asked whether the guy on his back was drunk but they told me he was on heroin, which they say is as easy to get hold of on The Block as beer in a pub.
I knew that alcoholism was a real problem in many Aboriginal communities, but I was surprised to learn about the heroin problem.
I spoke to some of the riot ringleaders, who said that TJ's death had brought to a head years of tensions with the local police. They claimed they were second class citizens in their own land and that - sooner or later - their frustrations were bound to spill over into violence
They said white Australia had it coming.
It seems extraordinary that many white Australians have never met, or even seen, an Aboriginal. In Sydney they didn't appear to be integrated into the city at all. I didn't see a single Aboriginal commuting on trains, working in shops or even employed as a porter at my hotel.
Having spent a month with Gail Hickey and her family, I ended up feeling that there is no easy solution to the problems facing Australia's indigenous people.
Until Aboriginals themselves can find a way of managing their own affairs more successfully, they are going to remain foreigners in their own land.
Just before I left Sydney I went to the opening of the new Redfern community centre. It was ironic that at the launch, the organisers had to bring in didgeridoo players from outside to entertain the guests. There were no local Aboriginals who could provide this service.
It is also ironic that I was unable to find Aboriginal handicraft made in Australia.
Tourists are going home with boomerangs made in China.
This World: The Boy from The Block is broadcast in the UK on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Thursday, 8 July, 2004.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ld/3856187.stm
Published: 2004/07/07 01:46:29 GMT
© BBC MMIV
More cheery news, on the issue of Australia's indiginous peoples.
Aboriginals: Foreigners in their own land?
David Akinsanya
Reporter, This World
Before I went to Australia and met Aboriginals, I had a romantic image of them and how they lived.
I imagined them to be a dark-skinned people, the men with bushy beards, eking out a living in the country's outback.
Instead I found a lost people, bereft of their culture and struggling to survive as outsiders in a European society they have no real hope of being integrated in.
I went to Sydney to investigate how and why the death of an Aboriginal teenager sparked Australia's worst ever riots.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to family and friends, died on Valentine's Day 2004.
He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also known as The Block.
Rumours
No-one knows exactly what happened that day, but it's likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could.
The following day The Block, where TJ lived with most of the city's Aboriginals, erupted into violence amid rumours that the police had chased him to his death. This is vehemently denied by the local police.
The violence lasted for hours and its intensity shocked the nation as it was broadcast on TV screens across Australia. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle between Aboriginal youths and the police.
I spent one month with TJ's mother, Gail Hickey, and her six daughters. Through them I hoped to get a sense of what life was like for Aboriginals on The Block.
REDFERN RIOTS
Gail's life is a daily grind; her husband is in jail and she survives on government handouts. She doesn't have a home of her own, so spends her time staying with family and friends. This isn't unusual within the culture she comes from.
With no permanent home or fixed routine it's difficult to get the girls to attend school regularly. It's the same story with many other Aboriginal kids.
The Block is made up of a few inner-city streets that were handed over to Aboriginals in the 1970s to run and manage themselves. The government of the day bought run-down housing stock as a first step towards giving the indigenous population the chance to determine their own affairs.
But the experiment hasn't exactly been a great success.
My taxi dropped me outside Redfern train station. I'd asked the driver to take me to The Block but he told me he preferred to stop on the main road as taxis are targeted there.
I was anxious about what I was going to find.
Key facts
Life expectancy for Aboriginals is 20 years less than for white Australians
Indigenous children have the same life expectancy as their white counterparts had in 1900
Aboriginals account for 3% of Australia's population
They also make up 40% of Australia's prison population
Despite having been to many run down areas all over the world I didn't know what to expect from The Block - or its people.
Outside the station, watching over the shabby, main street were two police officers standing in the baking sun. The police were a permanent fixture during my five week stay here.
My first glimpse of the notorious Block was a group of men and women, some obviously worse for drink, taking cover from the sun under a few trees. They were sitting on crates, cardboard and an assortment of broken chairs, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. One man was on his back and seemed to be semi-conscious.
Drugs
It may have been shocking but it certainly wasn't as dangerous as people had made out. They were warm, friendly and everyone shook my hand as they introduced themselves. My anxieties evaporated.
I asked whether the guy on his back was drunk but they told me he was on heroin, which they say is as easy to get hold of on The Block as beer in a pub.
I knew that alcoholism was a real problem in many Aboriginal communities, but I was surprised to learn about the heroin problem.
I spoke to some of the riot ringleaders, who said that TJ's death had brought to a head years of tensions with the local police. They claimed they were second class citizens in their own land and that - sooner or later - their frustrations were bound to spill over into violence
They said white Australia had it coming.
It seems extraordinary that many white Australians have never met, or even seen, an Aboriginal. In Sydney they didn't appear to be integrated into the city at all. I didn't see a single Aboriginal commuting on trains, working in shops or even employed as a porter at my hotel.
Having spent a month with Gail Hickey and her family, I ended up feeling that there is no easy solution to the problems facing Australia's indigenous people.
Until Aboriginals themselves can find a way of managing their own affairs more successfully, they are going to remain foreigners in their own land.
Just before I left Sydney I went to the opening of the new Redfern community centre. It was ironic that at the launch, the organisers had to bring in didgeridoo players from outside to entertain the guests. There were no local Aboriginals who could provide this service.
It is also ironic that I was unable to find Aboriginal handicraft made in Australia.
Tourists are going home with boomerangs made in China.
This World: The Boy from The Block is broadcast in the UK on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Thursday, 8 July, 2004.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ld/3856187.stm
Published: 2004/07/07 01:46:29 GMT
© BBC MMIV
Jul 7th 2004, 12:21 pm
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally posted by Ulujain
Wank, wank, money in the bank. Another locked thread in the making.
Wank, wank, money in the bank. Another locked thread in the making.
You seem to me a huge fan of censorship. Ever considered moving to North Korea???
Jul 7th 2004, 12:46 pm
#5
Banned
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,432
Your concern would be touching if it was.
Jul 7th 2004, 1:09 pm
#6
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 965
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Dear Kong,
I must admit you do puzzle me. You certainly feel very strongly about the subject of disliking Aus.
Have you ever considered writing a book?
Clearly there would be the market for it and you obviously feel quite at home in front of the computer and researching quotes etc and are clearly most knowledgable on the subject.
I am being serious BTW - I do think Lucy has stuck a chord with doing something useful.
You never know it may even make you some money.
Maxine
I must admit you do puzzle me. You certainly feel very strongly about the subject of disliking Aus.
Have you ever considered writing a book?
Clearly there would be the market for it and you obviously feel quite at home in front of the computer and researching quotes etc and are clearly most knowledgable on the subject.
I am being serious BTW - I do think Lucy has stuck a chord with doing something useful.
You never know it may even make you some money.
Maxine
Jul 7th 2004, 1:16 pm
#7
Cheesy Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 1,033
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by maxpaxx ...
Have you ever considered writing a book?
Have you ever considered writing a book?
Jul 7th 2004, 1:23 pm
#8
Keeping it fairly real
Joined: Jun 2004
Location: In the sun
Posts: 32,863
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by maxpaxx
Dear Kong,
I must admit you do puzzle me. You certainly feel very strongly about the subject of disliking Aus.
Have you ever considered writing a book?
Clearly there would be the market for it and you obviously feel quite at home in front of the computer and researching quotes etc and are clearly most knowledgable on the subject.
I am being serious BTW - I do think Lucy has stuck a chord with doing something useful.
You never know it may even make you some money.
Maxine
Dear Kong,
I must admit you do puzzle me. You certainly feel very strongly about the subject of disliking Aus.
Have you ever considered writing a book?
Clearly there would be the market for it and you obviously feel quite at home in front of the computer and researching quotes etc and are clearly most knowledgable on the subject.
I am being serious BTW - I do think Lucy has stuck a chord with doing something useful.
You never know it may even make you some money.
Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
Jul 7th 2004, 1:59 pm
#9
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 965
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by walla1
Hey Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
Hey Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
hey walla isn't 'encpourage' like when they cut up little pictures and make a collage?
- may be an idea - that's your subconcious! ..I think I should get royalties as it was my idea
Jul 7th 2004, 2:04 pm
#10
Master of verbal pish©
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 22,198
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by walla1
Hey Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
Hey Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
Jul 7th 2004, 2:07 pm
#11
Master of verbal pish©
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 22,198
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by soapy
Fanny in the mist
Fanny in the mist
p
Jul 7th 2004, 2:10 pm
#12
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,606
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by walla1
Hey Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
Hey Maxine
Don't encpourage him!
Do have some titles for his books thou:
GONG With The Wind (literally) or Simple Minds or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest the list goes on. Any more takers?
Walla
How about 'How to lose friends and alienate people/volume 2'?
Jul 7th 2004, 2:46 pm
#13
Keeping it fairly real
Joined: Jun 2004
Location: In the sun
Posts: 32,863
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by maxpaxx
pmsl
hey walla isn't 'encpourage' like when they cut up little pictures and make a collage? - may be an idea - that's your subconcious!
..I think I should get royalties as it was my idea
pmsl
hey walla isn't 'encpourage' like when they cut up little pictures and make a collage?
- may be an idea - that's your subconcious! ..I think I should get royalties as it was my idea
You can have the royalties!! And that was a poor spelling mistake "p" is next to the "o" on keyboard so apologise if offended!! I try and type to fast. Get your picture thou.
Another one " Hanibal Lecturer"
Walla
Jul 7th 2004, 3:47 pm
#15
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 965
Re: Aboriginal Australia
Originally posted by walla1
Yeah Lucy
You can have the royalties!! And that was a poor spelling mistake "p" is next to the "o" on keyboard so apologise if offended!! I try and type to fast. Get your picture thou.
Another one " Hanibal Lecturer"
Walla
Yeah Lucy
You can have the royalties!! And that was a poor spelling mistake "p" is next to the "o" on keyboard so apologise if offended!! I try and type to fast. Get your picture thou.
Another one " Hanibal Lecturer"
Walla
keep them coming -we should have a prize for the best effort!
Max x