Indigenous Worldviews and Experiences

It is a well-known fact that the European conquest of Australia resulted in the dispossession of its Indigenous people, forcing them onto the fringes of colonial society (Attwood 1989: 1). According to Attwood (1989: 1), this apparent belief in cultural superiority is a “violent approach.” From the mid-1830s, the coming of European settlers brought a wave of violence and disease and the number of Aborigines declined markedly (Attwood 1989: 2).

Attwood (1989: 7) especially highlights a Christian mission settlement called Ramahyuck. He states that the main aim of this mission was to civilise and Christianise the Indigenous Australian people (Attwood 1989: 7). Christian missionaries held the firm idea that they had to transform ‘blacks’ into men and women in their own image. They believed they could only succeed if the Aborigines’ cultural order was fundamentally destroyed. They felt that they had to settle the Aborigines because their wandering and unsettled habits were diametrically opposed to the civilised life they so much wanted to inculcate.

In other words, missions like Ramahyuck were “changing Aborigines’ sense of themselves” (Attwoord 1989: 16). Over time, the Aboriginal people became culturally and economically dependent on the mission. This amounted to a severe narrowing in their opportunity to choose and meant they had to accommodate themselves more and more to the missionary order. This was therefore a violent approach towards the Aborigines, removing their identity. Aboriginal spiritualism is based on a connection with the land. And, one of the key things with colonialism was removal from the land. As a result, Aboriginal identity was lost. The removal of identity can have a monumental impact on a culture and is therefore a violent approach.

Although the majority of the Australian population recognise this dispossession of Aborigines, unfortunately, this idea has continued through to today’s society. The situation for Aboriginal people living in contemporary Australian society can be said to link to the legacy of colonial contact. In an interview with Murray Paterson, an Indigenous Coordinator at a Brisbane high school, Palm Island was exemplified. He stated:

“People from seven different language groups were placed here. These people were put on Palm Island because, based on social Darwinism, they were going to die. But they did not die, they are still there today. However, the seven different language groups are dysfunctional, such as issues of ‘who is in charge.’ Some of the social stigmas and issues are to do with these language groups, but they were just put there as missions as such. So, colonialism has had a massive impact on these people” (M. Paterson, personal communication, September 5, 2014). 

So, it is no lie that colonialism impacted on Aboriginal people in a massive way. However, we cannot change the past. We have to acknowledge it and have an understanding of it, but we can only go forward from it. There is no sense pretending that it did not happen. However, there is also no sense in pretending that Western education and Western science is a negative thing either. So, the pros and cons of colonialism cannot really be discussed. Pesantubbe (2004: 40) explains that to assuage suffering and growing into healing, we need to undertake a decolonisation of our minds. We need to acknowledge the past and look at the present. What we do here and now can make a difference. We need to keep moving on.

Reference

Attwood, B. (1989). And God said… let them have dominion. In The Making of the Aborigines. Sydney, London & Boston: Allen & Unwin.

Pesantubbee, M. (2004). In search of the White Path: American Indian peacebuilding. In H. Coward and G.S. Smith. Eds. Religion and peacebuilding. Albany: State University of New York Press.