Cross Cultural Communication
Introduction
For this particular report, the media topic that would be discussed is about the existence of the non-aboriginal people in Australia. Like other nations in the history, Australia has also been invaded by non-aboriginal people. In the Aboriginal history, it has been noted that people in Australia have lived their lives in a manner that is very difference with other people outside their homeland. The aborigines have seen little needs for European religion and learning and they had their own skills. Through it, one can hope to understand not only the actions and attitudes of the aborigines in Australia, but something of the nature of European Australians as well. Australia’s history since 1788 has been a story of black and white, acting upon and interacting with each other, in the great human drama in colonialism. However, for most of Australia’s past, aboriginal people (Berndt, 1977) rarely appeared in Australian History writing, so that people were presented with half a history, in other words, half an Australian Experience. One way of studying Australian history is by critically looking at the consequences of the non-Aboriginal invasion of Australia on the aborigines (Thorpe, 1999).
The relationship between the aborigines and the non-aboriginal settlers in Australia has often been a raw history of European dominance over aborigines due to superior numbers, resources and firepower. Both peoples have been changed and distorted by the colonial struggle. Aboriginal people have been denigrated and oppressed, whereas European Australians generally assumed the dehumanized role of oppressors, and held a false sense of their own superiority. All Australians should now see their history for what it was – both a dark moment in the colonial expansion of the West as well as the story of the growth of a commendable advanced democracy – before any mature Australian outlook can develop. Because of these differences, clashes between these two groups of people have emerged. In this light, this paper will examine the negative consequences of the Non-aboriginal occupation of Australia on the aborigines.
In this paper, particular emphasis will be given on the message communicated by the author about this group of people and how this type of message communication has been accomplished. In addition, this will also provide details on the context of who benefits the discourse or not.
Message Communication
The media article that has been collected has been able to provide message on the negative impact of the occupancy of non-aboriginal people in Australia. The article has provided highlights on the negative consequences of the non-aboriginal occupation of Australia on the aboriginal people are numerous. Accordingly, one such impact is the dispossession of land of the aborigines. Since non-aboriginal people are aware that aborigines have no adequate knowledge of the context of land-ownership, they took advantage of this matter (Oceania, 2007). During the occupation, the question of land ownership was central to increasing conflict between the aborigines and the colonizers. For example, initially, James Webb, the first European settler on Brisbane Water, occasionally gave the indigenous Australians enough netted fish to feed the whole tribe.
Later however, as soon as the crops of pumpkins, wheat, and corn began to bear, his attitude of patronage towards the original land-owners changed to one of aggressively defending what he now considered his own property. Troubles arose following this. Like many other indigenous groups, Aborigines possessed lands that they had occupied and utilised since time immemorial. Thus the occupation of their ancestral lands, pasture, agricultural lands, hunting grounds, and worship areas signalled a serious conflict between them and the European settlers. Even today, land remains a source of many serious conflicts.
Food was another major source of conflict between the aborigines and the European settlers during the invasion. The occupation of land along the river banks deprived the indigenous Australians of their many traditional sources of sustenance. Before the invasion, aborigines netted fish in large quantities. Another favourite food for the indigenous Australians was lobsters. One serious problem happened down the banks of the Hawkesbury, where the yam beds provided the staple vegetable component of the Dharug diet. By 1795, the vast majority of the yam beds had been destroyed and replaced with crops. When the Aborigines attempted to harvest the crops which now grew on the riverbanks, they were driven off. A few settlers maintained good relations with the Aborigines, but others shot any Aborigine they saw on their and. The two economic systems were competing for the same rich soil to provide food, a circumstance which inevitably let to conflict (Kohen 1985).
One of the major impacts of the European occupation is housing discrimination against the aboriginal people. In 1905, the Aborigines Act was laid the foundations of legal separatism: Australian aborigines could be forcibly removed from towns and placed on reserves. Throughout the period 1930s-1960s, conditions on these reserves were deplorable. Aboriginal families were in the most rudimentary dwellings; they had no adequate water and sewerage systems. According to a 1974 report by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Affairs, the conditions in the reserves were very bad.
With this kind of media communication, it can be said that this kind of message has been accomplished by identifying the negative impact of the occupation of the non-aboriginal people in Australia. Herein, different aspects have been considered including the conflicts brought by the non-aboriginal in Australia. In addition, the message that has been conveyed has been accomplished using evidences and other sources to help the authors justify their arguments.
For this discourse analysis and media message, it can be said that the advantaged groups are the aboriginal people who are being affected by the occupation of the non-aboriginal people. On one hand, the non-aboriginal people are the disadvantaged group since the articles tackle their negative impact on the Australian aboriginals. This paper showed that the non-aboriginal occupation of Australia had tremendous negative consequences on the lives of the aboriginal people. Analysis shows that the occupation of the non-aboriginal people has changed the life of the aborigines radically and the former took advantage of the simple living of the latter. Furthermore, the non-aboriginal people s also imposed polices detrimental to the aborigines and favourable to the settlers. Policies on housing, education, and assimilation and institutionalization of the aborigines have largely contributed to the discrimination against the aborigines in many aspects in the society. Unfortunately, many people in Australia still do not see, or refuse to see, the negative impacts of the occupation, which until now hound the aborigines.
Reference
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Bridges, B. (1970). The Aborigines and the Land Question: New South Wales in the Period of Imperial Responsibility. Journal of Royal Australian Historical Society, 56(2), 97.
Cole, A. (1968). Unwitting soldiers: the working life of Matron Hiscocks at the Cootamundra Girls Home.
Gale, G.F. and Brookman, A. (eds). (1975). Race Relations in Australia—The Aborigines. Sydney: McGraw Hill
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Kohen, J.L. (1985). Aborigines of Western Sydney. Armidale, NSW: Western Sydney Project.
McGregor, R. (1999). Wards, Words and Citizens: A.P. Elkin and Paul Hasluck on Assimilation. Oceania, 69(4), 243-259.
Oceania, J. (2007). Aborigines And White Settlers The Breaking Down of Aboriginal Society. Retrieved October 31, 2007 at http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_whitesettlers/index1.htm.
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Thorpe, K. (1999). Recapturing History: The Value of Aboriginal Oral Histories. Black on Black, 2, 16-29.
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