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By Honey Gillard

The 1^st of June 2007 marked more than just the beginning of a winter month for Indigenous Australians; it was a day of tribute to the Aboriginal war veterans, who had previously received nothing but discrimination and prejudice.

The rare wreath-laying memorial ceremony to honour Aboriginal war veterans was held in Sydney earlier this month, reviving tragic memories of how poorly the men were treated on their return to the country and the people that they fought for. But despite the sudden uproar of memories it was not a day of gloom and sadness, but rather a day of pride, remembrance and love.

The ceremony saw Aboriginal children and ex-servicemen and women lay wreaths at the city’s War Memorial.

New South Wales Education Minister, John Della Bosca, was quoted saying: “Thousands of indigenous soldiers fought side by side with white Australians on battlegrounds across the world, and this ceremony … gives us the opportunity to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings said that the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum on indigenous Australians highlighted the fact that decades earlier many Aborigines fought for a nation that did not recognise them.

“It is extraordinary to think that indigenous men and women went to war for a country that at the time did not accord them the rights and opportunities that come with citizenship” he said.

It is believed that 500 Aborigines fought in World War I - an ample number, when you take in that the indigenous Australian population was a mere 80,000, and it wasn’t until 1917 that ‘half-castes’ were permitted to enlist. Between 3000 and 4000 Indigenous Australians served in World War II. A further 3000 served in support roles for the war effort.

One family in particular , the Lovett family, share an honourable story of courage and the endless discrimination from their past. Five Lovett brothers went to World War I and five signed up for World War II. All in all, 20 members of the Lovett family have served Australia in war and peacekeeping, from the Western Front to East Timor.

The most extraordinary thing about the Lovett family’s record of service, however, is that four of the five brothers who went to World War I also enlisted for World War II.

But when Aboriginal veterans returned to their homes, they found that both their social and political circumstances had been left untouched. They still were not allowed to vote, buy property or marry non-Aborigines. The men were restrained to reservations and church missions. As if this uncalled for denunciation was not enough the men were cast off from many veterans’ clubs, and after all the struggle that the men must already have to encounter from the physical and psychological effects that the war was having on them, they couldn’t even just go down to the pub for a drink, as they were not allowed to have a drink at the pub.

Perhaps one of the saddest points to this chronicle is that while other returned Australians soldiers were handed blocks of land to settle on and welcomed back to the bosom of society, the Aborigines had their applications for land rejected - even for land, in which they once owned.

Herbert Lovett’s son, Johnnie Lovett spoke of the ignorance saying: “When he’d finished his service for this country, he was given nothing.”

Dispossession of the Indigenous Australians didn’t stop either. William Murray, a Gallipoli veteran, headed the butcher of up to 100 Aborigines in 1928, which has now become known as the Coniston massacre.

Just under 2 months ago, on Anzac Day, a troupe of indigenous soldiers held a march through the Sydney suburb of Redfern, eschewing traditional Anzac Day services, where the sacrifices that were made by their community were completely disregarded, like they didn’t deserve some honour from their country that they put their life on the line for. This ignorance ultimately made this noble ceremony more important and significant within our community. Hopefully this will become an annual and uncontroversial tradition for our nation.

By Honey Gillard 

A recent Northern Territory report has found that Aboriginal children as young as three are falling victim to extensive sex abuse highly fuelled by “rivers of grog”, pornography and a lack of education.

The report visited remote Northern Territory communities and found that child abuse was apparent in all 45.  

Co-chair Pat Anderson, who released the grim report last Friday, claimed that children were being exposed to pornography at a young age and then later mimicking the actions with one another. 

The children were also reportedly abused by both indigenous and non-indigenous adults. 

Ms Anderson blamed a lack of education and rampant alcoholism as the chief causes of the alarming problem. 

She said: “A river of grog is running through and destroying remote communities. There is a strong association between alcohol abuse, violence and the sexual abuse of children.”  

Anderson added to the report saying: “Children as young as three have been exposed to pornographic material and videos in their homes.” 

“This has been seen by community and social workers who observed the children imitating sexual behaviour with each other.” 

The inquiry’s 316-page report into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse made 97 recommendations, including improving procedures for reporting and monitoring offenders, addressing pervasive poverty and alcoholism and tightening ropes on pornography laws.

 Co-chairman Rex Wild, QC, remained adamant as he warned of a “disaster” looming over indigenous communities if the government didn’t get their act together soon and stop playing politics and work together to implement a long-term strategy to manage this crisis. 

“Unless action is taken we are utterly convinced a disaster is looming,” Mr Wild said. 

One of the cases referred to in the report is an account of local police officers turning a blind eye to a “rampant informal sex trade” between young Aboriginal girls and non-Aboriginal mine workers. 

Girls, aged between the tender ages of 12 and 15, were purportedly provided with alcohol and cash, as well as other goods as a trade for sex with local mine workers.                       

Police revealed to the inquiry that they were alert of the ongoing sex trade but claimed that there was little in which they could do due to a “culture of silence”. 

Another case, which is currently facing the courts, involves a non-Aboriginal health worker who is assumed to have exchanged goods, drugs and attention to a number of local children for sex. When questioned about the man one 15-year–old described him as her “boyfriend”. 

Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin spoke of the distressing events claiming that not enough had been done to stop the suffering of children. 

“This is a landmark report that will sadly expose the great pain and unhappiness of many people,” she said. “It is clear that not enough has been done to tackle the abuse of Aboriginal children.” 

“I commit the government to implement the key action areas of this report and get on with the job of tackling this deeply disturbing issue.” 

The inquest was set up by the Northern Territory government last June, after the surfacing of seversal widespread reports of child sexual abuse in remote areas of central Australia. 

Sources: theage.com.au   

         news.com.au

By Honey Gillard 

IT’S been 40 years now since the Australian Aboriginals were first recognized as official human beings – going from the ‘flora and fauna’ of Australia to it’s inhabitants – it’d seem to be a time for indigenous Australians to celebrate, but sadly for many who are still living an inequitable and deprived life this event is nothing to celebrate. 

In the 1967 referendum an astonishing 91% of white Australians voted in favour of the inclusion of indigenous people in the national census, after almost a decade of Aboriginal right campaigning. This resulted in colossal alteration to Australian society that provided hope to manys doorsteps of justice and equality for all the Aboriginies who had endured immense and injust segregation in many areas, including such necessities as housing and education. It’s sad to hear that such promises are yet to be kept. 

Activist Neville Perkins says that even after 40 years words have not been kept by the government and statistics are still grim – if not worse.

He says: “While there have been some improvements since the 1967 referendum, there is still room for more improvement in the living conditions of Aboriginal Australians and unfortunately under the Howard Government, Aboriginal affairs has gone backward.”

“We still have the poorest health rates in Australia.”

Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy 17 years shorter than non-Indigenous people – a deficit that Senator Andrew Bartlett claims must be top priority for all Australian governments.

Reconciliation Australia board member Fred Chaney says life expectancy is a chief evidence of the government’s failure.

“It overlays a whole lot of other social statistics, in education, in employment, health and so on all of which need attention, but life expectancy is a reminder that we’re doing worse than the United States, worse than Canada and worse than New Zealand,” says Chaney.

Prime Minster John Howard has admitted that many of the improvements in Aborigines’ lives that supporters of the ’67 referendum hoped and voted for have not transpired.

Howard stated that the rights which were fought for in 1967 were no rights at all if “accompanied by grinding poverty, overcrowding, poor health, violence and isolation from mainstream society”.

On his attendance at a Canberra function held to commemorate the 40^th Anniversary of the referendum the Prime Minister was greeted with a swarm of “boo”s echoing in his address. 

In spite of the reception of Howard’s hostile salutation, the Howard Government is reportedly now putting plans into place (and action this time) to finally deliver better services to those Aboriginal communities, existing on the outer reaches of society. 

Sources: abc.net.au