first come, last served?

Australia’s treatment of its Indigenous people: a case of first come, last served? Marcelle Ventoura visits The Block, a notorious Sydney slum that's home to many Aborigines and photographs their plight while recalling the modern history of their painful predicament

Let me start by saying that in the two and a half years since I moved to Australia from the UK, I have met only one Indigenous Australian and that was within the last two months, through a dance class. That in itself should tell you something about the position of Indigenous people in contemporary Australian society. Although Sydney, where I live and work, is not quite the cultural melting pot that London (where I grew up) is, there seems to be a fair-to-middling representation of races and cultures across most walks of life, with the exception of Indigenous people. Indigenous Australians are said to have inhabited Australia for between 40,000 and 75,000 years, but now make up only 2.4% of the country’s population of almost 22 million people, and seem to be un(der) represented in all professions, particularly the media; and are over-represented in more negative areas of life such as poverty, substance abuse, illiteracy, unemployment, poor heath and crime.

Back to the beginning

It is impossible to even begin to understand the current issues faced by Indigenous Australians without first considering events in the recent past that have profoundly affected every aspect of their lives. These events began with the arrival of the first British fleet in Botany Bay in 1788, bringing with it the first of many boat-loads of convicts and marking the beginning of Britain’s transportation of convicts to the ‘Penal Colony of Australia.’ This also marked the beginning of what was to become Britain’s indelible effect upon the Indigenous culture and way of life – both intentional and accidental. The first unforseen consequence of British settlement (although similar effects were seen in many of the places settled by European colonists) was the quick and violent spread of diseases to which the Indigenous population had little or no immunity. Small pox for example, is estimated to have wiped out 50% of Indigenous inhabitants when it was introduced with the arrival of the British. As it would turn out though, the incidental spread of old-world diseases was to be one of the least damaging effects of British colonisation.

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