Torres Strait Islanders

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, language and culture are part of who we are as Australians. It is important for me as a pre-service teacher to be aware of how my personal background, experiences and ideas about identity will influence my teaching philosophy to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. My ability to understand the cultural identities of all students in my class is necessary for addressing their individual needs. We all bring our own perspectives and ways

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are a distinct traditional cultural group of the Australian population. The historical wealth of the importance of contribution to country by the Indigenous people of this nation is truly significant. At the Indigenous Future-Venture Research Institution (IFVRI) we place at the forefront of our mission, the aim to develop and implement, through the in-depth research and analysis of data, new material for awareness platforms and information that will primarily

For most of their (over) 45,000 years history, Torres Strait Islanders have established their own unique identity as a group and within their respective collectives, partially due to limited contact between the Torres Strait Islands and Europeans, until Britain’s colonisation in 1788; Therefore, the last two centuries as a result of colonisation have undoubtedly effectuated the alienation of the Torres Strait Islanders, and ergo had pernicious influences on their identity. As argued by Mua Makereta

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have faced disadvantages in various areas, particularly housing. The disadvantages these people face now are the result of policies introduced by the European settlers, then the government. The policies introduced were protection, assimilation, integration and self-determination. It is hard to understand the housing disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people if their

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience social disadvantages which significantly impacts their physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual and social health. This essay analyses the impacts of the social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, early life and psychological distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health which causes the wide gap in the social disadvantages experienced by the Indigenous community. According to the assessment of a Productivity

One social determinant that impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is unemployment. According to the Australian Census in 2011, 56% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Australia were participating in the labour force, however, 17.2% of this population were unemployed but seeking employment (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013). Comparing these numbers to the non-indigenous population, the percentage of the indigenous population in the labour force is significantly

Indigenous people will have generally retained their cultural practices and traditions that will differ greatly from that of the settlers. The term ‘Indigenous person’ is used to describe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. (Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d.) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the original land owners of Australia, having lived here for more than 40,000. They were free to practice a different way of life and culture before European settlement in the late 1700s. Aboriginal

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the curriculum has now become a high priority amoungst schools across the nation. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2013), recognises “that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority is designed for all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures”. By including this, the curriculum will

I aim to focus on the historical and contemporary situation of Torres Strait Islander and how the Edward Koiki Mabo (Eddie Mabo) decision has affected them. History Background Edward Koiki Mabo (Eddie Mabo) is the Australian Man born in 1936 from Torres Strait Islander campaigning for Indigenous land rights. His decision for land rights was the legal decision. In 1981, Mabo gave first speech at the land rights conference at the James Cook University explaining the traditional land ownership and

prejudiced and misguided policies against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that manifested in the “dispossession, physical ill-treatment, social disruption, population decline, economic exploitation, codified discrimination and cultural devastation of the first people of this land” (Vos, Barker, Begg, Stanley & Lopez, 2008, p. 471). It is undisputed that compared with mainstream Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are still experiencing significantly worse health