Topic > The Indigenous Peoples of Australia - 1078

More than 500 indigenous tribes inhabited Australia before British settlement, and each group lived in close relationship with the land (Digital, 2015). Practicing and revitalizing cultural traditions, spiritual traditions and customs should be a right for all Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Streich, 2009, p.28). Indigenous Australians identify themselves through their region, language, relationships and stories. Their cultural heritage is passed down from generation to generation (Australia.gov.au, 2015). For Aboriginal people, killing animals for food and building shelters is a ritual and, above all, a cultural and spiritual journey. Indigenous people were banned and restricted from practicing their traditional culture, which resulted in the loss of their identity and limited cultural knowledge for future generations. Indigenous culture was attacked in an attempt to make indigenous people more European. Their identity has been threatened by giving them settler names and clothing, removing them from their traditional lands, and placing them in centralized reserves alongside other indigenous peoples from many different tribes. This policy of segregation had a huge impact on the lives of Aboriginal people. They were deprived of the right to practice and maintain the tradition