Working with ATSI people and communities



Entry page For your use Committee Coordinators Workers Growing in understanding History Key Ideas Today Structures Reports FAQ Readings Glossary Practice implications History The Dreaming The Land The Law & The Lore Family and kinship Image and identity Self-determination Practice tips Policy Upper Hunter Acknowledgements Test your knowledge Copyright \| Feedback		Reading 1E

		1967 - 1997 In 1967 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia were finally given full citizenship rights as the result of a referendum. Over 90 per cent of voters said 'yes' to changing the Constitution of the Commonwealth. This change allowed Aboriginal people to be counted in reckoning the population and gave the Commonwealth Government shared powers with State Governments to legislate for Aboriginals. In 1972 the Commonwealth Government proclaimed a policy of 'self-determination' for Aboriginals - Aboriginal people were to decide the pace and nature of their future development within the legal. social and economic framework of Australian society. The Government also supported Aboriginal land rights. These policies were subsequently adopted by the New South Wales Government. In 1973 further amendments to the Aborigines Protection Act provided for the establishment of the New South Wales Aboriginal Lands Trust in 1974. The Trust was given freehold title to former reserves (though not former town reserves, nor previously revoked reserves). It was also able to purchase property, and to develop or mine any of its lands. By 1979 the Trust held title to 144 properties. For the first time Aboriginals had some control over reserve lands. In November 1978 the New South Wales Legislative Assembly appointed the Select Committee upon Aborigines to inquire into land rights and the conditions of Aboriginals in New South Wales. As a result of this Committee's recommendations, a State Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs was established and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed in 1983. The Land Rights Act recognises that the State of New South Wales was traditionally owned and occupied by Aboriginal people and acknowledges the vital importance of land in Aboriginal culture. Under the Act, a system of Land Councils - at State, regional and local levels - was set up. The Councils received inalienable title to land held by the former Aboriginal Lands Trust. They are also able to claim or purchase other land. Claims may be made to Crown land so long as it is not lawfully used or occupied and not needed, or likely to be needed, for any essential public service. (Some occupied Crown lands can also be claimed subject to these conditions.) Certain mineral and hunting and fishing rights are vested in the Land Councils. In addition, the Act provides for the annual payment of 7.5 per cent of gross State Land Tax revenue into a fund until 1998. Half of this fund is set aside as capital to finance Aboriginal development in future years, with the balance meeting the costs of land council administration and land purchases. The State Government has a Department of Aboriginal Affairs, and at the Commonwealth level there is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). ATSIC was established in 1990 as a means of giving indigenous people a greater say over the policies and decisions affecting them. Thirty-five Regional Councils are elected throughout Australia. Regional Councillors in turn elect 17 Commissioners to sit on the ATSIC Board. There are six ATSIC regions in New South Wales, and the State returns three ~ Commissioners. On 27 June 1997, in an historic gesture of goodwill and reconciliation, the Lower , House of State Parliament was handed over to elected indigenous representatives from ATSIC, the first time that the Parliament has been used by another I elected body. As a result of the last 200 years Aboriginal people in New South Wales suffer many disadvantages in comparison to the non- Aboriginal population. Many Aboriginals still live in sub-standard conditions, are unemployed, have poor health or low educational achievements. They are far more likely to be imprisoned, mostly for minor offences. In an effort to solve these problems many Aboriginal self-help organisations have been set up. These organisations, established over the last 20 years, provide services in areas such as health care, housing, education, employment, broad- casting and the law. The Aboriginal people of New South Wales have been leaders in this movement. Aboriginal Australia's first medical service and first legal service began in Sydney in the early 1970s. Today a multitude of State, regional and local organisations (including the Land Councils established under the Land Rights Act) service the Aboriginal communities of . New South Wales. Aboriginal culture is being revitalised. Growing numbers of Aboriginal artists are involved in painting and print-making, photography, film and theatre, and music and dance. Sydney is a thriving centre of contemporary Aboriginal art - an act ' uses new forms and media to express artists' sense of identity .... values of their culture. Another important issue is the management and protection of Aboriginal sites and heritage items. Land Councils and other organisations provide advice to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, museums and consulting archaeologists on community wishes in these matters. For the original inhabitants of New South Wales the struggle that began with white occupation of their country is continuing - the struggle now is to retain heir identity and Culture, to raise their ....... Source: Aboriginal Australia Aboriginal People of NSW Produced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission 1997 (c) Comonwealth of Australia 1997 ISBN 0 664 10152 0