Since the arrival of he Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet in 1788, the aboriginals of Australia have struggled to regain the independence they once had. Their quest for equal rights and recognition, which was only fulfilled late last century, was what they had been battling for since their home, for over 40,000 years was taken away.

In 1788 when Britain established the first European settlement on Australian soil, there were at least 300,000 Aboriginal people here, possibly very many more. It is estimated that there were about 600 different tribes, each comprising several groups. Between them they spoke about 500 different languages, many of which were variants or dialects of another. This race of people, who were then occupying areas right across the continent, had, after 40,000 years become a vital part of this land. Since the prehistoric times this vast continent with its mountains, rivers, plains and beaches had belonged to them and they to it.

Their dreamtime, their culture and their ?kinship with

This is a story of a struggle begun over two hundred years ago and continues today. In many respects it is a shameful story, one that every Australian should be aware of.

Today Aboriginals are a distinct ?social class? or group in Australian society, a minority group of some 303,261 individuals representing 1.7% of the total Australian population. These terrible statistics show that there are less than 2% of our indigenous Australians in our population today. The people that called Australia their own for more than 40,000 years have been narrowed down to next to nothing. I?m sure that most of us would not be sitting in this classroom if not for our European ancestors, but to hear statistics like these is a disgrace to the country.

Some topics in this essay:
Black War, Phillip Fleet, Governor Philip, Forty Australia, Europeans Australia, Aboriginal Australians, Generation Speaking, Christianity Relationships, Assimilation Policy, Namatjira Arunda, aboriginal people, indigenous australians, live white australians, assimilation policy, people australia, white australians, 19th century, aboriginal population, 1950s assimilation, 1950s assimilation policy, equal rights, languages customs,