Question

Research the following in regards to Aboriginal Australians. 1. Culture, self and diversity 2. Aboriginal history 3. Working with Aboriginal people 4. Providing clinical services 5. Improving cultural security

Answer 1

Aborigines are Australia's indigenous people. Recent government statistics counted approximately 400,000 aboriginal people, or about 2% of Australia's total population. Australian Aborigines migrated from somewhere in Asia at least 30,000 years ago.Aboriginal spirituality entails a close relationship between humans and the land.The oral tradition of storytelling informs aboriginals' vibrant cultural life. Songs illustrate the Dreamtime and other tales of the land, while dances and diagrams drawn in the sand accompany oral tales.Due to forced assimilation, by the late 1880s most aborigines had joined white rural and urban communities. Aboriginal people became economically marginalized and were exposed to new diseases. The consequence was massive depopulation and extinction for some aboriginal tribes. Land and property rights fueled an important civil rights movement in the 1970s. Aborigines spoke out for equal rights, and specifically for land rights for property that had been forcibly taken by British settlers. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act, passed in 1976, became instrumental in territories with tribal associations. The 1990s witnessed further rights milestones, including government legislation that returned a great degree of autonomy, and increased wages and welfare benefits to aboriginal people.( Siasoco.n.d)

Land use, law, spiritual beliefs and ways of life have been traumatised. Aboriginal society has felt the full force of the invasion and it is arguable that traditional Aboriginal family life and the supporting kinship structures have taken the maximum disruptive impact, especially in areas of greatest non-Aboriginal population density.

Ref:Aboriginal families today are strongly influenced by their precolonial traditions and by Aboriginal people's experiences over the last 200 years. Despite the tremendous pressures to assimilate they have in many ways resisted and are still unique. More importantly, however, Aboriginal families assert that they are different because of their values and beliefs. Despite coming from disparate backgrounds there is a common feeling of panAboriginality within which Aborigines in Australia identify with each other.In all parts of Australia, Aboriginal people identify as a cultural group and exhibit growing pride in their Aboriginality. This increasing pride is being recognised by other Australians. Aboriginal people express and identify themselves as Aboriginal Australians. Their identification does not necessarily depend on skin colour or physical features; rather it has to do with shared experiences, a large kin system sometimes spanning the continent, stories passed on through an oral tradition and a common family background.(Bourke ,1995)Effective identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and accountability at all levels of the health system are vital to any initiative to improve cultural competency. Australian governments have focused on improving the cultural competency of health services in several ways.

In the NT, the Aboriginal Cultural Security Policy was launched in 2007 and is an ongoing commitment that the services offered to Aboriginal Territorians by the NT Department of Health respectfully combine the cultural rights and values of Aboriginal people with the best that health service systems have to offer.(n.d).

In 2014, the NT Department of Health has been busy reviewing, developing and implementing a suite of initiatives that underpin the delivery of culturally secure services. They include the:

• development and implementation of the Cross Cultural Training Framework for staff
• Aboriginal Interpreter Policy
• Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country Policy
• Aboriginal People and Communities Preferred Terminology Policy;
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Health Practitioner Cultural Statement
• Cultural Competence Self-Assessment and Audit Tool continues to be trialled and further refined.

The NSW Health Aboriginal Health Impact Statement is designed to ensure the needs and interests of Aboriginal peoples are embedded into the development, implementation and evaluation of all NSW Health initiatives.(Each Aboriginal community is different, with different customs and protocols, systems of organisation, languages, and relationships to each other. There is no single Aboriginal culture – Aboriginal society is very diverse. Aboriginal culture is dynamic and continuously evolving. )

The following values are central to Aboriginal culture. They influence the way Aboriginal people live and how they interact with others

Family – including extended family are a high priority.

Shared Responsibility – each person is required to be responsible in one area or another. If this role is neglected it becomes automatic for another member of the family or extended family to ‘fill in’.

Acceptance – each individual is understood for both their strengths and weaknesses.

Sharing-is seen as part of Aboriginal peoples responsibility, it is an honour. • Equality-each person is respected with the ‘right’ to be an equal

Belonging-to your people, your land and your ‘rights’ are of utmost importance

. Ownership-is a shared experience.

Land-gives us a complete sense of belonging.

Respect-for ones positions and responsibilities in all areas.

Time Orientation – Aboriginal people often focus on the past and present rather than on the future. With the attitude of ‘live for today’, and not for tomorrow.

Person Orientation – human relationships and interactions are valued. Material gain may have little or no interest. (Madaferri,n.d)

REF:

1. Ricco Villanueva Siasoco,n.d. Aboriginal Australia,History and culture of Australia's indigenous peoples.
2. Eleanor Bourke and Colin Bourke,1995,Aboriginal families in Australia .Families and cultural diversity in Australia
3. Original and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2014 Report,Cultural competency
4. Madafferi, R. Aboriginal Culture Handbook Resource for Non-Aboriginal People Caring for Aboriginal Children. Produced by Aboriginal and Islander Congress of W.A.