Australia’s Tempestuous Past

What Lessons world can learn from Australian experience?

Australia as a nation has had a tempestuous past with the British dethroning the indigenous people and ruling the country at their will. Many incidences from the past show that Australia as a nation has struggled to find its collective identity. Australia was initially a haven for the British prisoners who were skilled in some works and transported due to overcrowding. With time, the free settlers and convicts began to over populate the indigenous Australians and the country soon turned into a colony of the British. However, unlike other colonized nations, Australian original inhabitants never achieved independence and they had to adjust into the new system (Rutland 2015).

The essay analyzes Australia’s history, its culture and tradition and the way rest of the world came to conceptualize it. In addition, the essay also tries to present an analysis of the cultural fusion witnessed in the country. Australia is a nation that inhabits people from different cultural backgrounds. Once hostile nation, Australia endeavored to transform its image through various policies.

The Australian history

The period between 1788 and 1850 documents the arrival of early British settlers who entered the land down under through sea. The colonization commenced after the first fleet arrived carrying British prisoners at Sidney and New South Wales. The time from then on began to change for the indigenous people. Known as Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, the indigenous people condemned the arrival of the British colonizers (McGregor 2016). They viewed them as a threat to their culture and way of living. The British colonizers that comprised mostly of convicts and free settlers gradually began to unsettle the original inhabitants. The Aboriginal people showed resistance to the British settlers when they viewed that the colonizers were capturing their farming land and other properties.  The resistance however, did not last long as the British managed to crush them through force and strategy. In addition to that, the Aboriginal people were also harmed by the infectious diseases imported by the European settlers. Measles, smallpox, influenza, and other diseases spread across the entire Aboriginal population and destroyed them both physically and morally.

The period after 1850 witnessed the gradual dominance of the European settlers and the surrender of the indigenous people. The Australian democracy developed by the middle of the 19^th century. In the later period, Australia saw a complete transformation with indigenous population being out of the picture. Fighting wars for the British to facing the Great Depression, Australia went through great turmoil throughout the 19^th century. The beginning of the 20^th century witnessed increased unrest amongst Australians to free themselves from the British rule. In the later years however, Australia achieved full sovereignty when the Australia Act of 1986 was passed (Australia.gov.au 2018). The late 20^th century also witnessed the resurgence of the Aboriginal protest to claim their rightful representation in the constitution. In addition, the Aboriginal population witnessed the separation of children from their families owing to the ruthless policy of the Australian government. Nonetheless, all these factors contributed to the creation of a nation that Australia is today but the Aboriginal representation remains a topic of debate.

Australia’s Historical Struggle for Independence

Australian Culture

The Australian culture is a unique mixture of the Western and the indigenous culture. Mostly derived from the British, the culture is diversified by the input of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In addition, the migration of other cultures into the Australian territory further diversified the country’s culture. However, this diverse was not readily accepted by the greater population and incidences of racism began to occur more frequently. Walker (2012) wrote about the Australian way of life and its link with the ‘other’. By ‘other’, the author meant the Asian continent. Many a times, comments the author, Australia has been viewed from the perspective of Asia with close similarities being witnessed between the two continents. It was believed that events happening in Asia would have an effect on Australia as well. Many have also criticized Australians for having little or no knowledge about the outside world and culture. This notion although true to some extent, has been averted largely by the continuous efforts of the people.  

In the past, the Australian continent was dominated by more than 500 clans or groups with varied cultural beliefs and traditions. They displayed vibrant cultural traditions that were over shadowed with the arrival of the European settlers. Today, the indigenous represent a mere 2.4 percent of the total population thus weakening the cultural base (Australia.gov.au 2018). However, Australia is still regarded as one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the world. Rutland (2015) gives a different and scary picture of Australia in regards to its multicultural stance. The author states that the hostility of Australians towards non-whites and indigenous people exposes the dreadful scenario of the country where it has become difficult for other ethnic people to stay.

Ozdowski (2013) countered this statement arguing that the Australia today is an altogether different nation than it was some decades ago. The author puts forward the argument that every nation goes through a bad phase and so did Australia. The point to focus, according to the author is the way the country stood up against it. Campaigns like Face Up to Racism convey that Australia is not only about racism and resentment; it is also about standing up for the justice (News.com.au 2018).

Conceptions about Australia

Australia is conceived by many as a racial country with abundant cases of racial attacks and discrimination in the recent past. Many incidents suggest that a large part of the Australian population have an aggressive mindset that abhors people of other culture.  The recent past has seen an increased attack on South Asian residents that portrayed a dangerous picture of Australia in the world (Aquino 2017). Apart from the conception of Australia as a racial nation, others perceive it in a positive manner as well. It has been documented by many travelers that Australians warmly welcome their visitors. Many people had a notion that Australians were hostile to strangers and that they targeted them. The Australian way of life has also impressed many outsiders who come to travel in this part of the world (Boese and Marotta 2017). Apart from that, the Australian wildlife has always enchanted the world. All these factors lead to the belief that although Australia had a negative image in most countries, its positivity could overshadow those.

Cultural Fusion in Australia

Viewing Australia from the political perspective, a majority of countries perceive it an unstable nation. This stems from the fact that Australia failed to bring together a government that was able to settle the unrest. In the last decade, the country saw five prime ministers being sworn which is not a positive sign at all, for any nation (Theguardian.com 2018). The reason for such a sad state of affairs, believe many, is the failure of the representatives to earn public trust in matters of social and economic policies. This has portrayed a negative picture of the country in the world and additionally worked as a lesson from which others can learn (Theconversation.com 2018).

Lessons world can learn

Everything about Australia presents itself as a lesson that other nations can learn, be it good or bad. Starting from the initial years of colonial struggle, the resistance of Aboriginal people, the attainment of complete sovereignty and the struggle to come out of the identity crisis, Australia has experienced everything. This long struggling and fascinating experience of the country sets an example for the world to follow the positive and un-follow the negatives.

Australia’s history puts forth numerous incidences from which the world can learn many lessons. First, the Aboriginal struggle for independence from the clutches of the European settlers that taught the world the true spirit of nationhood. The resistance shown by Aboriginal people to the British colonials is something that has inspired many to stand up for what is right and justified. According to Veracini (2013), the protest against the British rule started by the original inhabitants of Australia portrayed the essence of the land down under. The authors further state that although modern Australia was created by the European ancestors, but the true Australian essence still relies with original inhabitants.

Muir (2014) however argues that Australia has forgotten its original inhabitants and this is evident from the fact that there is hardly any representation of indigenous in the higher ranks of the government. Barring a few representatives, there is a scarcity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates and diplomats in the Australian bureaucracy. It is often stated and argued that most South Asian nations practice such discriminations. The world thus needs to learn and understand from the Australian example that Western world encourages discrimination as well.

After the creation of the six colonies during the latter half of the 19^th century, the need and struggle for an identity intimate to Australia began to rise. Although there was a growing demand for a true Australian identity, most Australians were still loyal to Britain. In fact, many believed that they belonged to the land of the British and considered Australia as a foreign land. This brought to light the influence of the British in world politics.

Racism in Australia

In the field of education however, Australia witnessed a spurge of internationals students wanting to come to the country for higher education (Marginson 2015). This is largely because of the innovative policies framed by the educational experts who have contributed to Australia being at the center of international education in the present day. Harmon (2015) mentions that the increased efforts by the government of Australia to support internationalization of Australian educational institution have yielded positive results. This is a lesson the world can learn from Australia especially the developing nations have a lot to learn from this example.

Conclusion

To conclude, it needs to be stated that the world has both positive and negative things to learn from the Australian experience. The long history of the country has in itself, abundant episodes and lessons that are culturally enriching as well as scary. Australia boasts of ethnic diversity and at the same time, it has been designated as a racist country by many. However, there were times when Australia proved the world wrong and stood valiantly against racism. The essay has presented a systematic analysis of the Australian history, its culture and the way the world perceives it. In addition, the essay has also focused on the things the world can learn from the Australian experience. The essay has elaborated the Aboriginal Australian way of life and the community’s struggle to find a place that was belonged to it. Further, the essay accounts the political instability of the country and the manner in which it has been portrayed by world media.

References:

Aquino, K., 2017. Racism and Resistance among the Filipino Diaspora: Everyday Anti-racism in Australia. Routledge.

Australia.gov.au (2018). Our people | australia.gov.au. [online] Australia.gov.au. Available at: https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].

Boese, M. and Marotta, V. eds., 2017. Critical Reflections on Migration,‘Race’and Multiculturalism: Australia in a Global Context. Taylor & Francis.

Harmon, G., 2015. Australia as an higher education exporter. International Higher Education, (42).

Marginson, S., 2015. Is Australia overdependent on international students?. International Higher Education, (54).

McGregor, R., 2016. Environment, Race and Nationhood in Australia. Palgrave Macmillan.

Muir, S., 2014. Real people: authenticity and Aboriginality in the Australian holistic milieu. Ethnos, 79(4), pp.473-495.

News.com.au (2018). Racist attack leaves Sydney woman bloodied. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/chinese-woman-subjected-to-severe-racial-attack-in-burwood-sydney/news-story/9f7cbf64cbaf38c028e6bc3584096b33 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].

Ozdowski, S., 2013. Australian multiculturalism. The roots of its success. Promoting changes in times of transition and crisis: Reflections on human rights education. Krakow: Ksiegarnia Akademicka. Retrieved from: https://? www.? akademicka.? pl.

Rutland, S.D., 2015. Genocide or Holocaust Education: Exploring Different Australian Approaches for Muslim School Children. In As the Witnesses Fall Silent: 21st Century Holocaust Education in Curriculum, Policy and Practice (pp. 225-241). Springer International Publishing.

Theconversation.com (2018). Views from abroad: how does the world see Australia’s political instability?. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/views-from-abroad-how-does-the-world-see-australias-political-instability-61982 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].

Theguardian.com (2018). There are lessons to learn from a decade of political instability | Peter Lewis. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2017/nov/28/there-are-lessons-to-learn-from-a-decade-of-political-instability [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].

Veracini, L., 2013. ‘Settler colonialism’: Career of a concept. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 41(2), pp.313-333.

Walker, D., 2012. Anxious nation: Australia and the rise of Asia 1850-1939. Anxious Nation: Australia and the rise of Asia 1850-1939, p.xv.