Bringing them home education module
Glossary
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Adoption
When a child is legally taken into the
permanent care of individual(s) other than the biological parent/s.
Alienation
Alienation (from one's land) is loss of
property ownership rights through transfer of those rights from one person or
group to another person or group.
Apartheid
This term
comes from South Africa and literally means 'apartness' in the Afrikaans
language. It refers to the country's former policy of political, economic and
social segregation and discrimination on the grounds of race, and means any such
segregation and/or discrimination in broad political, economic and/or social
contexts.
Assimilation
IN 1937, the Commonwealth
government held a national conference on Aboriginal affairs which agreed that
Aboriginal people not "of full blood" should be absorbed into the wider
population. The aim of assimilation was that the "Aboriginal problem" would
ultimately disappear - that Aboriginal people would lose their identity in the
wider community.
Breach
A breach occurs if a legal
obligation is broken or not fulfilled.
British Select
Committee
A committee established by the British Government in 1837
after the massacres of local people in several British colonies. The Committee
was asked to conduct an inquiry into the treatment of Indigenous people in the
colonies, including Australia.
Colonialism or Colonisation
Establishment of a colony or colonies in a country or area.
Colonisation dispossessed Indigenous people of their traditional lands.
In Australia, colonisation began with the First Fleet's arrival from
Britain in 1788, and progressed over time with settlements in different states.
Custody
Guardianship or protective care over someone. It
can refer to a person who has legal responsibility for a child.
Customary law - international context
A long established
tradition or practice becomes customary law if it is consistently and regularly
observed. Customary law is one of the main sources of international law.
Foster care
The upbringing of children who are believed to
be without parental support or protection. Foster care can be in a private home
or a public institution. Foster care is different from adoption as the foster
parent(s) do not have legal custody over the child.
Full-blood
A race based term which referred to Indigenous
people whose parents were of Indigenous, 'unmixed' ancestry. It is a part of the
language of assimilation.
Half-caste
A race-based term
that classified Indigenous people of mixed Indigenous and European descent.
'Half-caste' people were defined as those Indigenous people who had one
Indigenous parent. Now accepted as an offensive term and no longer used to refer
to Aborigines in official records.
Imperialism
Imperialism refers to a policy of acquiring dependent territories
and enforcing its rule over those territories, leading to the formation of an
empire. The laws of the imperial nation are introduced throughout its empire.
The laws are enforced locally through agents of the empire appointed to or
located in the acquired territory.
England was a major imperial nation
and formal control of its colonies in Australia continued until the end of the
19th Century.
Indigenous customary law
Customary law is
an integral and central part of Indigenous culture and identity. Indigenous
peoples are bound by customary systems of legal, social and religious rules and
obligations which order relationships between themselves and with their land.
Indigenous customary laws may not be written down but are laws with wide
acceptance in Indigenous communities.
Industrial
schools
Industrial schools were places where Indigenous children were
often sent once they had been removed from their families, to be trained so they
could be placed in apprenticeships or employment.
Children attended
classes if they were young and worked in industrial schools if they were older.
Girls generally did laundry and domestic work while boys mostly did farm work.
Legal guardian
When a person, is not capable of managing
themselves independently, they are cared for by a guardian (according to the
law). A guardian can be a parent, or someone appointed by the courts. The
guardian has custody of the person, and makes decisions on their behalf.
At various times the Chief Protectors of Aborigines were the legal
guardians of Indigenous children in Australia.
Mandatory
sentencing
Mandatory sentencing laws were introduced in Western
Australia and the Northern Territory in 1996 and 1997 respectively. These laws
require courts to impose minimum sentences of detention or imprisonment for
people convicted of certain offences, removing discretion for sentencing from
the courts.
Martial law
This refers to law that operates
under military rule. It can refer to military control over all civilian
activities in a declared war zone. It can also refer to a situation where a
country's existing laws are suspended and a military government takes control.
Mission
A term loosely used to refer to reserves,
government stations and Christian institutions where Aborigines were placed.
Many of the "missions" were established and run by missionaries and were used to
restrict the movements of Aborigines. In most states, missions were regulated by
State Governments after Aborigines Protection Boards were set up.
Mixed-descent
A term that was used to describe people who
have both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ancestry.
Native
title
Native title is the recognition in Australian law that
Indigenous people had a system of law and ownership of their lands before
European settlement. It was first recognised in common law in the Mabo case
(1992) by the High Court, which overturned the idea of terra nullius (that the
continent belonged to no-one at the time of European arrival). The native title
of a particular group depends on the law and customs of those people.
Octoroon
A race based term used to classify Indigenous
people of mixed descent. According to this logic, an 'octoroon' has seven white
great-grandparents out of eight. They are described as being one-eighth
Indigenous.
Protectionism
This involved a range of
practices and beliefs about how Indigenous people should be 'managed' by
governments and their institutions from the 1850s to the mid 1900s.
Different State and Territory laws established protection boards and
native affairs departments which managed the protection/segregation of a
considerable number of Indigenous people.
Protectors
The
Protectors in each state administered government protection policies. They had
wide ranging powers, including giving permission to marry, control over
movements to and from reserves, social contact between Indigenous people and the
removal of Indigenous children from their families.
Quadroon
A race based term that was used to classify
Indigenous people of mixed descent. It referred to children who had a
'full-blood' Indigenous person as one of their four grandparents. They were
described as being 'one-quarter Aboriginal'.
Reconciliation
process
The decade-long process, which began in 1991 when the federal
Parliament created the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. The process aimed
to increase understanding of Indigenous history, cultures, past dispossession
and present disadvantage in the lead-up to the Centenary of Federation, 2001).
The 25-member council included 12 Aboriginal people, two Torres Strait
islanders and 11 other Australians. The Council presented its report in December
2000. The Report, Australia's challenge put forward a range of recommendations
to government to address the 'unfinished business' of reconciliation. At the
completion of the ten years, and after delivery of its report, the Council was
replaced by Reconciliation Australia, a foundation established to continue the
Council's work.
Regulations
The legal rules by which a
policy is carried out. Regulations can be changed, for example through a change
in parliamentary legislation.
Reparations
The process of
making amends and compensating for wrongs which have been done. According to
international legal principles, known as the van Boven principles, reparation
has five parts:
- acknowledgment and apology;
- guarantees that these human rights won't be breached again;
- returning what has been lost as much as possible (known as restitution);
- rehabilitation; and
- monetary compensation.
Royal Commission
A
person or group of people who are appointed by government to investigate an
issue that is of major concern to the general public. A Royal Commission has
specific and wide-ranging powers and well-defined terms of reference which
determine the extent of its investigation. A Royal Commission can compel
witnesses to give evidence. It reports to parliament on its findings and makes
recommendations.
Segregation
The policy and practice of
separating Indigenous peoples from non-Indigenous peoples. This was usually
brought about by the creation of reserves and missions for the exclusive use of
Indigenous people. Segregation has been associated historically with
protectionism.
Self-determination
Self-determination is
the right of all people to "freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development" (article 1 on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
Self-management
The recognition of Indigenous people's
right to manage their own affairs with sufficient control over land and natural
resources to preserve the cultures of Indigenous groups.
Separatism
A system where different laws and regulations
apply for different racial groups. In Australia's context Indigenous people have
had a different set of laws applied to them from those applied to non-Indigenous
people.
State Ward
A child who is declared to be under the
care of the State (government). A court order can declare that a child is to be
made a ward of the state.
Stolen generations
The term
"stolen generations" was coined by the Canberra-based historian Peter Read.
Through his research Read became aware of the large number of Indigenous
children removed from their familles and communities through much of the
twentieth century, many in ways which could only be described as stolen or
kidnapped. Upon the release of the National Inquiry Report the media coined the
term to describe the Indigenous people and others who told their stories to the
Inquiry.
The Report does not use this term but rather uses "forcible
removal policies" to identify the authority under which children were removed
illegally or through "compulsion, duress or undue influence".
Terms
of reference
Terms of reference is a set of key statements or
questions which outline the scope of a formal inquiry or investigation and
indicate what the inquiry is required to investigate and report upon.
Terra nullius
This is a Latin term meaning 'not inhabited'
or 'empty land'. It is a term which became important during the period of
intense colonisation in the 19th century.
Under old international law, a
new colony could be formed if:
- a treaty was made with the original inhabitants (New Zealand)
- the land was gained through conquest (Canada)
- there were no inhabitants (Australia)
In 1992 the Australian
High Court recognised that Indigenous native title rights had survived the
British colonisation of Australia.
Title
The legal right
to ownership of property.
Treaty
A treaty is a formal
agreement between two or more parties who seek to have their relationship with
each other clearly defined.
