draft preamble

 

The Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human residents of the continent of Australia and its nearby islands. This is the Aboriginal people and also the Torres Strait Islanders which together make about 2.4% of Australia’s modern population. I think that they should have a better lifestyle than they have now since they are the real owners of this land that we live in.

 

The earliest human remains of an Aboriginal to date are that of a Mungo Man which has been dated to around 40,000 years old. There has been an estimation of that there were at LEAST 315,000 Aborigines living in Australia before the Europeans invaded Australia. The Europeans invaded during the year 1788 and that is just over 220 years ago. The Aborigines have been here for over 40,000 years. That proves that they are really the first human beings that lived in Australia. Since they are the first human beings to actually live in Australia, doesn’t that mean that they should get more rights and privileges?

 

In education, an indigenous students leave school earlier and they also live with a lower standard of education. This is when they are compared to their non-indigenous peers. There has been a major gain in the years 1994 and 2004 with the participation in education. But, their numbers are still lower than those of non-indigenous Australians.

• Only 39% of the indigenous Australians stay in school all the way to year 12 compared with 75% of the whole population.

• Only 4% of Indigenous Australians held a bachelor degree or higher. This being compared with 21% of the population as a whole. Even though this rate is increasing, it is still slower than non-Indigenous Australians.

  All this might be happening because some Aboriginal families are living in the middle of no where and they have no rides to get to their place of education. Some of them might be in that situation or just plain don’t want to go to school. The government should get more facilities built for these Aboriginal families so that travel to school is less demanding for them and that it is easier. If the parents don’t want that for their kids well, that’s their problem.

   

  An Indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than a non-indigenous Australian. In June 2004, 21% of prisoners in the Australian society were Indigenous. There is a lot of violent crime, including domestic and sexual abuse within the separate Aboriginal communities. Indigenous aboriginals are also twice more likely to become a victim of violence than a non-indigenous Australian. As evidence 24% of Indigenous Australians were reported as being a victim of violence in 2001.

 

CST / IST 3 / 4

Group Criteria

 

Demonstrate Leadership

Can be any race or culture

Must be inspirational

Strong religious beliefs

Actions must stand out from others

Good communicator with good people skills

Must have the qualities of St Marcellin Champagnat and Jesus Himself

Must be older than 18

Self motivated and able to motivate others

Modest about his/her actions

Role model to local, national and/or international communities

Be sacramental to the Christian community

 

Might be involved in a national and/or peoples freedom movement

Might be involved in a Marist community in some way

Might belong to a religious order