Krishang Nair, ‘25, is a Behavioral Economics major studying at UNSW Sydney this Fall 2023.
Just a couple of days ago I got back from a week-long trip down the east coast of Australia. I had traveled with a few friends who were also on exchange at UNSW, and since we were all leaving soon, we wanted to make the most of our last few weeks.
We started off the trip by flying over to Cairns, in Queensland. Now some of you may know exactly where Cairns is, but for those of you who don’t, it is right next to The Great Barrier Reef. This was super exciting to me, especially as a Finding Nemo stan, traveling to the Reef was a bucket list experience. Then, for the first time during my time in Australia, I saw the majority of the population in the town were Aboriginals, the Indigenous Australians, akin to the Native Americans in North America.
Being around so many of them and observing the way they were living brought about several questions for me. Like why didn’t I see any in Sydney despite spending 3 months there already, were they being treated with respect within society? These and other questions were hard to answer with the limited knowledge I possessed, but a little research helped shine a light on some facts.
The Aboriginals used to be found all around Australia, however, a large genocide killed nearly 65,000 Aboriginals in about 400 massacres collectively. Those that were left were relegated to the north of Australia in cities like Darwin, Cairns, and others, particularly in the state of Queensland (The top right chunk of Australia).
While the mass killing of the Aboriginals has ceased, they have not held any positions of power in the Australian government, and due to them still following tribal law, those who break the rules of the tribe are banished. Those who are banished usually turn to drugs or alcohol, which is why there is a large population of homeless Aboriginals in the Northeast of Australia.
The country of Australia is known to be a racist one, and though I disagree when it comes to cities like Sydney that celebrate diversity, it definitely rings true the further you go into the Outback. The cowboys out there are openly racist against people of color, specifically, Aboriginals. However in big cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, and particularly cities in Queensland, whenever anything we are about to see was once owned by the Aboriginals, it is prefaced by this statement: “We’d like to start by paying our respect to elders past, present, and emerging.” The elders they are referring to are the Indigenous Australians, and there is a level of respect that is given, despite it not being nearly enough help to the people who once owned this land.
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