Aborigines news stories on Newser

PM Loses Shoe in Australia Day Protest

Kate Schwartz — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:42:29 CST

It sounds perfectly routine: Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott appeared at a restaurant in Canberra today—which just so happens to be Australia Day—to preside over an awards ceremony. What it turned into was an ugly mess, as some 200 supporters of indigenous rights...

Australia's Aborigines in Cycle of Poverty, Jail

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:28:42 CDT

For Australian Aborigines, life in the Outback has grown so bleak, jail is not only more appealing, it has nearly become a rite of passage for teens. A parliamentary report last week called the worsening situation a national crisis, noting the imprisonment rate for indigenous Australians has soared 66% in...

Aussies to Vote on Recognizing Aborigines

Rob Quinn — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:05:09 CST

Australia is planning a referendum on whether to officially recognize indigenous people in the country's constitution for the first time. Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the move as a "once-in-50-year opportunity" to heal the government's relationship with Aborigines and improve their living conditions, the BBC reports.

UN Calls Aussie Aboriginal Policies Racist

Kevin Spak — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:27:44 CDT

Australia’s interventions in remote Aboriginal communities “overtly discriminate” against them, and prove that entrenched racism remains in Australia, a UN official said today. In 2007, Australia sent police and troops to aboriginal lands, and instituted special bans on alcohol and pornography. These measures "infringe their right of self-determination and stigmatize...

Aussie Bursts Into Flames After Police Taser Blast

Rob Quinn — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:27:20 CDT

An Australian man has been hospitalized with burns over 20% of his body after he burst into flames when Tasered by police, reports the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Police say they had no choice but to use the stun gun on the man—a known gas-sniffer and violent offender—when...

Drowning in Alcohol, Aborigines Split Over Booze Ban

Matt Cantor — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:09:20 CDT

As the Australian government cracks down on alcohol in Aboriginal areas, some communities are taking matters into their own hands, instituting local restrictions on booze, the New York Times reports. Some indigenous leaders see alcohol as a blight on their communities, fueling child abuse and domestic violence. But others see...

Aussie 'Tough Love' Upends Aboriginal Society

Rob Quinn — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:15:02 CST

Australia's controversial "tough love" program is toppling the Aborigines' traditional social structure, the Wall Street Journal reports. The government's effort to tackle rampant violence, child abuse, and alcoholism among Aborigines by banning alcohol sales and supplying welfare payments in credit for food and other essentials instead of cash has enraged...

Children Can Count Without Numbers

Katherine Thompson — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:30:01 CDT

A study sure to fan a fiery disagreement among developmental psychologists has found that children can count objects even if their language lacks words for the numbers involved. Researchers found that Australian Aboriginal children, who know words for only a few small numbers, did just as well as English-speaking children...

In Aussie Outback, It's All in 'Skin' Name

Laurel Jorgensen — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:03:37 CDT

When she moved to the central Australian outback, Penny Bergen was ready for a drastically different life, but she didn’t know it would take a new name to stake her place in a tiny Aboriginal community. Reporting for Radio Free Netherlands, the journalist writes about her experience getting a “skin...