Everyone has a cultural identity and understanding the diverse cultural identities in Australia is an essential element of achieving reconciliation.
This chapter will introduce the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups in Australia and consider how these cultural identities make Australia a unique country.
One of the biggest myths about Aboriginality is that if you have fair skin you can’t be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
You’ve got to be black to be ‘a real’ Aboriginal – or that Aboriginality is attributed to the degree of ancestry, such as ‘she is 1/8th Aboriginal’.
Who is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander?
You might meet a person who says they’re Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander but you’re doubtful because they don’t look the way you think Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should look.
Pride in Australia’s Indigenous history and culture has not always been the case.
At Federation in 1901, the rights of citizenship were not extended to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.