Essay and Professional Reflection

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Anthropology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Essay and Professional Reflection Introduction: Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people have faced many challenges since the beginning of Australia’s colonial history, from the upheaval and removal of Indigenous people from their ancestral lands to the Aboriginal children displaced from the various acts and legislations associated with the Stolen Generations. In more modern and contemporary times, Aboriginal people endure largely different but still difficult hardships that prevent them from living safe, peaceful, fulfilling lives. In this essay, I will be answering the question of “how have Aboriginal people demonstrated their resilience and survival in responding to these issues?” Chief among the issues Aboriginal people face today are barriers in education and employment. Many organisations and government bodies have been set up to aid in the reconciliation and betterment of all Indigenous people. The organisation that I will be focusing today will be the Women’s Business Second Chance Hub located in Rooty Hill. As an engineer, I will be exploring ideas and concepts that could be used in my area of study which can be used to improve the Aboriginal community in Australia. Before we can discuss these problems and the organisations aimed at fixing them, it is important that we define key terms that will be used throughout this essay. Definitions: Firstly, we must define what is meant by reconciliation and what it means for Indigenous people. From the Reconciliation Australia website, reconciliation is defined as “ strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians” (Reconciliation Australia, 2022). This is characterized by five dimensions of reconciliation which includes improving race relations between Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people and non-Aboriginal Australians, providing equality and equity in all life opportunities, implementing institutional support on a governmental level, incorporating Aboriginal culture as part of Australia’s national identity, and recognizing the history of wrongful treatment of Indigenous people and the impact that has had on the Aboriginal community to this day. Another key term that must be defined is resilience. Resilience and its relation to Indigenous people can be defined as the ability for an individual or community to adapt to adverse, hostile conditions. This is particularly relevant to the Indigenous community as many Aboriginal people were forced to modify, change, or otherwise hide their culture in the face of oppression while still maintaining their heritage and ancestral beliefs. Systemic issue is another key term that must be defined as throughout Aboriginal people’s history with non-Indigenous people, there has always been systemic issues. Systemic issues are issues that are present throughout an entire system, affecting one or multiple groups of people. A core part of the systemic issues related to Aboriginal people is racism via treating Indigenous people with inequality and prejudice. These are the three key terms that will be used to discuss the issues faced in the Aboriginal community.

Education: A key indicator on success in life, whether that is defined as financial security or individual wellbeing and happiness, is access to education. In NSW, only 46% of Aboriginal students attain their HSC compared to 76% of non-Aboriginal students (NSW Government, 2019). Aboriginal students graduate high school at a disproportionately lower rate than that of non-Aboriginal students meaning that life opportunities such as finding a high-income job to support themselves and their families is much more difficult for Indigenous people who have not received a high-school education let alone a university degree. This shows the positive correlation between access to education and likelihood of finding a job (NSC, 2021). Access to education also benefits future generations as children with educated parents are more likely succeed in schooling (Danielle Evans, Darya Gaysina, Andy P. Field, 2020) which further strengthens the link between education and leading a successful life. This gap in education is subsequently linked to the systemic issue Aboriginal people face in our modern education system. Australia’s education system is tailored towards the Western style of learning which is often incompatible with the culture of learning that young Aboriginal children grew up with. This is compounded by the earlier mentioned links between education and success, as Aboriginal people who are unlikely to have access to education are unable to foster a successful environment for their children, creating a negative feedback loop that can significantly impact their community. To create learning environments in our education system that will allow Aboriginal students to thrive and learn on their terms, it is important for schools to build relationships between the students and teachers. One way to accomplish this will be for schools to hire Aboriginal teachers who speak the student’s home language so that the student will foster a positive connection between their culture and the education system (Marnee Shay and Rhonda Oliver, 2021). Students are more likely to attend school and participate if their spoken language is used, further increasing the likelihood for Aboriginal students to continue their education career and attain their HSC and thus being able to graduate with a higher chance of finding a job to better their lives. Implementing educational reforms and changing the institutes that benefit non-Aboriginal students so that it can also benefit the more vulnerable and poorly educated demographic of Aboriginal youth is key in solving this systemic issue. Many rural schools located across Australia have implemented this style of teaching and suburban areas with Aboriginal communities in Sydney can benefit from this change. These changes would also touch on some of the key characterisations of reconciliation by incorporating Aboriginal culture in our schooling system, creating institutional support via educational reforms that benefit Aboriginal students, and by allowing Aboriginal people the right to equal education.

Employment: As discussed earlier, finding a job and earning a wage is important for Aboriginal people as they are able to be more successful in life. This gives them the opportunity to thrive and share their culture to their children and thus creating a more resilient community. The Women’s Business Second Chance Hub (WBSCH) is a program located in Western Sydney’s Rooty Hill. It aims to uplift Aboriginal women who are at risk of being left behind in terms of education, entrepreneurship, and employment. WBSCH provides educational and vocational training so that Aboriginal women in the Western Sydney area have the equal opportunity to find employment or create small businesses (Real Futures, 2020). Employment rates for Aboriginal women compared to Aboriginal men is much lower, at 45% and 54% respectively (AIHW, 2021) so this program will benefit the demographic most vulnerable in the Aboriginal community. This program utilizes educational and vocational training to provide Aboriginal women the tools and skills needed to find high earning jobs and a chance of creating small businesses which can further improve their local Aboriginal community. Small businesses account for 57% of job growth in Australia (Geoff Gilfillan, 2020), meaning that Aboriginal owned and lead small businesses can create more jobs for the Aboriginal community, helping disadvantaged Aboriginal people find employment. Community lead programs such as WBSCH is crucial in helping the Aboriginal community in Sydney as unemployment is a serious problem for young Aboriginal people. The risks associated with unemployment could create cascading effects on the Aboriginal community as the likelihood of falling below the poverty line is a real and imminent threat for many Aboriginal people. It is the duty of the local community, governments, and companies to provide employment and business opportunities for Aboriginal people. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission , creating “targeted recruitment strategies” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people can be used to close the employment gap between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people, which is sitting at 47.5% and 75.6% respectively (AHRC, 2015).

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Professional Reflection: Reconciliation strategies to bridge the educational and employment divide between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people as an engineer is a difficult task. Engineers have the social and ethical responsibility to uplift and better society (Engineers Australia, 2022) and as such, engineers should create solutions that will benefit the Aboriginal community. These solutions will be mostly focused on the business aspect of the engineering industry rather than the creation and implementation of new industrial processes or technology. As mentioned earlier, the Australian Human Rights Commission has outlined ways for employers such as companies in the engineering industry to hire more Aboriginal people in their workforce which will decrease the rate of unemployment. As I progress through my professional engineering career, I will have the chance to introduce programs and positions for aspiring young Aboriginal engineers. This can be accomplished with the help of groups and organisations such as the Indigenous Engineers Group (IEG) which aims to provide resources and networking opportunities for Indigenous engineers. Working closely with IEG will allow engineers like myself who are already in the engineering industry to create jobs for the Aboriginal community. Reserving positions for Indigenous people, creating rotational internships or work placement programs catered towards Aboriginal students, and implementing civil or industrial projects in the Aboriginal community are ways that I can directly support and help Indigenous people studying engineering and looking for work and experience. Another way for me to help reconciliation is to educate young Aboriginal students by providing them with resources early on in their life so that they can foster an interest and passion for engineering. Like mentioned earlier about the importance of education, educating Aboriginal students about the engineering field so that they grow up to become professional engineers can set them up for life. As similar to what the Women’s Business Second Chance Hub aims to do, it can create more job opportunities in the Aboriginal community via the creation of Aboriginal businesses or start-ups.

Conclusion: As discussed in this essay, the Indigenous community has weathered many challenges throughout Australia’s complicated and brutal history towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people. The Aboriginal community remains resilient in the face of overwhelming challenges and they have learnt to adapt to the reality of the modern world. As seen by community driven programs such as the Women’s Business Second Chance Hub and professional organisations such as the Indigenous Engineers Group, the Aboriginal community has forged a strong, capable community here in Sydney. Modern Australia may no longer hold the institutional racism it once did in the past, but the scars left by its colonial history still has far reaching impacts on the Aboriginal community to this day. These systemic issues that Aboriginal people face on a daily basis include lack of access to education and employment, which contributes to the lower levels of education and thus higher unemployment rate among the Aboriginal community. These factors feed into the systemic issues, creating barriers for Indigenous people that would otherwise not significantly impact the non-Indigenous demographic. This essay has explored these concepts and analysed the two major factors that Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people face when dealing with the pressure of maintaining and preserving their culture, traditions, and heritage.

References: Reconciliation Australia, 2022 https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/what-is-reconciliation/ NSW Government, 2019 https://www.nsw.gov.au/premiers-priorities/increasing-number-of-aboriginal-young-people- reaching-their-learning-potential Danielle Evans, Darya Gaysina, Andy P. Field, 2020 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191433 NSC, 2021 https://www.nationalskillscommission.gov.au/reports/australian-jobs-2021/jobs-and- training/education-and-employment Marnee Shay and Rhonda Oliver, 2021 Indigenous Education in Australia : Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures Real Futures, 2020 https://realfutures.net/2020/08/womens_business_second_chance_hub_launch/ AIHW, 2021 https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/indigenous-employment Geoff Gilfillan, 2020 https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pub s/rp/rp1920/SmallBusinessSectorAustralianEconomy AHRC, 2015 https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC_Targeted_recruitment_ ATSI_people_guideline2015.pdf Engineers Australia, 2022 https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2022-08/code-ethics-guidelines- professional-conduct-2022.pdf

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