101-519: The Guŋgañji , also transcribed Gungganyji , Gunggandji , Kongkandji , and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland . The Guŋgañji speak Gungay, a dialect of the Yidiny language . Norman Tindale 's estimate of Guŋgañji lands sets them at 390 square kilometres (150 sq mi). They are rainforest people, living around the Cape Grafton peninsula , west of
202-587: A Holocene hunter-gatherer sample ("Leang Panninge") from South Sulawesi , which shares high amounts of genetic drift with Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. This suggests that a population split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. The sample also shows genetic affinity with East Asians and the Andamanese people of South Asia. The authors note that this hunter-gatherer sample can be modelled with ~50% Papuan-related ancestry and either with ~50% East Asian or Andamanese Onge ancestry, highlighting
303-484: A 10-year program aimed at improving the health of Indigenous and Torres Strait Island. Specific types of cancer including lung and cervical cancer occurs to 52% of indigenous women due to their smoking habit. In 2010, the rate of high or very high levels of psychological distress for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults was more than twice that of non-Indigenous Australians. A 2007 study in The Lancet found that
404-650: A combination of many factors. Racial discrimination towards Indigenous peoples that stems from processes of colonialism leads to a cumulative exposure to racism , and this is related to negative health outcomes. It produces feelings of anger and shame, which limits active participation in the mainstream healthcare system and society at large. The outstation movement of the 1970s and 1980s, when Aboriginal people moved to tiny remote settlements on traditional land, brought health benefits, but funding them proved expensive, training and employment opportunities were not provided in many cases, and support from governments dwindled in
505-593: A gene flow from India to Australia: firstly, signs of South Asian components in Aboriginal Australian genomes, reported on the basis of genome-wide SNP data; and secondly, the existence of a Y chromosome (male) lineage, designated haplogroup C∗, with the most recent common ancestor about 5,000 years ago. The first type of evidence comes from a 2013 study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology using large-scale genotyping data from
606-482: A higher rate than non-Indigenous Australians. In 2010–11, Indigenous Australians used hospitals 2.5 times more frequently than non-Indigenous people. This rate comes from an age-standardised separation rate (hospital check-out) of 911 per 1,000 for Indigenous people. The 2010–11 age-standardised separation rate for Indigenous people living in the NT was 1,704 per 1,000, 7.9 times the rate for non-Indigenous people. About 80% of
707-502: A higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes after pregnancy and birth. Compared with the general Australian population, Indigenous Australians develop type 2 diabetes at a younger age. The incidence rate of cancer in Indigenous Australians compared with non-Indigenous Australians has varied between 2009 and 2017 and by state, but mostly showing a higher rate at between 1.1% and 1.4% for all cancers. Lung and breast cancers were
808-731: A person as Indigenous. (Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct, despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups, and the Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status .) Some Aboriginal people object to being labelled Indigenous , as an artificial and denialist term, because some non-Aboriginal people have referred to themselves as indigenous because they were born in Australia. Australian Indigenous people have beliefs unique to each mob ( tribe ) and have
909-483: A plan to help direct Indigenous health and research investment for the next ten years. The Council of Australian Governments initiated the first multi-sector approach in regards to initiating strategies to overcome the large discrepancy between Indigenous and European health statistics. The strategy, named Closing the Gap, was launched in 2008. The plan's success was dependent on the level of collaboration between all levels of
1010-588: A pool of Aboriginal Australians, New Guineans, island Southeast Asians, and Indians. It found that the New Guinea and Mamanwa (Philippines area) groups diverged from the Aboriginal about 36,000 years ago (there is supporting evidence that these populations are descended from migrants taking an early "southern route" out of Africa, before other groups in the area). Also the Indian and Australian populations mixed long before European contact, with this gene flow occurring during
1111-615: A profound spiritual connection. Over the millennia, Aboriginal people developed complex trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, law and religions. Contemporary Aboriginal beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared through dancing , stories , songlines , and art that collectively weave an ontology of modern daily life and ancient creation known as
SECTION 10
#17328955969461212-483: A single group. Aboriginal identity has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification, and community acceptance all of varying importance. In the 2021 census , Indigenous Australians comprised 3.8% of Australia's population. Most Aboriginal people today speak English and live in cities. Some may use Aboriginal phrases and words in Australian Aboriginal English (which also has
1313-411: A spirit creates the earth then tells the humans to treat the animals and the earth in a way which is respectful to land. In Northern Territory this is commonly said to be a huge snake or snakes that weaved its way through the earth and sky making the mountains and oceans. But in other places the spirits who created the world are known as wandjina rain and water spirits. Major ancestral spirits include
1414-470: A strong connection to the land. Contemporary Indigenous Australian beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared by dancing , stories , songlines and art —especially Papunya Tula (dot painting)—collectively telling
1515-427: A tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Many but not all also speak the various traditional languages of their clans and peoples. Aboriginal people, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of severe health and economic deprivations in comparison with the wider Australian community. DNA studies have confirmed that "Aboriginal Australians are one of
1616-483: A third of the burden, with diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancers the next three leading causes. Also, Indigenous people carried a disproportionate share of the total disease burden for the state, increasing as remoteness increased. The study also highlighted the lack of data on epidemiology of many of the conditions suffered by the Indigenous population. Health problems with the highest disparity (compared with
1717-539: A widely quoted gap of 17 years between indigenous and non-indigenous life expectancy, though the ABS does not now consider the 2005 figures to be reliable. The Social Justice Report: 2005 by the Australian Human Rights Commission reported a seventeen-year gap between the life expectancy of Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. This prompted health and human rights activists to establish
1818-698: Is a social determinant of health, and social marginalisation allows for injustices against Indigenous people to persist. Political disempowerment prevented them from accessing social services, sickness benefits, and from voting until the 1960s. Socio-economic inequality has resulted in poor employment opportunities, housing, education and healthcare. One in seven Indigenous Australians reported difficulty in accessing healthcare for their children, which include transportation costs and prescription costs. Displacement and disenfranchisement prevents access to healthcare resources such as screening programs, and results in delayed or inadequate treatment. An example of this can be seen in
1919-750: Is an increase in allele sharing between the Denisovan and Aboriginal Australian genomes, compared to other Eurasians or Africans. Examining DNA from a finger bone excavated in Siberia , researchers concluded that the Denisovans migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and that they interbred with modern humans in Southeast Asia 44,000 years BP, before Australia separated from New Guinea approximately 11,700 years BP. They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians and to present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in
2020-471: Is based on the Aboriginal peoples' geographical isolation, with little or no interaction with outside cultures before some contact with Makassan fishermen and Dutch explorers up to 500 years ago. The Rasmussen study also found evidence that Aboriginal peoples carry some genes associated with the Denisovans (a species of human related to but distinct from Neanderthals ) of Asia; the study suggests that there
2121-480: Is no evidence for South Asian gene flow to Australia .... Despite Sahul being a single connected landmass until [8,000 years ago], different groups across Australia are nearly equally related to Papuans, and vice versa, and the two appear to have separated genetically already [about 30,000 years ago]." Aboriginal Australians possess inherited abilities to adapt to a wide range of environmental temperatures in various ways. A study in 1958 comparing cold adaptation in
SECTION 20
#17328955969462222-508: Is now responsible for "lead[ing] and coordinat[ing] the development and implementation of Australia's Closing the Gap targets in partnership with Indigenous Australians". In 2009, 26% of Indigenous Australians living in remote areas experienced 40% of the health gap of Indigenous Australians overall. The most common cause of hospital admissions for Indigenous Australians is for kidney dialysis treatment, as of 2014 . End-stage kidney (or renal) disease (ESKD or ESRD) and hospitalisation for
2323-467: Is one of the main factors contributing to chronic disease. Amongst Indigenous Australians 1 in 5 mortalities are caused by smoking. If the number of smoking Indigenous Australians is reduced to equal the number of non-smoking non-Indigenous individuals there is a potential decrease of 420 mortalities among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In 2010 the Australian Government have put in place
2424-453: Is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and started to self-identify as a single group, socio-politically. While some preferred the term Aborigine to Aboriginal in the past, as the latter was seen to have more directly discriminatory legal origins, use of the term Aborigine has declined in recent decades, as many consider the term an offensive and racist hangover from Australia's colonial era. The definition of
2525-497: Is that the desert people are able to have a higher body temperature without accelerating the activity of the whole of the body, which can be especially detrimental in childhood diseases. This helps protect people to survive the side-effects of infection. Aboriginal people have lived for tens of thousands of years on the continent of Australia , through its various changes in landmass. The area within Australia 's borders today includes
2626-431: Is the most common condition with females suffering at 21% and males at a lower, 12%. Many Indigenous communities suffer from a range of health, social and legal problems associated with substance abuse of both legal and illegal drugs, including but not limited to alcohol abuse , petrol sniffing , the use illegal drugs such as methamphetamines and cannabis and smoking tobacco . Tobacco use has been estimated to be
2727-470: Is viewed as a product of historical, political and social factors. European colonisers believed that Indigenous people were intellectually inferior, and education was thus denied as it was considered pointless. Low levels of education increase the likelihood of engaging in high risk health behaviours, as well as lower rates of participation in health screening and treatment. However, poor health behaviours and low utilisation of healthcare resources can be due to
2828-522: The CC BY 4.0 license. Indigenous health in Australia Indigenous health in Australia examines health and wellbeing indicators of Indigenous Australians compared with the rest of the population. Statistics indicate that Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders are much less healthy than other Australians. Various government strategies have been put into place to try to remediate
2929-486: The CSIRO stressed the importance of taking a demand-driven approach to services in desert settlements, and concluded that "if top-down solutions continue to be imposed without appreciating the fundamental drivers of settlement in desert regions, then those solutions will continue to be partial, and ineffective in the long term." [REDACTED] This article incorporates text by Anders Bergström et al. available under
3030-573: The Initial Upper Paleolithic . They are most closely related to other Oceanians , such as Melanesians . The Aboriginal Australians also show affinity to other Australasian populations, such as Negritos , as well as to East Asian peoples . Phylogenetic data suggests that an early initial eastern lineage (ENA) trifurcated somewhere in South Asia , and gave rise to Australasians (Oceanians), Ancient Ancestral South Indian (AASI), Andamanese and
3131-688: The Kimberley region in what is now Western Australia about 60,000 years ago. They migrated across the continent within 6,000 years. A 2018 study using archaeobotany dated evidence of continuous human habitation at Karnatukul (Serpent's Glen) in the Carnarvon Range in the Little Sandy Desert in WA from around 50,000 years ago. Genetic studies have revealed that Aboriginal Australians largely descended from an Eastern Eurasian population wave during
Gungganyji - Misplaced Pages Continue
3232-632: The Makassar people of modern-day Indonesia. Aboriginal Australians have a wide variety of cultural practices and beliefs that some scientists believe make up the oldest continuous cultures in the world, although this is disputed. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, the Aboriginal people consisted of complex cultural societies with more than 250 languages and varying degrees of technology and settlements. Languages (or dialects) and language-associated groups of people are connected with stretches of territory known as "Country", with which they have
3333-657: The Northern Territory to study their genetic makeup (which is not representative of all Aboriginal peoples in Australia). The study concluded that the Warlpiri are descended from ancient Asians whose DNA is still somewhat present in Southeastern Asian groups, although greatly diminished. The Warlpiri DNA lacks certain information found in modern Asian genomes, and carries information not found in other genomes. This reinforces
3434-505: The Pleistocene epoch and lived over large sections of the Australian continental shelf when the sea levels were lower. At that time, Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea were part of the same landmass, known as Sahul . As sea levels rose, the people on the Australian mainland and nearby islands became increasingly isolated, some on Tasmania and some of the smaller offshore islands when
3535-611: The Rainbow Serpent , Baiame , Dirawong and Bunjil . Similarly, the Arrernte people of central Australia believed that humanity originated from great superhuman ancestors who brought the sun, wind and rain as a result of breaking through the surface of the Earth when waking from their slumber. Taken as a whole, Aboriginal Australians, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of health and economic deprivations in comparison with
3636-549: The Stolen Generations , with this resulting in unstable parenting and family situations. Some mental health problems are attributed to the inter-generational trauma brought about by the Stolen Generations . There are known links between mental health and substance abuse . The 2019 ABS data showed that about 24% of Indigenous people, including children with 23% of males and 25% of females distribution, experienced mental health issues. The survey indicated that anxiety
3737-947: The Stolen Generations . Many of these children were neglected, abused, and denied of an education. The Australian government forced the Indigenous populations to assimilate into the colonisers' culture through schools and programs, where Indigenous languages were banned and any resistance to these practices could result in imprisonment or death. This process of acculturation has led to trauma, including historical, inter-generational, and social trauma. Issues such as anxiety, stress, grief, and sadness are produced from this trauma, which have led to higher suicide rates, violence, substance abuse and incarceration of Indigenous peoples today. Social, political and economic factors that result from colonisation present barriers to quality healthcare, health education, and health behaviours. Acculturation has produced xenophobia, which has socially marginalized Indigenous people and excluded them from society. Social inclusion
3838-487: The suicide rate among Indigenous Australians as a "catastrophic crisis": In 2015, more than 150 Indigenous people died by suicide, the highest figure ever recorded nationally and double the rate of non-Indigenous people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Additionally, Indigenous children make up one in three child suicides despite making up a minuscule percentage of the population. Moreover, in parts of
3939-665: The " Close the Gap " campaign, which focused on health equality for Indigenous Australians, including increasing life expectancy, and associated factors such as housing. In 2009, after previous methods of comparing life expectancy rates proved unreliable, a new method was developed by the ABS, based on tracing the deaths of people identified as Indigenous at the 2006 census. In 2009 the ABS estimated life expectancy at 67.2 years for Indigenous men (11.5 years fewer than for non-Indigenous) and 72.9 years for Indigenous women (9.7 years fewer than for non-Indigenous). Estimated life expectancy of Indigenous men ranged from 61.5 years for those living in
4040-571: The "greatest contributor (23%) to the gap in the disease burden between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians", with Indigenous people more than 2.5% likely to smoke daily than non-Indigenous Australians. The 2004–05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) by the ABS found that, after adjusting for age differences between the two populations, Indigenous adults were more than twice as likely as non-Indigenous adults to be current daily smokers of tobacco. NATSIHS 2004/5 found that
4141-774: The 1970s and 1980s, when Aboriginal people moved to tiny remote settlements on traditional land, brought health benefits, but funding them proved expensive, training and employment opportunities were not provided in many cases, and support from governments dwindled in the 2000s, particularly in the era of the Howard government . Indigenous communities in remote Australia are often small, isolated towns with basic facilities, on traditionally owned land . These communities have between 20 and 300 inhabitants and are often closed to outsiders for cultural reasons. The long-term viability and resilience of Aboriginal communities in desert areas has been discussed by scholars and policy-makers. A 2007 report by
Gungganyji - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-655: The 19th century. Scholars believe that most Aboriginal Australians originated from Southeast Asia. If this is the case, Aboriginal Australians were among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages. A 2017 paper in Nature evaluated artefacts in Kakadu . Its authors concluded "Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago." A 2021 study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage has mapped
4343-526: The 2000s, particularly in the era of the Howard government . Health issues cannot be separated from social and cultural factors such as racism , discrimination, cultural disconnection and lack of employment and educational opportunities. Colonisation has had an ongoing impact. Overcrowding and poor housing contributes to poor health and family dysfunction and violence . High rates of incarceration of adults and youth contribute to early death and poor mental health . Indigenous Australians go to hospital at
4444-404: The 2010 figures show a difference of 9.7 years – 72.9 years for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and 82.6 years for non-Indigenous women. Indigenous Australians are more likely to die at a younger age than their non-Indigenous counterparts due to being unhealthy. A 2013 study, referring to the national Indigenous reform policy launched in 2008, Closing the Gap (see below), looked at
4545-583: The Australian Government, Indigenous leaders/communities and the health sector. Although there was some improvement in some areas, only two out of its seven targets were met. In July 2019, at the end of the first 10-year phase of Closing the Gap, the National Indigenous Australians Agency was established in July 2019, under the Minister for Indigenous Australians , Ken Wyatt , and this agency
4646-491: The Dreaming . Studies of Aboriginal groups' genetic makeup are ongoing, but evidence suggests that they have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian but not more modern peoples. They share some similarities with Papuans , but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a very long time. They have a broadly shared, complex genetic history, but only in the last 200 years were they defined by others as, and started to self-identify as,
4747-599: The East/Southeast Asian lineage, including ancestors of the Native Americans . Papuans may have received approximately 2% of their geneflow from an earlier group (xOOA) as well, next to additional archaic admixture in the Sahul region. Aboriginal people are genetically most similar to the indigenous populations of Papua New Guinea , and more distantly related to groups from East Indonesia. They are more distinct from
4848-864: The Holocene ( c. 4,200 years ago). The researchers had two theories for this: either some Indians had contact with people in Indonesia who eventually transferred those Indian genes to Aboriginal Australians, or a group of Indians migrated from India to Australia and intermingled with the locals directly. However, a 2016 study in Current Biology by Anders Bergström et al. excluded the Y chromosome as providing evidence for recent gene flow from India into Australia. The study authors sequenced 13 Aboriginal Australian Y chromosomes using recent advances in gene sequencing technology. They investigated their divergence times from Y chromosomes in other continents, including comparing
4949-606: The Northern Territory (NT). RAHC operates by facilitating short-term placements, ranging from three to 12 weeks, while concurrently augmenting the pool of professionals equipped with the requisite skills and competencies to administer culturally sensitive care within these communities. The initiative particularly targets urban-based professionals who have previously lacked experience in remote healthcare settings. In 2021-2022, RAHC received A$ 6.4 million in funding, spending A$ 5.4 million due to less placements than anticipated during
5050-523: The Northern Territory to a high of 69.9 years for those living in New South Wales, and for Indigenous women, 69.2 years for those living in the Northern Territory to a high of 75.0 years for those living in New South Wales. As of 2010, life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men was estimated to be 11.5 years less than that of non-Indigenous men – 67.2 years and 78.7 years respectively. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women,
5151-849: The Northern, Southern and Central cultural areas. The Northern and Southern areas, having richer natural marine and woodland resources, were more densely populated than the Central area. There are various other names from Australian Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography , known as demonyms , including: Other group names are based on the language group or specific dialect spoken . These also coincide with geographical regions of varying sizes. A few examples are: However, these lists are neither exhaustive nor definitive, and there are overlaps. Different approaches have been taken by non-Aboriginal scholars in trying to understand and define Aboriginal culture and societies, some focusing on
SECTION 50
#17328955969465252-759: The Philippines known as Mamanwa . This study confirms Aboriginal Australians as one of the oldest living populations in the world. They are possibly the oldest outside Africa, and they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet. A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples reached Sahul (the supercontinent consisting of present-day Australia and its islands and New Guinea ). The sea levels rose and isolated Australia about 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from each other genetically earlier, about 37,000 years BP, possibly because
5353-592: The Prior Range, and their southern extension runs down to Palmer Point ( Wararitji ) and the mouth of Mulgrave River . Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands . Humans first migrated to Australia at least 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 language-based groups . In
5454-399: The ability to work and receive wages; and access to medical care and educational institutions. Legislation also allowed for the separation of Indigenous families , with guardianship being awarded to government officials called Protectors of Aborigines . Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families under Protection legislation in the first half of the 20th century are referred to as
5555-444: The ancient people expanded and differentiated into distinct groups, each with its own language and culture. More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified, distinguished by names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns. According to noted anthropologist , archaeologist and sociologist Harry Lourandos , historically, these groups lived in three main cultural areas,
5656-501: The arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. In the following decades, foreign diseases, dispossession, exploitation, warfare and violence proved devastating for the Indigenous population, and the immediate effect was a widespread increase in mortality and disease. By the end of the 19th century, Indigenous Australians were greatly reduced in numbers and the survivors were largely confined to remote reserves and missions. They were associated in
5757-421: The cancers that they tend to develop are often more lethal than other cancers. The 2022 AIHW report showed that the cancer death rate rose from 205 to 235 per 100,000. In central Australia, Indigenous Australians have human T-lymphotropic virus 1 at a rate thousands of times higher than non-Indigenous Australians. In 2008, 45% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were current daily smokers. Smoking
5858-533: The country such as Kimberley, WA, suicide rates among Indigenous people are among the highest in the world. The report advocates Indigenous-led national response to the crisis, asserting that suicide prevention programmes have failed this segment of the population. The ex-prisoner population of Australian Aboriginal people is particularly at risk of committing suicide; organisations such as Ngalla Maya have been set up to offer assistance. There are high incidences of anxiety , depression , PTSD and suicide amongst
5959-511: The deep split between Leang Panninge and Aboriginal/Papuans. Mallick et al. 2016 and Mark Lipson et al. 2017 study found the bifurcation of Eastern Eurasians and Western Eurasians dates to least 45,000 years ago, with indigenous Australians nested inside the Eastern Eurasian clade. Two genetic studies by Larena et al. 2021 found that Philippines Negrito people split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans before
6060-497: The desert-dwelling Pitjantjatjara people compared with a group of European people showed that the cooling adaptation of the Aboriginal group differed from that of the white people, and that they were able to sleep more soundly through a cold desert night. A 2014 Cambridge University study found that a beneficial mutation in two genes which regulate thyroxine , a hormone involved in regulating body metabolism , helps to regulate body temperature in response to fever. The effect of this
6161-615: The difference between these rates was due to higher separations for Indigenous people admitted for dialysis . The 2020 AIHW reported that Indigenous children are more likely to get hospitalized and experience tooth decay. Lack of access to the right diet, dental services, and other social disadvantages are reported as contributing factors to such poor health. From 1996 to 2001, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) used indirect methods for its calculations, because census results were deemed to be unreliable, and figures published in 2005 (59.4 years for males and 64.8 years for females) indicated
SECTION 60
#17328955969466262-465: The difficulties in interpreting the extent of the gap because of differing methods of estimating life expectancy between 2007 and 2012. It concluded: A specific estimate of the life expectancy gap has not been established among stakeholders in Indigenous health. Agreement on the magnitude of the gap is arguably needed in order to evaluate strategies aimed at improving health outcomes for Indigenous Australians. Moreover, measuring progress towards 'closing
6363-534: The federal government to address health issues was via the creation of the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) in 1994, but this is no longer in existence. In 2007/08, the Australian government focused mainly on decreasing "overcrowding" within remote indigenous communities in endeavours to improve health in rural populations. The Implementation of Australian Rural Accommodation (ARIA) Programme
6464-426: The four greatest preventable contributions to the Indigenous mental health burden of disease were: alcohol consumption, illicit drugs, child sexual abuse and intimate partner violence . Up to 15% of the 10 year life expectancy gap compared to non-Indigenous Australians has been attributed to mental health disorders. Mental health should be taken into consideration in the Aboriginal concept of health and well-being. In
6565-558: The gap' depends on the availability of comparable estimates, using the same techniques of measurement to assess changes over time. The 2019 report by the Close the Gap campaign reported that the gap in life expectancy was "widening rather than closing". The 2022 AIHW report showed that the cancer death rate rose from 205 to 235 per 100,000. In 1989, the National Aboriginal Health Strategy was created. Another attempt by
6666-694: The haplogroup C chromosomes. They found a divergence time of about 54,100 years between the Sahul C chromosome and its closest relative C5, as well as about 54,300 years between haplogroups K*/M and their closest haplogroups R and Q. The deep divergence time of 50,000-plus years with the South Asian chromosome and "the fact that the Aboriginal Australian Cs share a more recent common ancestor with Papuan Cs" excludes any recent genetic contact. The 2016 study's authors concluded that, although this does not disprove
6767-787: The high rates of cervical cancer, where a meta-analysis of Indigenous women from Australia, New Zealand , Canada and the United States attributed these rates to "socio-economic disenfranchisement resulting from colonialism", rather than genetics. The displacement of Indigenous Australians to reserves and the isolation from society led to generations suffering from starvation and malnutrition . This has had profound effects on physical and intellectual development; Indigenous communities today in remote locations continue to suffer from malnutrition and chronic health problems, as well as lower levels of education. The persistence of inequality in educational attainment among contemporary Indigenous communities
6868-401: The idea of ancient Aboriginal isolation. Genetic data extracted in 2011 by Morten Rasmussen et al., who took a DNA sample from an early-20th-century lock of an Aboriginal person's hair, found that the Aboriginal ancestors probably migrated through South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia , into Australia, where they stayed. As a result, outside of Africa, the Aboriginal peoples have occupied
6969-450: The incidence of children and the elderly many problems tend to be hidden. Some of the behavioural problems encountered tend to be linked to neurodevelopment delay and a failing education system. Mental health , suicide and self-harm remain major concerns, with the suicide rate being double that of the non-Indigenous population in 2015, and young people experiencing rising mental health rates. A 2017 article in The Lancet described
7070-653: The increased suicide rate, many researchers have suggested that the inclusion of more cultural aspects into suicide prevention programs would help to combat mental health issues within the community. Past studies have found that many indigenous leaders and community members, do in fact, want more culturally-aware health care programs. Similarly, culturally-relative programs targeting indigenous youth have actively challenged suicide ideation among younger indigenous populations, with many social and emotional wellbeing programs using cultural information to provide coping mechanisms and improving mental health. The outstation movement of
7171-506: The indigenous populations of Borneo and Malaysia , sharing drift with them than compared to the groups from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This indicates that populations in Australia were isolated for a long time from the rest of Southeast Asia. They remained untouched by migrations and population expansions into that area, which can be explained by the Wallace line . In a 2001 study, blood samples were collected from some Warlpiri people in
7272-720: The is much higher among Indigenous than non-Indigenous Australians, in particular those living in remote areas, who are 70 times more likely to be hospitalised. A 2007 study by the University of Queensland found that the 11 largest preventable contributions to the Indigenous burden of disease in Queensland were from the joint contribution of 11 risk factors, with the top three being high body mass (12.1%), tobacco (11.6%), and inadequate physical activity (7.9%). high cholesterol , alcohol , high blood pressure , low intake of fruit and vegetables , intimate partner violence , illicit drugs , child sexual abuse and unsafe sex completed
7373-566: The islands of Tasmania , K'gari (previously Fraser Island) , Hinchinbrook Island , the Tiwi Islands , Kangaroo Island and Groote Eylandt . Indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, however, are not Aboriginal. In the 2021 census , people who self-identified on the census form as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin totalled 812,728 out of a total of 25,422,788 Australians, equating to 3.2% of Australia's population and an increase of 163,557 people, or 25.2%, since
7474-450: The land was inundated at the start of the Holocene , the inter-glacial period that started about 11,700 years ago. Scholars of this ancient history believe that it would have been difficult for Aboriginal people to have originated purely from mainland Asia. Not enough people would have migrated to Australia and surrounding islands to fulfill the beginning of the size of the population seen in
7575-406: The last 10,000 years it may have occurred—newer analytical techniques have the potential to address such questions. Bergstrom's 2018 doctoral thesis looking at the population of Sahul suggests that other than relatively recent admixture, the populations of the region appear to have been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence about 50,000 years ago. He writes "There
7676-518: The latter two diverged from each other, but after their common ancestor diverged from the ancestor of East Asian peoples . The dingo reached Australia about 4,000 years ago. Near that time, there were changes in language (with the Pama-Nyungan language family spreading over most of the mainland), and in stone tool technology. Smaller tools were used. Human contact has thus been inferred, and genetic data of two kinds have been proposed to support
7777-496: The likely migration routes of the peoples as they moved across the Australian continent to its southern reaches and what is now Tasmania , then part of the mainland. The modelling is based on data from archaeologists , anthropologists , ecologists , geneticists , climatologists , geomorphologists , and hydrologists . It is intended to compare this data with the oral histories of Aboriginal peoples, including Dreaming stories, Australian rock art , and linguistic features of
7878-476: The list. A 2014 follow-up report concluded that the "leading causes of disease and injury burden in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population were largely the same as in the non-Indigenous population: mental disorders, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancers" in the 2007 study. However, the rate and age distribution between the two populations are very different. Mental disorders and cardiovascular disease account for almost
7979-423: The many Aboriginal languages which reveal how the peoples developed separately. The routes, dubbed "superhighways" by the authors, are similar to current highways and stock routes in Australia. Lynette Russell of Monash University believes that the new model is a starting point for collaboration with Aboriginal people to help reveal their history. The new models suggest that the first people may have landed in
8080-403: The micro-level (tribe, clan, etc.), and others on shared languages and cultural practices spread over large regions defined by ecological factors. Anthropologists have encountered many difficulties in trying to define what constitutes an Aboriginal people/community/group/tribe, let alone naming them. Knowledge of pre-colonial Aboriginal cultures and societal groupings is still largely dependent on
8181-403: The most common in the Indigenous population, and both lung and liver cancers were more common in the Indigenous than non-Indigenous population. Overall mortality rate from cancer was higher in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, WA, and the NT 2007–2014 (50% vs 65%, or 1.3 times as likely to die); this may be because they are less likely to receive the necessary treatments in time, or because
8282-416: The non-Indigenous population) in incidence as of 2003 are outlined in the table below: Each of these indicators is expected to underestimate the true prevalence of disease in the population due to reduced levels of diagnosis. In addition, the following factors have been at least partially implicated in the inequality in life expectancy: In some areas of Australia, particular the Torres Strait Islands ,
8383-411: The observers' interpretations, which were filtered through colonial ways of viewing societies. Some Aboriginal peoples identify as one of several saltwater, freshwater, rainforest or desert peoples . The term Aboriginal Australians includes many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. These peoples have a broadly shared, though complex, genetic history, but it
8484-633: The oldest living populations in the world, certainly the oldest outside of Africa." Their ancestors left the African continent 75,000 years ago. They may have the oldest continuous culture on earth. In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory , oral histories comprising complex narratives have been passed down by Yolngu people through hundreds of generations. The Aboriginal rock art , dated by modern techniques, shows that their culture has continued from ancient times. The ancestors of present-day Aboriginal Australian people migrated from Southeast Asia by sea during
8585-421: The original 250–400 Aboriginal languages (more than 250 languages and about 800 dialectal varieties on the continent) are endangered or extinct, although some efforts are being made at language revival for some. As of 2016, only 13 traditional Indigenous languages were still being acquired by children, and about another 100 spoken by older generations only. Dispersing across the Australian continent over time,
8686-420: The other studies had utilised complete Y chromosome sequencing, which has the highest precision. For example, use of a ten Y STRs method has been shown to massively underestimate divergence times. Gene flow across the island-dotted 150-kilometre-wide (93 mi) Torres Strait, is both geographically plausible and demonstrated by the data, although at this point it could not be determined from this study when within
8787-494: The pandemic. In 2010–2011, health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at A$ 4.6 billion , or 3.7% of Australia's total recurrent health expenditure. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population comprised 2.5% of the Australian population at this time. Expenditure equated to A$ 7,995 per Indigenous person, which was 1.47 times greater than the A$ 5,437 spent per non-Indigenous Australian in
8888-424: The past, Aboriginal people lived over large sections of the continental shelf . They were isolated on many of the smaller offshore islands and Tasmania when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene inter-glacial period , about 11,700 years ago. Despite this, Aboriginal people maintained extensive networks within the continent and certain groups maintained relationships with Torres Strait Islanders and
8989-440: The presence of any Holocene gene flow or non-genetic influences from South Asia at that time, and the appearance of the dingo does provide strong evidence for external contacts, the evidence overall is consistent with a complete lack of gene flow, and points to indigenous origins for the technological and linguistic changes. They attributed the disparity between their results and previous findings to improvements in technology; none of
9090-457: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes among Indigenous Australians is between 25 and 30%. In Central Australia high incidences of type-2 diabetes has led to high chronic kidney disease rates amongst Aboriginals. The most common cause of hospital admissions for Indigenous Australians in mainland Australia was for dialysis treatment. Indigenous women experience twice the adjusted-age risk of gestational diabetes, thus leading to Indigenous women having
9191-414: The previous census in 2016. Reasons for the increase were broadly as follows: Most Aboriginal people speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English (which also has a tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Some Aboriginal people, especially those living in remote areas, are multi-lingual. Many of
9292-591: The problem; there has been some improvement in several areas, but statistics between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the Australian population still show unacceptable levels of difference. Prior to European colonisation , it is likely that the health of Indigenous Australians was better than that of the inhabitants of poorer sections of Europe. Colonisation impacted the health of Indigenous Australians via land dispossession, social marginalisation , political oppression , incarceration , acculturation and population decline . The process of colonisation began with
9393-612: The proportion of the Indigenous adult population engaged in "risky" and "high-risk" alcohol consumption (15%) was comparable with that of the non-Indigenous population (14%), based on age-standardised data. The definition of "risky" and "high-risk" consumption used is four or more standard drinks per day average for males, two or more for females. The 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey reported that Indigenous peoples were "more likely than other Australians to abstain from alcohol consumption (23.4% versus 16.8%) and also more likely to consume alcohol at risky or high-risk levels for harm in
9494-407: The public mind with disease, which led to exclusion from institutions and isolation from non-Indigenous society for fear of contamination. These colonial policies resulted in segregated oppression and a lack of access to adequate medical care, leading to further disease and mortality. The Australian government proceeded to deny the Indigenous people of their civil rights , including property rights;
9595-487: The remaining land bridge was impassable. This isolation makes the Aboriginal people the world's oldest culture. The study also found evidence of an unknown hominin group, distantly related to Denisovans, with whom the Aboriginal and Papuan ancestors must have interbred, leaving a trace of about 4% in most Aboriginal Australians' genome. There is, however, increased genetic diversity among Aboriginal Australians based on geographical distribution. Carlhoff et al. 2021 analysed
9696-406: The same territory continuously longer than any other human populations. These findings suggest that modern Aboriginal Australians are the direct descendants of the eastern wave, who left Africa up to 75,000 years ago. This finding is compatible with earlier archaeological finds of human remains near Lake Mungo that date to approximately 40,000 years ago. The idea of the "oldest continuous culture"
9797-579: The same year. In 2010–2011, Governments funded 91.4% of health expenditure for Indigenous people, compared with 68.1% for non-Indigenous people. In July 2018, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Ken Wyatt , then Minister for Indigenous Health, announced A$ 23.2 million in funding for 28 new health initiatives through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), including expanding renal health units in remote parts so that patients could stay on country with their families. The NHMRC also launched
9898-572: The story of creation known as The Dreamtime . Additionally, traditional healers were also custodians of important Dreaming stories as well as their medical roles (for example the Ngangkari in the Western desert ). Some core structures and themes are shared across the continent with details and additional elements varying between language and cultural groups. For example, in The Dreamtime of most regions,
9999-409: The term Aboriginal has changed over time and place, with the importance of family lineage, self-identification and community acceptance all being of varying importance. The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the term is conventionally only used when both groups are included in the topic being addressed, or by self-identification by
10100-517: The wider Australian community. Due to the aforementioned disadvantage, Aboriginal Australian communities experience a higher rate of suicide, as compared to non-indigenous communities. These issues stem from a variety of different causes unique to indigenous communities, such as historical trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, and decreased access to education and health care. Also, this problem largely affects indigenous youth, as many indigenous youth may feel disconnected from their culture. To combat
10201-556: Was granted A$ 293.6 million over four years to induce a significant level of housing reform. In 2008, Aspen Medical established the Remote Area Health Corps (RAHC) as a non-profit subsidiary which was funded by the Australian Government through the Indigenous Australians' Health Programme: Stronger Futures Northern Territory initiative. Its primary objective is to alleviate persistent and chronic shortages in healthcare personnel within remote Aboriginal communities situated in
#945054