Blog 10 -- Rabbit-Proof Fence

1. As the European settlers began staking claims on the land belonging to the Aboriginal population, the Nyungar people realized "what the arrival of the... settlers meant for them: it was the destruction of their traditional society and the dispossession of their lands" (13). The Nyungar soon found out that it could only get worse: they couldn't follow their old hunting trails, because the white men had blocked them with fences; they were driven from their lands by violent Europeans who threatened to shoot them if they ever came back again; and the white men treated them unfairly, with a harsh and strict set of laws. The Aboriginal people expected to be treated with the same form of justice under the white man's law, especially when they were mistreated legitimately. But they never got it. The white men merely ignored their pleas for help and sent them back home, usually with a sack of food for reparations.

2. The "civilization" of Australia was in fact parallel to that of the Native Americans here in the US. The Native American peoples were driven out of their homes and off their lands, much like the Aborigines. Their harsh eviction, known as the "Trail of Tears", mirrors the deportation of the natives in Australia. Each ethnicity was treated as a "lesser people", and were rebuked for honoring their timeless traditions. They were often used as slaves or laborers, and worked for little to no pay, often receiving tiny portions of food as payment. Neither group was treated fairly next to the white man, and often were judged unfairly for petty crimes under the white man's strict law. The white man in both situations swooped in and took over all the good areas of the land, leaving the infertile, barren land for the natives to survive off of. The natives of the land were cruelly and unjustly treated like dirt.

3. The actions of the government were in no way morally justified in relocating children of mixed descent. Their excuse that children of mixed descent were "more intelligent than their darker relatives" wasn't a proven theory. Also, it was racist toward the Aboriginal peoples, saying that the whiter they were, the smarter they were. The government had no right to take the children away from their families, especially because they were only taking the children to "better educate them and train them to be domestic servants and laborers". They used the Aboriginals as slaves, regardless of their parentage. Furthermore, when white men criticized the mothers of these mixed-race children for being "promiscuous", they were being hypocritical, because the white men were the ones who had forced themselves upon these women and had their ways with them. the government acted wrongly when it allowed children of mixed-race descent to be taken from their families.