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Australian Aborigines (aka Aboriginal Australians) are a class
Class (philosophy)

Philosophers sometimes distinguish classes from type and natural kind. We can talk about the class of human beings, just as we can talk about the type , human being, or humanity....
 of peoples who are identified by Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n law as being members of a race indigenous to the Australian continent
Australia (continent)

Australia Sahul is the smallest of the geographic continents, though not of geological continents. There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent"; the lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface." ....
.

In the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the final court of appeal in Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States and territories of Australia, and interprets the Const...
, Australian Aborigines have been specifically identified as a group of people who share, in common, biological ancestry back to the original occupants of this continent.

Justice Deane
William Deane

Sir William Patrick Deane, Order of Australia, Order of the British Empire, Queen's Counsel , Australian judge and 22nd Governor-General of Australia....
 of the High Court famously described and defined an Australian Aboriginal person as:

"..a person of Aboriginal descent, albeit mixed, who identifies himself as such and who is recognised by the Aboriginal community as an Aboriginal.."


The word 'aborigine' refers to an indigenous person of any country.






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Australian Aborigines (aka Aboriginal Australians) are a class
Class (philosophy)

Philosophers sometimes distinguish classes from type and natural kind. We can talk about the class of human beings, just as we can talk about the type , human being, or humanity....
 of peoples who are identified by Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n law as being members of a race indigenous to the Australian continent
Australia (continent)

Australia Sahul is the smallest of the geographic continents, though not of geological continents. There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent"; the lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface." ....
.

In the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the final court of appeal in Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States and territories of Australia, and interprets the Const...
, Australian Aborigines have been specifically identified as a group of people who share, in common, biological ancestry back to the original occupants of this continent.

Justice Deane
William Deane

Sir William Patrick Deane, Order of Australia, Order of the British Empire, Queen's Counsel , Australian judge and 22nd Governor-General of Australia....
 of the High Court famously described and defined an Australian Aboriginal person as:

"..a person of Aboriginal descent, albeit mixed, who identifies himself as such and who is recognised by the Aboriginal community as an Aboriginal.."


From Australian Aborigines


Eve Fesl, an Aboriginal Australian from the , published in the Aboriginal Law Bulletin describing how she and other Australian Aborigines preferred to be identified:

"The word 'aborigine' refers to an indigenous person of any country. If it is to be used to refer to us as a specific group of people, it should be spelt with a capital 'A', i.e. 'Aborigine'..."


More recently, Lowitja O'Donoghue
Lowitja O'Donoghue

Lowitja O'Donoghue, Order of Australia, Commander of the British Empire is an Indigenous Australian retired public administration. She was Australian of the Year in 1984 and in 1990 became the inaugural chairperson of the now dissolved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission ....
 AC
Order of Australia

The Order of Australia is an Order established by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Monarchy of Australia on 14 February 1975 "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"....
, CBE, commenting on the prospect of possible amendments to Australia's constitution
Constitution of Australia

The Constitution of Australia is the law under which the Australian Government of Australia operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia....
, is quoted in an article entitled 'Call us Aboriginal' as saying:

"I really can't tell you of a time when 'indigenous' became current, but I personally have an objection to it, and so do many other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.... This has just really crept up on us ... like thieves in the night."


"We're very happy with our involvement with indigenous people around the world, on the international forum ... because they're our brothers and sisters...But we do object to it being used here in Australia."


From Australian academia


Dean of Indigenous Research and Education at Charles Darwin University
Charles Darwin University

Charles Darwin University is an Australian public university with around 20,098 higher education students studying as of 2007. It has campuses in the Darwin, Northern Territory suburb of Casuarina, Northern Territory, Palmerston, Northern Territory, Alice Springs, Katherine, Northern Territory , Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory....
, Professor MaryAnn Bin-Sallik, has publicly lectured on the ways Australian Aborigines have been categorised and labelled over time:

"Professor Bin-Sallik’s lecture offered a new perspective on the terms “urban” and “traditional” and “of Indigenous descent” as used to define and categorise Aboriginal Australians."


“Not only are these categories inappropriate, they serve to divide us,” Professor Bin-Sallik said.


“Government’s insistence on categorising us with modern words like ‘urban’, ‘traditional’ and ‘of Aboriginal descent’ are really only replacing old terms ‘half-caste’ and ‘full-blood’ – based on our colouring.”


"She called for a replacement of this terminology by the word: Aborigine ... “irrespective of hue”"

See also

  • Australian Aboriginal flag
    Australian Aboriginal Flag

    The Australian Aboriginal flag was originally designed as a protest flag for the Native title movement of Indigenous Australians but has since become a symbol of the Aboriginal people of Australia....
  • Australian referendum, 1967
    Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)

    The referendum amended section 51 from the constitution and removed section 127 from the Constitution.*The first was a phrase in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution which stated that the Federal Government had the power to make laws with respect to "the people of any race, other than the Aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed n...
  • Indigenous Australians
    Indigenous Australians

    Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
  • Native title
    Native title

    Native title is a concept in the law of Australia that recognises in certain cases there was and is a continued beneficial legal interest in land held by local indigenous Australians which survived the acquisition of title to the land by the Crown at the time that the Crown acquired sovereignty of Australia....