HSC Aboriginal Studies key terms

The land, waters, skies and sites to which an Aboriginal nation holds enduring spiritual, cultural and custodial responsibilities. It is a living relationship rather than a piece of property.

The inherited duty to care for and speak for particular land, water and cultural knowledge. Rights to use Country are balanced by obligations to protect it for future generations.

The foundational spiritual, legal and moral order that explains creation and sets out how people should live and relate to Country. It is ongoing and present, not merely an ancient past.

Pathways across Country recorded in song, story, dance and art that mark the travels of ancestral beings. They also function as maps, law and memory systems linking distant groups.

A system of relatedness that defines a person's rights, obligations, marriage rules, caring roles and responsibilities to others. It can extend to Country and to non-human beings.

Named categories within a kinship system, often grouped in cycles, that determine who may marry whom and how people address and care for one another across a community.

People recognised by their community for knowledge, wisdom and service, who hold authority to teach and to make decisions. Age alone does not make someone an Elder.

The transmission of law, history, ecology and ceremony through speech, song, story and performance rather than written records. It is a rigorous and tested form of knowledge keeping.

Respectful procedures governing consultation, permission, language use, gender restrictions and handling of knowledge or objects. Researchers and institutions are expected to follow them.

The three-part working definition of Aboriginal descent, self-identification and community acceptance. It is a social and personal identity, not a measure of cultural knowledge or appearance.

The right of Aboriginal peoples to decide their own political status and pursue their own economic, social and cultural development. In policy it means community control of services and decisions.

The claim that Aboriginal nations never ceded their authority over Country and law. It is distinct from land rights and native title, which operate within the Australian legal system.

Campaigns and statutes, especially from the 1970s, that returned some land to Aboriginal ownership or control. They arose mainly from political action rather than from recognition of prior title.

Recognition in Australian law that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights to land and waters survived colonisation. It must be proved and can coexist with other interests.

The legal fiction that Australia was empty land belonging to no one when Britain claimed it. It underpinned dispossession and was overturned in the Mabo decision of 1992.

Evidence compiled for native title claims showing continuing observance of law and custom, use of the area and acknowledgement by other groups. They combine oral testimony with historical records.

The process by which a foreign power claims, settles and governs another people's land, imposing its laws and institutions. Its effects persist in disadvantage, policy and identity debates.

Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century policies that confined Aboriginal people to reserves and missions under official control, justified as care. They restricted movement, work, marriage and culture.

The mid-twentieth-century policy aim that Aboriginal people should abandon their culture and become indistinguishable from the wider population. It shaped removal of children and restrictions on cultural practice.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people removed as children under government and church policies, and their descendants. The removals caused lasting trauma and loss of language, culture and family links.

The transmission of distress and its effects, such as disrupted parenting and mistrust of institutions, from people who experienced harm to later generations. It informs contemporary health and justice policy.

A national framework of agreed targets between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives to reduce disadvantage in health, education, employment and justice, with shared decision-making.

Aboriginal organisations governing themselves and delivering services shaped by local priorities and accountability. It is a practical expression of self-determination in health, housing, media and education.

The requirement that communities receive full information and give agreement, without pressure, before activities affecting their land, heritage or knowledge proceed. Consent can be withheld or withdrawn.

An environment where a person's cultural identity is respected and they are not required to assimilate to receive fair treatment. It requires practitioners to examine their own power and assumptions.

The knowledge, skills and attitudes practitioners need to work effectively across cultural difference. Critics note it can become a checklist, so it is often paired with cultural safety.

Government and system statements setting goals and accountabilities for Aboriginal students' outcomes and for teaching Aboriginal content. They have shifted from assimilationist aims to equity and self-determination.

Teaching approaches grounded in Aboriginal ways of learning, such as learning through story, land, observation and group responsibility. They benefit all students and are not only for Aboriginal learners.

An approach in which Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge and ways of learning are both valued and taught, with neither treated as inferior. It is common in remote community schools.

An individual plan negotiated with a student, family and school that sets learning goals and support strategies. It is often used to strengthen attendance, engagement and transitions for Aboriginal students.

The national curriculum cross-curriculum priority requiring content on these histories and cultures to be taught across learning areas, with local consultation on knowledge and language.

The ongoing national process of building respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians, addressing history and present disadvantage. It includes truth-telling, action and treaty debates.

A negotiated agreement between a government and Aboriginal nations recognising rights, authority and relationship. Some Australian states have begun treaty processes; there is no national treaty.

Use of another culture's symbols, art or knowledge without permission, respect or benefit to its owners. It harms artists and misrepresents living traditions as free material.

Rights of Indigenous peoples to control their heritage, including designs, songs, language, knowledge and remains. Australian law protects some of this only partially, so community protocols matter.

The right of Indigenous peoples to govern the collection, ownership and use of data about them and their communities. It counters research and statistics produced without community control.

Commonwealth legislation making discrimination on the basis of race unlawful and overriding inconsistent state laws. Its suspension for the Northern Territory Intervention in 2007 was widely criticised.