SACE Stage 2 Aboriginal Studies flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Country

A relational concept in which land, water, sky, plants, animals and people are connected through Law and kinship, and in which people hold custodial obligations to care for and speak for that land.

The Dreaming

The ongoing ancestral creation period and its continuing Law; ancestral beings shaped landforms and established rules for social life, ceremony and relationships with Country. Regional names include Tjukurrpa and Jukurrpa.

Kinship system

A named network classifying all people into relationships that prescribe marriage rules, avoidance relationships, ceremonial roles and obligations of mutual care between particular relatives.

Skin names

Named subsection categories used in many central and northern Australian groups to determine marriageability, ceremonial responsibility and obligations; the systems differ regionally and cannot be transferred between groups.

Custodianship

Group-held responsibility for Country and its ceremonies, designs and stories, inherited through descent and initiation, which is distinct from the private individual ownership of land in Australian property law.

Terra nullius

The legal fiction that Australia was unoccupied land belonging to no one at colonisation; it underpinned British land claims and was rejected by the High Court in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) in 1992.

Mabo decision 1992

High Court case brought by Eddie Koiki Mabo and others from Mer that rejected terra nullius and recognised that Indigenous rights to land could survive as native title under Australian common law.

Native Title Act 1993

Commonwealth legislation enacted after Mabo that set out how native title is recognised, claimed and protected, established the National Native Title Tribunal, and created processes for future acts affecting native title.

Wik decision 1996

High Court decision holding that native title rights could coexist with pastoral leases, and that where the two conflicted the pastoral lease rights prevailed, prompting the 1998 Native Title Amendment Act.

1967 referendum

Constitutional referendum that removed barriers so the Commonwealth could legislate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and so they were counted in the national census.

Stolen Generations

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children removed from families under government policies and missions; the 1997 Bringing Them Home report documented the effects and recommended reparation and healing measures.

Tent Embassy 1972

Protest established in Canberra on 26 January 1972 calling for Aboriginal land rights, which became a lasting symbol of Indigenous political activism and land rights campaigning in Australia.

Uluru Statement 2017

Statement issued after the First Nations National Constitutional Convention calling for a Voice to Parliament, treaty and truth-telling; its Voice proposal was rejected at the 2023 referendum.

Self-determination

The principle that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should control decisions, institutions and services affecting their communities, including research, health, education and land management.

Caring for Country

Indigenous land and sea management involving burning, waterway care, species protection and cultural site maintenance, which produces environmental and employment outcomes and sustains cultural obligations.

Closing the Gap

National framework with measurable targets agreed between Australian governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations, covering health, education, employment, housing, justice and safety.

Research question

A focused, answerable question naming the population, place, time period and evidence type required, so that the inquiry can be planned and judged against clear criteria.

Primary source

Evidence created at the time or by direct participants, such as interviews, oral testimony, letters, photographs, objects or archives; it requires evaluation of authorship, purpose and context.

Secondary source

An interpretation or analysis produced after the events, such as books, journal articles, documentaries or museum displays; it must be assessed for author bias, purpose and the sources it relies on.

Source evaluation

Systematic judgement of a source's origin, author, date, audience, purpose, perspective and reliability, used to decide how much weight the evidence should carry in an argument.

Oral testimony

Spoken account given directly by a person with lived experience; it carries authority about experience and memory but must be contextualised and attributed rather than treated as anonymous evidence.

Free prior informed consent

Consent obtained before research begins, without pressure, based on full disclosure of the project's purpose, methods, funding, data storage and intended use, and revocable by participants.

Cultural protocols

Community-set rules governing access to knowledge, including restricted men's and women's knowledge, permission to record or publish, and who may speak for a particular story or site.

Positionality

The researcher's own social location and relationship to the topic and community, which is stated openly so readers can judge how it may shape questions, access and interpretation.

Cultural safety

An approach in which the people receiving a service or participating in research define what respectful and safe practice means, shifting power from the institution to the community.

Attribution

Naming the specific Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, group, language or nation that holds or authored knowledge, instead of generalising to all Indigenous peoples.

Respectful terminology

Use of terms such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, or specific nation and language names, with capitalisation, while avoiding outdated or deficit-framed language.

Referencing

Consistent citation practice using a style such as Harvard or APA, with in-text author and year and a reference list giving full details for every source used.

Evidence-based argument

A claim supported by cited, evaluated evidence, with counter-evidence acknowledged and the reasoning linking evidence to conclusion made explicit rather than assumed.

Descriptive versus analytical

Description reports what a source says or what happened; analysis explains causes, patterns and significance, weighs interpretations and reaches a supported judgement.

Ethical research protocol

A documented plan covering consent, community consultation, data storage, anonymity, benefit sharing and approval by an ethics body before any data collection begins.

Data interpretation caution

Statistical comparisons require attention to self-identification, remoteness, age structure and undercount, because these factors can distort apparent differences between Indigenous and other populations.