Culturally Sensitive Aboriginal Tours For Families Throughout Australia

If you’re looking for an experience, an opportunity to learn as well as give back to Aboriginal communities, we have compiled this list of Indigenous Owned Australian companies that provide educational but fun, learning tours that promote traditional aspects of their culture. So, if you’re searching for Culturally Sensitive Aboriginal Tours in Australia, this is a pretty comprehensive list by state.

A Brief Australian History

Most of Australia’s colonial past has been widely unacknowledged and still today most Australian schools don’t teach any elements of invasion or colonisation as it really happened. Most of what we think we know is not factually correct and is based on a white-centric viewpoint that has deliberately mistold stories for its own benefit.

The UK first invaded Australia in 1770 when there were approximately 750,000 Indigenous Aboriginal people. With them, they brought mass death through disease and genocide reducing communities to very few, if any, people and eradicating large proportions of spoken language.

British troops brutally murdered thousands of Aboriginal people at a time as well as pillaging, enslaving and outlawing mobs. Women were forcibly raped resulting in illegitimate pregnancies where their mixed-race children were frequently killed or subsequently removed from mothers.

The deliberate removal of children happened between 1905 and 1969, although hundreds of Aboriginal children are still removed unnecessarily by Children’s Services every year. The deliberate oppression and incarceration of Aboriginals still remain with tens of Indigenous people killed in Police custody every year and thousands flung in jail.

Australia remains an openly racist country and racism is prevalent and evident at every level of society. How do I know this? I lived in Western Australia for two years and Queensland for eighteen months.

Culturally Sensitive Aboriginal Tours. Grampians National Park — Grampians National Park. Culturally Sensitive Aboriginal Tours

This Is How Many Indigenous Communities There Once Were

Indigenous cultures in Australia are many and varied and the below map may help demonstrate this. Most cities now have cultural centres where you can connect with the local indigenous community but if you’re looking for a culturally sensitive tour that is owned by Aboriginals and directly benefits Aboriginal communities, we have compiled a list below.

10 Reasons Why Should You Take A Tour

If you’re looking for justification as to why you should take a tour, here’s ten reasons why!

These are often marginalised communities that are less likely to benefit from Australian programs. Your direct money enables these community’s to thrive without government assistance.
You’ll have the opportunity to meet real Indigenous members who have a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
You can learn about Aboriginal culture, the landscape and traditions directly from the oldest living culture.
You’ll gain a deeper appreciation of the damage done by invasion and oppressive government legislation.
You might be able to hear about real & true history, not the oppressors’ version.
It’s essential that Aboriginal people maintain and gain control over their stories and handicrafts.
Most information we hear about these remote communities is pretty racist. By meeting Aboriginal people directly you can challenge learned oppression and racism.
You might have the opportunity to see rock art from over 50,000 years ago!
If you take a class from Indigenous members, you’ll be learning new skills.
Any opportunity to be in nature and experience nature is incredible for our mental health and for learning about how to better protect our environment.

The Pinnacles. Culturally Sensitive Aboriginal Tours — The Pinnacles

Racist things you might hear in Australia and how you can combat them

They breed like rabbits: Just 300 years ago Aboriginals made up 100% of Australia’s total population. Now it’s less than 3%. They can’t be breeding that quickly.
They’re all drug addicts: Some communities have problems with drugs & alcohol, just like some communities do everywhere. White people introduced both drugs and alcohol into their communities and continue to exploit their vulnerabilities by dealing there. Children who are subjected to unresolved trauma are 6000% more likely to suffer from addiction problems. This is why it’s essential that Indigenous children have access to mental health teams, good education and why adults should be supported to be the best parents they can.
It’s their fault we have meth labs: Meth or ice as it’s known in Australia was introduced by the white man and I can find no evidence online from any meth lab conviction that the labs were run by an Aboriginal person. Drugs are a problem in every country.
They’re a drain on the health system: White people stole their land and cultivated their own crops on it, meaning that many lands can no longer be traditionally farmed or used. Many remote communities have been forced to be reliant on shops where they stock produce that is high in saturated fat, sugar and processed foods. They have no choice but to shop in these shops which contribute to their chronic health problems and poverty. If you want to know more about this, That Sugar Movement examines this problem.
They don’t do anything to integrate: Think about how easy it is to live in a country when everything is stacked against you. When the British emigrated to Spain they stuck together because there’s safety in numbers and they wanted to support each other. If you’ve been subjected to a life time’s worth of oppression, regardless of what you do, how easy is it to integrate and do you want to? You want to be with people who have the same values and belief system as you and western culture currently sees capitalism and wealth of money and possession above everything else. This is at contrast to parts of the Aboriginal culture which values the earth and living in sync with it. Finding common ground has not been actively pursued until very recently.
They’re always in trouble with the police: Aboriginal people are highly surveyed and controlled and white people call the police far more on them. Institutional racism within Australian police is high and stop and search orders are conducted more frequently on Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are far more likely to be incarcerated than white people who commit the same crimes, they’re far more likely to die because of police custody and the school to jail route is sadly high.
They don’t live by our rules: Aboriginals are more visible because of the colour of their skin. People who already hold racist beliefs are more likely to see and hear those Aboriginals who might be making more noise than others. Certainly, the police who arrest people of colour unnecessarily are going to provoke behaviour deemed less socially acceptable and it’s going to be more visible.
They’re always drunk: Many communities are dry and don’t have access to alcohol (grog as it’s referred to) however some dry communities are flooded with alcohol deliberately by non-Indigenous so they can exploit them for financial gain.
But All Lives Matter: All lives cannot matter until black lives matter. Dr Ali Meghji from Cambridge Uni explains why.