Spotlight: Aboriginal Australians

Aboriginals are believed by archaeologists to have arrived in Australia approximately 45,000 years ago. However, since colonisation by the British in the eighteenth century, Aboriginals have been discriminated against and made to face terrible conditions, increasing their vulnerability to environmental change. In this blog, I will discuss how two dimensions of environmental change- the introduction of alien species, and climate change- have affected Australia's indigenous population.

Introduced species

Invasive species are one of the major threats to biodiversity. In Australia, numerous animal and plant species have been introduced as a result of colonisation by the British. Aside from their potential negative impacts on native flora and fauna, rejection of alien species by indigenous peoples also arises from them being representative of European dispossession. However, in many cases, introduced species have been embraced within Aboriginal traditions. Cats and rabbits are now incorporated into Aboriginal diets, and horses and cattle are significant in Aboriginal pastoral industry. In his paper on Aboriginal reactions to introduced species, David Trigger puts forward the case that some species are now utilised by indigenous peoples, and have even been admired by Aboriginal writers and artists.

One of the introduced species that has not been so warmly welcomed is the cane toad. The cane toad can grow up to 23cm, and produces toxins not found in native Australian amphibians. Over 3000 toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in 1935 as a biological control of sugar cane pests in north eastern Queensland. They can affect native species through predation and competition, but by far the largest impact is lethal toxic ingestion. The native predators have no evolutionary history of adapting to the toxins that cane toads possess, so the toxin often has fatal effects when the toads are eaten.

Cane toads are viewed as pests by indigenous people. At first, many Aboriginals were afraid of drinking the water where cane toads were found, out of fear that the toxin would leach into the water. In Seton & Bradley's case study on the impact cane toads have had on Aboriginal Yanyuwa culture, stress and depression were found to be prevalent among women, as their search for traditional prey including goanna and blue tongued skink results only in the inedible cane toads. They have also expressed sadness that Aboriginal songs referencing animals no longer reflected the world around them, as those species had been driven out by invasives. 

Climate change and aboriginal health

Following colonisation, Australia's indigenous people were devastated by diseases brought over with the colonisers, and dispossession took its toll on both physical and mental health. Even now, inadequate or inappropriate medical services and housing means that Aboriginal communities suffer disproportionately when it comes to physical health and mental wellbeing. In fact, whilst Australians overall have some of the best health conditions in the world, the indigenous community of Australia are among the least healthy when compared to indigenous populations of similarly industrialised nations.

Climate change is likely to further the disparity in health between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. By using extremes indices, Alexander and Arblaster have created future projections until 2099. Their research indicates a likely increase in warm nights and heat wave duration. As you can see, precipitation-based indices tend to have more noise than the temperature-based indices, but there is clearly an increase in both consecutive dry days and very heavy precipitation contribution. Therefore, longer dry spells can be expected, culminating in heavy precipitation events.

Future projections of extremes indices between 1870 and 2099

Australia is home to unique and endemic wildlife, and its ecosystems are susceptible to even subtle changes in climate. In one survey by Rigby et al., Aboriginal participants already felt that drought-related loss of flora and fauna has had an impact on seasonal work, resulting in an increased reliance on government income support. This has led to feelings of guilt and grief, a lowering of self-esteem, and an increase in alcohol abuse.

In hot, dry conditions, like those predicted by Alexander and Arblaster, diseases such as bacterial diarrhoea tend to increase. Also, an increase in temperature may cause a spike in Dengue fever. Although the virus is not endemic in Australia at the moment, there have been occasional epidemics in northern Queensland, which could be exacerbated by environmental changes.

Indigenous health appears to have been let down by medical school curricula so far, and indigenous preventative health care, in particular, needs to be in increased in Australia as the climate changes. However, many adaptive strategies- such as Aboriginal health promotion programs and a revitalisation of Aboriginal arts to combat mental health issues- are taking place and will hopefully begin to close the gap in those most affected by climate change.