PRESIDENT'S CORNER 

         By Timberlake Wertenbaker

                     Directed by Kristin Johnsen-Neshati and Maderi

NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG
Alexandra Berrios

Aboriginal v. Indigenous v. Native
The term "aboriginal" refers to a people who have been inhabiting  land from the earliest times possible, before colonists arrived. "Indigenous" describes a people who have occurred naturally in a certain location. "Native" means someone who is born in a specific place, or who is associated with a place due to birth; this term does not, however, take into account whether they actively reside there or not. 

Australian Aboriginal Traditions and Culture 
The Australian Aboriginal people have one of the oldest surviving cultures. They began as hunters living off the land and later began farming. Over time, different clans and tribes emerged, resulting in a number of varying ‘subunits’ of Aborigines. Some include the Torres, Yolngu, Koorie, and Pintupi. Some of the best-known tribes are the Torres or Strait Islanders. 
The Aboriginal people do not have a set religion, but they place high importance on the Dreamtime. This is the Aboriginal understanding of the world, all its stories and collective knowledge. When the Aborigines speak about the Dreamtime, they use song and chants accompanied by the sound of a didgeridoo or clap sticks. The Aboriginal people believe that their ancestors changed the land, created the earth, made humans and animals, and created the earth’s elements before returning to the earth itself. Certain geographical locations are sacred places for them, and may be accessed only by certain men in the tribes. For Aborigines, the land is a gift of significant spiritual value. Land is not meant to be owned, but it owns them. So, as one might imagine, when the English arrived on the coast and threatened their spiritual place, the Aboriginal people felt fear. 
 
Today, Aborigines suffer with poverty, low education, unemployment, violence, and overcrowded homes. Very few of them are integrated technologically, politically, and socially with the rest of European Australia. However, resentment is felt among many Aboriginal Australians as well as European Australians. In 1911, under a law to protect the indigenous population of mixed babies from Aborigines, the Australian government took children from their families and made them go to schools run by the European Australians to train them in European values and help them assimilate into the rest of white Australian society. These Aboriginal children came to be known as the Lost Generation, and between 1911 and 1980, about 100,000 children were placed as orphans in white families. It wasn’t until 2008 that the Australian government apologized for this displacement of Aboriginal people. They recognized that their efforts to ‘protect’ the Aborigines only resulted in increased suffering, separation, and mistreatment. This ‘child removal’ policy was kept secret until a decade ago when a government inquiry exposed it, leading to a mass movement supported by many Australians who demanded that the Australian government offer an apology the Aboriginal people.