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Racial violence in Australia is evident through various past and more recent events. Hate crimes and racial violence are not a new concept [1]
Initial instances include attacks against the indigenous population by settlers resulting in the deaths of thousands of Aboriginals, and devastating the indigenous population of Tasmania. [2] Violence against the Chinese community also occurred early in Australia’s history, with mobs attacking Chinese miners.[3]
Initially, in Australia's history, the White Australia policy resulted in a homogenous Australia. Post 1950’s multicultural Australia has seen an increase in racial violence, as different minorities endeavour to live together in the same communities. In some cases, this has led to violence instigated by newer ethnic groups, and in some cases, racial violence between non–anglo Australian ethnic groups. Racial violence also exists on a street level, with race based violence between different ethnic gangs. To a degree, racial violence has been exacerbated by the media and Politicians.[4]
Commentators have discussed the concept of the risk society, particularly as it relates to the Cronulla riots. There is a sense that in Australia and in other Westem countries, racism has been based upon notions of xenophobia.[5]. Recently, technology has aided the organising of larger scale racial violence via SMS texting [6]
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The early European settlement of Australia in 1788, led to violent and deadly conflicts between the original inhabitants, the Aboriginal populations, and the new settlers across the entire continent between 1788 - 1930's. Relatively small numbers of White settlers and convicts attacked and removed Aboriginal populations from the South Eastern parts of Australia [7] . Tasmanian Aboriginals in particular suffered, most of them on the island being killed by settlers or disease. The complete extermination of the Tasmanian Aborginal population was achieved after the organisation of an assault by Lt. Governor George Arthur in 1830 [2]
The Lambing Flat riots or Lambing Flat massacres were a series of violent attacks against Chinese that took place in the Burrangong region, in New South Wales[citation needed]. The riots occurred on the goldfields at Spring Creek, Stoney Creek, Back Creek, Wombat, Blackguard Gully, Tipperary Gully, and Lambing Flat (now Young, New South Wales), in 1860-1861.
The original cause was tension between whites and Chinese over work practices, habits of sending their gold out of the country, and general xenophobia.
There was ten months of unrest at Burrangong involving disputes against Chinese miners, where they were often driven off their 'digs'. The most infamous riot occurred on the night of 30 June 1861 when a group of perhaps 3,000 drove the Chinese off Lambing Flat, and then moved on to the Back Creek diggings, destroying tents and looting possessions. About 1,000 Chinese abandoned the field. Many of the victims were brutally beaten, but there were no deaths. The only death related to this incident was of a white miner killed by police trying to break up the disturbance. .[3]
These race riots were between Anglo–Australian miners and Southern Europeans living in the area. There had been simmering tensions on Kalgoorlie between Italian migrants and local Anglo Australians. This had resulted in a race riot in 1919. The civil disturbance in 1934 was larger. It initially started during the Australia Day weekend of 1934. An inebriated British miner, Edward Jordan, instigated a fight with an Italian barman, Claudio Mattaboni. Edward Jordan was a popular local, who was also a footballer, firefighter and rtibute miner. After instigating the fight himself, Jordan cracked his skull on the pavement and died several hours later.
The following day, aided by Jordan's drinking friends, rumours spread that the popular local had been murdered by Mattaboni. Mourners attended Jordans funeral in their hundreds, then after drinking at several wakes, gathered in Hannan Street near several migrant-owned businesses. A youth instigated the riot by throwing a stone through a window of the Kalgoorlie Wine Saloon and full-scale rioting ensued. Rioters burned the building to the ground, then moved on to attack other migrant-run establishments. A large group of rioters stole a tram and rode to the nearby town of Boulder, where the destruction continued.[8]
The rioting had stopped by the next day, but the disgruntled locals tried to organise to eject Southern European migrant workers from the mines. After meetings about this were attended by some hundreds of people, rioting once again ensued. Two people were killed, and 86 were arrested.[9]
In 1920, Japanese residents of Broome in Western Australia, attacked Timorese living there. The racial violence continued for a week, and was the most violent in the last century. 60 people were injured and 7 killed.[10]
The Sydney gang rapes were a series of gang rape attacks committed by a group of up to fourteen Lebanese Australian men led by Bilal Skaf against white Australian teenage girls, as young as 14, in Sydney Australia in 2000. The crimes were described as ethnically motivated hate crimes by officials and commentators. [11] [12] [13]
These occurred in 2001 and 2002 and were perpetrated by Pakistani Australians in Sydney, along a similar theme to Skaf's group.
The Cronulla riots of 2005 [14] were a series of racially motivated mob confrontations which originated in and around Cronulla, a beachfront suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Soon after the riot, ethnically motivated violence occurred in several other Sydney suburbs.
On Sunday, 11 December 2005, approximately 5000 people gathered to protest against alleged incidents of assaults and intimidatory behaviour by groups of Middle Eastern looking youths from the suburbs of South Western Sydney. The crowd initially assembled without incident, but violence broke out after a segment of the mostly white [15] crowd chased a man of Middle Eastern appearance into a hotel and two other youths of Middle Eastern appearance were assaulted on a train. Police and ambulance officers were also attacked. The racist aspect of the incidents was reported widely overseas.
The next day a number of revenge attacks occurred. Large numbers of Middle Eastern men gathered in Punchbowl in Sydney’s West, police being ordered not to confront them. Revenge attacks by Middle Eastern men against white Australias occurred all over the city, including a stabbing of a man at Woolooware, [16] a man being attacked by an Iron bar while in his car,[17] gun shots being fired at parked cars at Christian church services and a Church Hall in Auburn in the cities West was burned down.[18]
In Melbourne, on 30 May 2009, Indian students protested against what they claimed were racist attacks, blocking streets in the city centre. Thousands of students gathered outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital where one of the victims was admitted. The protest, however, was called off early on the next day morning after the protesters accused police of "ramrodding" them to break up their sit-in.[19]
In Sydney, around 150 – 200 Indian men gathered to protest against perceived police inaction about attacks on them by Lebanese Australian Youths in Harris Park, in the cities west. Groups of Lebanese youths from the area also attended the scene resulting in some clashes, though police presence stopped further affray. The protest went on for three days. [20] [21] Australian High Commissioner to India John McCarthy said that there was an element of racism involved in the attacks on Indians.[22]
There are often discrepancies in how the media reports 'racial' violence and 'race' riots. The Australian media has been accused of using stereotypes of indigenous peoples to that groups' detriment.[23] In particular, popular radio commentators have been seen as possibly exacerbating the problem. Sydney Radio commentator Alan Jones was alleged to have encouraged vigilantism, by reading out an SMS call relating to the Cronulla riots and not convincingly condemning it.[6]
Individual race-based crimes have attracted a variety of penalties in Australian legal jurisdictions. The Sydney Morning Herald reported in early 2010 that a Sydney man, was ordered to pay over $AU 130 000 to an Asian-Australian man that he brutally bashed outside the victim's house. The drunken attacker shouted racial slurs at the victim, suggesting this was a race-based crime. The accused assaulted the victim so badly with a piece of wood that the victim sustained a fractured leg and a partial facial nerve palsy.[24]
Year: 2006
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