Light has been shed on the world best known for its kangaroos and koalas for the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia. The indigenous people of Australia, aborigines, have been suppressed since the British used the land to cast away convicts after 1788. Unitl 1967, they were omitted from the national census.

"Aborigine" is sumarrily defined as an indigenous person to a specific area. The aborigines in North America have the name "Native Americans." The indigenous people of Australia have no name. They are the oldest pure ethnic group in the world.

The Aborigine people make up two percent of the population in Australia. Poorly employed and educated, they live in poverty.

But now, after years of suppression, they stand center on the world stage. "They have seen the world's outrage in South Africa," George Holt, professor of Family Studies at St. Olaf, believes, "and if the world would pay attention, they [believe] it could turn the government around." Thus, several protests will take place in the streets of Sydney.

Australia has begun an attempt to rebuild the bridges it has already burned. Nova Peris Kneebone, an Aborigine woman, began the torch relay, running barefoot with the world's flame in her hand. Olympic athlete and Aborigine Cathy Freeman started the celebration of the games when she lit the cauldron.

In Holt's travels to Australia, he has brought groups of St. Olaf students to Perth, in the western part of the country, where bigotry and racism are still prevalent. But in Sydney, the citizens do not have any conflicts with the native people, and therefore the city wants reconciliation with the tribes.

Holt compares it to a time in America's history, when Minnesota wanted civil rights in the 1950s, yet "it didn't effect us." Because Sydney residents have no contact with the indigenous people, their views differ from those Australians who live on their land. Many of the gold mines are located on Aboriginal land, and therefore, many of the mine owners have prejudices against the people. Because the mine companies have influence on the media, the people of Australia are sometimes hearing only one side of the story.

The struggles of the Aboriginal people began in 1770, when Captain James Cook discovered the outback, and later, the Terra Nullus Act in 1788 stated that the land was empty In 1905, the Aboriginal Protection Act was set, which was to protect and care for the people, but in actuality, their rights decreased, their marriages were controlled, and the government had more control over the children than the mothers did. This law was finally repealed in 1936.

Between 1918 and 1953, the Northern Territorial Law gave the government the power to take the indigenous children from their families. The "paler" children were sent to live with white families, and the darker children were sent to orphanages. This was known as "The Stolen Generation" and didn't actually end until the late 1960s and 70s.

Finally, in 1993, the Native Title Act recognized the indigenous people existing in Australia. The catch was, the people had to prove that the land was theirs. According to Holt, when the Australian government asked the Aboriginal people to prove the land was theirs, an Aborigine artist said, "Let me draw my land." He proceeded to paint the land on a giant piece of paper, and when an aerial photo was taken from a plane and compared to the artist's drawing, the two were nearly identical, proving the people knew the land, and it was theirs. This proof still holds in courts today.

In December of 1997, the vote in Parliament agreed to "not apologize for the racist policies in the past," Holt explained. "I believe Prime Minister John Howards refused even today…if they apologize then in the courts they may need to define what it is they are apologizing for, and therefore, give legal rights to sue…or perhaps, if one apologizes, then one needs to change."

Holt has led 15 trips to Australia in the past, taking St. Olaf students to learn more about the indigenous people and their culture. Olaf has a close connection to Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, who they began to visit, at their expense, in 1990. The first January interim class began in 1992, and since then, has been bridging the United States and Australian college students. At the Center for Aboriginal Studies on the Curtin campus, Aboriginal professors and scholars teach the classes and the courses are required to graduate from Curtin. "We are very proud [of this program]," Holt commented. St. Olaf and Curtin have acquired a relationship that has been beneficial to both campuses.

The struggles of the Aborigine culture have now been put under the camera lenses of media covering the Olympics, and the issues they have dealt with are now being voiced to the people of the world. With the attention drawn to the southern hemisphere, the native people are utilizing the interest of the common people to begin protests near the main airports in attempt to make an impression to those visiting for the games.

But now, using the world as their stage nd stepping in to the limelight, the native people of Australia are finally able to have their voices heard. So while the Olympians continue to battle on the track, Australia's aboriginal cultures continue to speak up for their endurance, hoping, with the attention of the world, their voice will finally be heard.