More Aborigines Enter Mixed Race Marriages Than Ever Before

Depending on how you look at this, I guess you could say that Aborigines are integrating more into Australian society:

MOST Aborigines are partnering with non-Aboriginal people for the first time in history, research has revealed.

Greater opportunity for interaction is believed to be the main cause of the trend, which raises concerns about Aboriginal culture being lost in future generations.

In 2006, 52 per cent of partnered indigenous men and 55 per cent of partnered indigenous women were married to or living with non-indigenous partners, Monash University’s People and Place journal said.

Those living in cities with university degrees and higher income earners were most likely to “marry out”.

Although Aborigines are still subjected to deep prejudice, new research shows that a majority of Aboriginal men and women nationwide are now married to non-indigenous partners and eight in ten Aboriginal people living in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane are married “outside the mob”.

The report said this could be seen as a good thing because it shows cultures mixing and contributes to a diverse and tolerant society.

But it could also be considered negative because it signals the dissolution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bloodlines and culture.

Report co-author Bob Birrell said there was still very little outmarriage in remote indigenous communities.

 “It indicates that unlike the United States, where almost 90 per cent of blacks marry blacks, the social divide that was there 20 or 30 years ago has almost disappeared in Australia,” he said.  [The Daily Telegraph]

I think a key fact that should be highlighted is how the Aboriginals moving into the cities are receiving better education and more chance to interact with mainstream Australian society.  Over the long run I think this is better for the Aborigines instead of encouraging a welfare system that keeps them isolated in remote Aboriginal communities with little chance to interact with greater Australian society.