Wikipedia:WikiProject Australia/Conventions/Indigenous draft

Main page: Wikipedia:WikiProject Australia

The following guidelines are intended to apply to all references to people as of May 2022 referred to as Indigenous Australians, ie. all people descended from members of the various nations that occupied the continent and islands of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, before the British colonisation of Australia from 1788. It is an attempt to codify preferred usage when referring to such people throughout Wikipedia. For background reading on the work that lead to this style guide, see sources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander terminology.

Definitions

As per those articles listed in the sources which provide such definitions, noting that while many Indigenous peoples were displaced during the colonisation era, their descendants still inhabit the same areas today:

• Indigenous Australians (aka Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, see below under Terminology) are the peoples who inhabited the continent of Australia and its islands before British colonisation, including Tasmania, Hinchinbrook Island, Fraser Island, the Tiwi Islands, Groote Eylandt and other islands off Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Torres Strait Islands, and various other islands which were inhabited before the arrival of the British. Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically Melanesian and the Torres Strait Islands, while part of Queensland, are partly administered by a different authority from the rest of Australia.
• Aboriginal Australians are the Indigenous peoples of mainland Australia, Tasmania, Hinchinbrook Island, Fraser Island, the Tiwi Islands, Groote Eylandt, and other islands of the Northern Territory, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands.

Terminology

• Use individual's preference if stated in source.
• Use specific group descriptor as referred to in the source, such as Koori, Nunga, Gunditjamara, Gadigal, Kaurna. However, descriptive terms such as "saltwater", "freshwater" or "desert people" should only be used when quoting (with the exception of "spinifex people", also known as the Pila Nguru).
• Torres Strait Islander people prefer to use the name of their home island to identify themselves to outsiders, even when born and raised in mainland Australia, such as Saibai for someone from Saibai Island, or Meriam for someone from Mer.
• As a generic term, "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people(s)" is preferred over "Indigenous Australians", but only use the generic term when referring specifically to a group including both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, or when one or the other is not clear from the source.
• Blackfella and whitefella are generally non-offensive but should be used with care, and besides this are colloquial and so should usually only be used in quotations.

Placenames

When known, Indigenous placenames should be included in the lead directly after the English name in this format:

Melbourne (/ˈmɛlbərn/ MEL-bərn) (Boonwurrung: Naarm) is the capital of the Australian state of Victoria.

• Where possible include details including the language, IPA pronunciation, and citations.
• Include the placename within the infobox by using the "native_name" module.
• The meaning of the name can be explained in the Etymology or History section.
• Do not describe the placename as in "Aboriginal" language, refer to the actual language eg. Boonwurrung, or state that it is "in an unknown Aboriginal language". This is because there are hundreds of Aboriginal languages and not one "Aboriginal" language.

Spelling

Spelling of Aboriginal placenames, languages, ethnic groups, and other terms, is a very controversial topic within Aboriginal communities. For the purposes of Wikipedia refer to AIATSIS?

Terminology of groups

Aboriginal ethnic groups are often defined by their language, country, moiety system, and totemic class, among other aspects of Culture. Western anthropological terms are often not used, or used with different meanings.

Hierarchy of terms:

• Aboriginal people
• Regional grouping - a grouping of peoples that communities have agreed upon that covers a large geographic area eg. Koori
• Nation - refers to a traditional grouping of distinct peoples - eg. Kulin nation
• People - refers to an ethnic group often with a distinct language and distinct lands. The name of the people is often but not always the same as their traditional language.

- eg. Wurundjeri peoples (of the Woiwurrung language)

• Clan - may refer to a people as above, or a smaller grouping of families within a "people". eg. Yalukit-willam. Western anthropologists would perhaps classify this group as a "band" but that term is rarely if ever used.

While some legal or government acts may refer to "tribes", this term is generally frowned upon outside of that context. https://www.deadlystory.com/page/tools/aboriginal-cultural-support-planning/cultural-planning---frequently-asked-questions/what-is-the-difference-between-mob-clan-tribe-language-group

Capitalisation

Capitalisation is always used for the following terms:

• Aboriginal and Indigenous, when referring to people, are always capitalised.

• The Dreaming (or Dreamtime), is capitalised to distinguish the specific meaning in Aboriginal culture, rather than the usual dictionary definitions.

Capitalisation is also often used in contemporary sources when referring to other terms, such as:

• Culture
• Law / lore
• Country
• Language
• Traditional owners
• Nations

However the Wikipedia manual of style does not support capitalisation for these terms.

Deprecated terminology

Some terms that are commonly seen in primary sources are now considered slurs and should be avoided or removed. While some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may use these terms themselves, they are generally seen as offensive, and so should only be used within quotations or in a particular context where a whole Indigenous community specifically continues to use that term and does not see it as offensive.

• Aborigine
• Natives
• Savage
• Tribal
• Primitive
• Prehistoric