Here in Australia there are two indigenous groups, the Aboriginals which are the biggest and most common indigenous people and there are 420,000 of them living in Australia and they are the mainland indigenous people of Australia and then there are the Torres Strait Islanders and there are 48,000 of them which are Australias second indigenous people and they are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands which are a group of Islands off of North Queensland.

Most Australians have never heard of the Torres Strait Islanders and not much is know about them, they are often mistaken for being Aboriginals even though they are a seperate group to the Aboriginals and they have a different culture and different customs to Aboriginals and they also speak different languages to the Aboriginals and they have their own flag to, the majority of Torres Strait Islanders also look very different to the Aboriginals, they have different facial features and their skin colour is darker.
All Canadians however are familiar that there are two indigenous groups in Canada which are the Native Inidans and the Inuits and it’s obvious because it has been taught to every school kid in Canada.

However here in Australia when i went to school the only Australian indigenous people i learnt about were the Aboriginals, i learn’t nothing about the Torres Strait Islanders and when i was at school i didn’t even know that they existed, it was only a few years ago that i actually found out who the Torres Strait Islanders were.

I think more needs to be done to raise awarness of who the Torres Strait Islanders are because in mainstream Australian society they are usually ignored and i don;t think that is right because they are Australian to and should be recognised by all people in Australia.

Aboriginals are well known in Australia and famous Aboriginals such as Ernie Dingo are well know and now it’s about time that Torres Strait Islanders become more known.
It’s also about time that famous Torres Strait Islanders such as Eddie Mabo Christine Arnu and Wendall Sailor become more well known to especially on the basis of the indigenous ethnicity.

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