Acquired Brain Impairment is one of the many health issues that confronts and challenges our community today. The state of our health is directly linked to the devastation and destruction of our culture and lifestyle, which came with the European invasion.

Our history

The European invasion meant the destruction of many of our cultural and social practices that have existed for many thousands of years. Governments and respectable social institutions sanctioned and carried out the genocide of our people.

From the time of invasion and onwards, our people were killed by the brutal acts of early settlers and by the diseases they brought with them. We were forced to move away from traditional lands and to live on reserves and missions. We were denied access to traditional food supplies and were forced to cope with a change of diet and foods that provided little nutritional value.

Nations were destroyed. Our languages were forbidden. Families were torn apart as our children were taken from us. While we were 'protected', segregated and assimilated, it was thought that our culture would eventually die out, so that we would no longer present a 'problem' to white Australia.

Now we are one of the most socially, economically and politically marginalised groups in Australian society. Today we are massively over-represented in the criminal justice system, and continue to die as a result. We struggle to find employment, and to provide for our families with the little income we receive. We often live in substandard housing. We are less likely to complete secondary school and go on to tertiary education than non-Kooris. We continue to be subject to racist stereotypes that undermine our identity and our self-esteem.

Koori health

The health of our people does not compare favourably with any other group in Australian society. Our life expectancy is up to twenty years less than the non-Koori population. We endure the kind of poor health in childhood and in our adult lives that would be considered totally unacceptable if non-Koori people experienced it.

The health of Koori children is often worse than other children in Australia. Koori children are born with low birth weight and continue to have poor patterns of growth. There is a higher rate of infectious diseases amongst Koori children than non-Koori children. Koori children often suffer from repeated middle ear infections that leave permanent hearing impairments.

Koori adults can suffer from the same illnesses as non-Kooris. These illnesses, however, are usually developed at a much younger age than would happen in the general community. Kooris suffer from ischaemic heart disease that is made worse by hypertension, obesity and diabetes. We also suffer higher rates of chest infections, bronchitis and pneumonia than others. With these illnesses we also suffer from high rates of eye disease like Trachoma, that may lead to blindness.

One in five Kooris have non-insulin dependent diabetes. This form of diabetes is compounded by other disorders associated with the radical changes in our lifestyle.

It has been documented that diabetes and other related illnesses confronting Kooris today were unknown before European invasion. Enforced changes to our traditional diets means that we now eat high levels of saturated fats, salt and sugar and little fibre. We are also dealing with high levels of stress and low levels of exercise, all of which contribute to the state of ill health Kooris suffer today.