A child of the GAP

Photographer's Hometown
Perth

Status
Professional

Photo Subject and/or Photo Location
Western Australia

A little about this image...
An indigenous Australian child sitting in the car, Western Australia
The photo from my project “The Gap”
Colonisation severely disrupted indigenous society and their economy – epidemic disease caused an immediate loss of life, and the occupation of land by settlers and the restriction of Aboriginal people to ‘reserves’ disrupted their ability to support themselves. Indigenous Australians experience disadvantage in almost all measures of health and welfare when compared with non-Indigenous Australians; this disparity has become known as ‘the Gap’.
The year 2020 saw the signing of a new National Agreement on Closing the Gap, for the first time an agreement developed in genuine partnership between Australian governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations.
Its aim is to work together to ‘overcome the inequality experienced and achieve life outcomes equal to all Australians’. The Indigenous Australian population is projected to reach about 1.1 million people by 2031.