Shocking life expectancy stats for Aboriginal Aussies

From the 7th Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture

Linda Burney is the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the New South Wales Parliament and also the first woman to deliver the lecture which honours the memory of the Gurindji strike leader Vincent Lingiari*:

"The life expectancy of Indigenous people is 59.4 years for men, 64.8 for women compared to 76.6 for men and 82.0 for women in the mainstream. The infant mortality rate is 3 times the non-Indigenous rate ...

"When you collapse these figures down to a local community level the true horror is revealed. The average life expectancy in Wilcannia, far west NSW is 33 years old."
Source (emphasis mine)

*From Wikipedia: Vincent Lingiari (1908 - 1988), was an Aboriginal rights activist who was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to the Aboriginal people. Lingiari was a member of the Gurindji people from the Northern Territory's Victoria River District. Lingiari led the Wave Hill Walk-Off, which eventually resulted in the return of the land to the Gurindji by the Commonwealth of Australia.

Gather round people and I'll tell you a story
An eight year long story of power and pride
British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiari
Were opposite men on opposite sides

Vestey was fat with money and muscle
Beef was his business, broad was his door
Vincent was lean and spoke very little
He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow ...

From Little Things Big Things Grow
A Song By Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody © 1992

Tagged: australia, health, aboriginal, indigenous