The high rate of domestic violence in Aboriginal families can be understood only in the context of their colonised history, a conference in Dublin will be told tomorrow.
Ms Judy Atkinson, a researcher and community development worker, said the "transgenerational trauma" of Australia's indigenous people at the hands of white settlers has left a legacy of alcohol and drug abuse, violence and suicide.
Ms Atkinson, herself of mixed Aboriginal and European origin, said one-third of victims of violence in Queensland in the past five years had been Aboriginal women and children. In almost half the cases, Aboriginal men were the perpetrators.
Ms Atkinson will be a keynote speaker at a conference in Dublin tomorrow organised by the Pavee Point centre, which campaigns for rights for Travellers.
The conference, Racism and Violence Against Women, will also be addressed by Ms Pragna Patell, a founding member of the black women's organisation, Southall Black Sisters, and by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue.