As health professionals, we need to look beyond the individual characteristics of Indigenous Australians to gain a greater understanding and possible explanation for why there are such high rates of health issues such as l alcoholism and depression, abuse, shorter life expectancy and increased prevalence of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity in our indigenous population. By only looking at individual aspects and the biomedical health model, we do not get the context of Aboriginal health. This is why we need to explore in more detail what events may have created such inequalities in Aboriginal health. Other details we should consider are historical and cultural factors such as "terra nullius", dispossession and social Darwinism, early genocide attempts against indigenous Australians, segregation and "protection" legislation, assimilation policy , self-determination and “the emergence of indigenous protest” (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp.84), as well as the limiting factors related to belonging to a group with low socioeconomic status and statistical differences on health between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians compared to other countries Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations By considering all these details, we can begin to establish why Aboriginal people tend to have more health problems and what can be done to improve these health inequalities English settlers arrived on Australian shores in 1776 (The Story of the Australian People, 2010), saw nothing to indicate the land was theirs, so they claimed it as their own under 'terra nullius' in 1776. “In international law ' terra nullius' describes the territory that n...... middle of paper ......=33Australian Museum. (2011). Indigenous Australia Timeline: 1901 to 1969. Retrieved May 5, 2012, from http://australianmuseum.net.au/Indigenous-Australia-Timeline-1901-to-1969Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Community. (2008). Wave Hill Walk-Off Course more information. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/wave-hill/information.htmlAustralia Bureau of Statistics. (2010). ADULT HEALTH: RISK FACTORS AND SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITION. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter750October+2010Australian Bureau of Statistics. . (2010). ACCESS TO HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES: ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter955October+2010Lesson on indigenous health, slide 8.