Australian Government to FINALLY apologise to the Aboriginal people

[Son_of_Sam]

Are you suggesting they should not be entitled to claim the land?

The rig sites were over 1000km apart. would be like someone from the Kerry claiming a bog in poland because maybe his great great grandad lit a fire there.

How is this any different from Ireland, Iceland, The United Kingdom, Denmark & Norway claiming ownership of Rockall, just because a Viking or St.Brendan once sailed within a few hundred miles of it or a British Army crew landed for half an hour once?

However I can see where a problem can arise when people look for compensation based on crimes during history.

How many descendent's of slaves are also descendent's of slave owner es (in the U.S. or otherwise). A case may arise where a white person has allot more African ancestry than a black person, but a dominant gene over time has decided their colour.

Here in Ireland how many descendent's of great Irish Royalty or Rebel Gaels are now Unionists or Irish Times readers  while ancestors of  Norman or Planter are committed Nationalists.

[Rav67]

Rockall's Irish to the core! Rock on

[Son_of_Sam]

Rockall's Irish to the core! Rock on

That sounds like right wing, mineral grabbing rhetoric to me. Sure the extreme left & extreme right are interchangeable.

[The Blegard]

Well maybe just gullible then if you believe all that right-wing claptrap with figures pulled from thin air.

By the way gullible I am not, Very presumptuous to say so. Where did I say i believed the figures ?. Read the posts

[spectator]

Any of you who have ever been to the UK and seen a Dewhursts' butchers shop or drunk Bovril, think of  the tyrannical Lord Vestey and read about what he did to the population of the NT and the Kimberley regions.  And sadly, we Irish are just as guilty of wrongdoing.  The Durack family of Co. Mayo especially the actions of Michael son of Patrick Durack have left a very nasty scar on the people of the same region.

  And we are next door to Mulga Downs, home of that other evil man, Lang Hancock - he of iron ore fame/infamy.

The simple fact is: the Aboriginal people were subjected to direct and indirect genocide.

The story of The Duracks [emigrated from around the Clare \ Galway border] is recounted by one of their descendents in the book Kings In Grass Castles. It's a must read for anyone interested in the pioneering days of early Oz. It recalls the great cattle drives from the south to find the 'shangri-la' that early pioneers believed existed in the north. Interestingly, while the book goes into admiral detail on how the Aborigines were central to the eventual success of these pioneering drives, it distances the Durack family from the later treatment of the Aborigines by society generally that followed.

When I worked in the Kimberleys in the early nineties, the attitude & discrimination of some locals towards the Aborigines was disgusting, not to mention neanderthal.

The one local pub in the town I lived in had a dress code, with no tongs or singlets allowed. Now, everyone knows that in a climate where temps of ~ 45C were not uncommon, everyone goes around in tongs, shorts and singlets. The purpose of the dress code was purely and simply to keep the Aborigines out of the pub. They contented themselves with going to the bottle shop instead & drinking outside sitting under the baobab trees.

Happily, attitudes have changed a lot since then & Australia is growing up a little. The Million Man March in Brisbane some years back & the apology for example demonstrates this.

Another book posters might light to look up re: treatment of the Aborigines is;

A Secret Country by John Pilger (Vintage, 1992)

The blurb says "Going beyond the euphemistic and romantic popular misconceptions of Australia, Pilger reveals the often invisible past and the present subterfuge of his native country. Since its very beginning the history of white Australia has been shrouded in secrecy and silence with more cenotaphs per head of population than any other nation and not one stands for those aborigines who fought and died for their land."

Regarding Lord Vestey & the Aborigines, a famous incident c. 1966 where the native people fought against white discrimination and brought about wider change can be accessed at the following link;

http://www.freedomday.info/history.html

On youtube recounted in song ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on82-wnO4kk

Make no mistake about it, the native people were discriminated against and left in mental chaos. The movie Rabbit Proof Fence is very accurate in its depiction of this.

As for Lang Hancock ...  he's another day's work

* aerlik, edited as requested

[ziggysego]

Australia apology to Aborigines

The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs inflicted by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised in parliament in the capital, Canberra, for the laws and polices that inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss".

Mr Rudd also singled out the "Stolen Generations" of thousands of children forcibly removed from their families.

On Tuesday, parliament began a new session with an Aboriginal welcome.

In a special ceremony in Members Hall, Aboriginal elder Matilda House handed a symbolic message stick to Mr Rudd and spoke of "the hope of a united nation through reconciliation".

"Today we begin with one small step to set right the wrongs of the past," Mr Rudd said afterwards.

'Indignity and degradation'

In a motion presented to Australian MPs on Wednesday morning, Mr Rudd acknowledged the "past mistreatment" of all of his country's Aboriginal population.

"We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," the motion said.

However, the motion also singled out the Stolen Generations of young Aboriginal children who were taken from their parents in a policy of assimilation which lasted from the 19th Century to the late 1960s.

"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry," the motion added.

"To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry."

"For the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

Australia has no Aboriginal members in parliament, but 100 leaders of the community and members of the Stolen Generations were present for the historic apology.

The parliamentary session was also shown live on television as well as on a series of screens erected in cities across the country to allow crowds to watch.

The government hopes the apology will repair the breach between white and black Australia.

The BBC's Nick Bryant in Canberra, however, says the refusal to accompany it with any compensation has angered many aboriginal leaders.

New agenda

The previous Prime Minister, John Howard, refused to apologise to members of the Stolen Generations, a position which chimes with about 30% of the population, according to the polls.

But the Liberal Party he led until last November's election has now decided to alter its stance, so all sides will take part in the apology.

Mr Rudd's agenda, also outlined in parliament on Tuesday, included a commitment to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between Aborigines and other Australians within a generation, was well as halving Aboriginal infant mortality rates within a decade.

Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up 2% of the population and are the most disadvantaged group.

They have higher rates of infant mortality, drug abuse, alcoholism and unemployment than the rest of the population.

Sourced BBCi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7241965.stm

[stephenite]

Just watched it, quite powerful and many of those gathered to hear it were in tears in the public gallery.

[Aerlik]

The Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson gave a remarkable reply I think.  Not fully in agreement with all that he said but at one stage I thought he was going to break down in tears.  Interesting symbolic gesture at the end with the two leaders greeting the distinguished guests. 

I think that Australia has taken a massive step forward today.   

I recognised a few familiar faces there.  Don't know their names but familiar to me from my days flying VIPs to meetings around the Kimberley and the NT.

[Zapatista]

Mr Rudd's agenda, also outlined in parliament on Tuesday, included a commitment to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between Aborigines and other Australians within a generation, was well as halving Aboriginal infant mortality rates within a decade.

Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up 2% of the population and are the most disadvantaged group.

They have higher rates of infant mortality, drug abuse, alcoholism and unemployment than the rest of the population.

Sourced BBCi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7241965.stm

I don't think shorting the life expectancy and halving the infant mortality rate of white people is the way to go

[thejuice]

Wonder will they apologise for the kidnapping of the O'hAilpins, Clarke, Begley and others, baiting them with money and robbing them from under our noses, the bastards!!!