Oz Day fuss

[Shirley]

Again Bruce, we are one we are many & we need to move forward in this awesome country Australia, we can't change the past it is history.

[Bow]

I don’t know the answer but I proudly fly the Australia flag.

[native pepper]

Surely now we can just say we are ALL Australians without creating divisions & angst?

That's a lovely sentiment Bruce, sadly throughout history no one has been able to achieve that goal, which is one I fully support. For some reason many can't step out of the past and into the future, so they demand their past becomes more important than a cohesive future. Don't have a clue what to do about that, but it's destroyed many societies throughout history.

Aus day here is the same as any other day, when young I liked the Aus flag but as my knowledge grew, I don't like it at all because it represents the past and not the future. Just like our insipid national anthem, which in my opinion should be changed as society changes. Songs like P Allens "still call Aus home" or "We come from a land down under" better represents the Aussies of today.

[dapope]

screenshot_659.jpg

Thanks Cuppa.

Not all first people countries were at war. In fact very few were. There was enough for everyone by and large.
The 26 was a date chosen unilaterally by those of European descent I believe.
There are some historic reasons for that date..
One relates to Australia gaining its own passports.
The other I have seen relates to the recognition of the first European and aboriginal marriage registered.
I don't believe we will successfully move on till there is an acknowledgement of past wrongs and an acceptance of the need to move forward from everyone. That won't happen while we persist with the myths around how bad the convicts and early settlers had it.
Next time anyone gets the opportunity, drop in to the historic Roebourne prison in WA. Do the tour. Look at the photos. Read the stories.
Happy Australia Day.

[Cuppa]

Oh boy Cuppa you sure do know how to stir ..............
Bringing racist ideas & political comments on here is not what I would like but it's not my forum any more.

Bruce
Stirring no. Controversial? Sadly yes, but for that very reason I felt some commentary was necessary, & remains so until it is no longer controversial & 'respect for other' is possible.

Racist? ..... tripe! Next you'll be calling me 'Woke' ,'Politically Correct or some such description aimed at the messenger not the message!

If someone had commented about 'those black bastards protesting again' I doubt there would have been comment about it being 'political'. (Which of course they have become - the protests that is - how sad that it ever came to that).

I will say that Julie & I, as Australian Citizens & truly lovers of this country, look forward to one day joining all Australians in a genuine celebration of 'We are One', but until such time that that is no longer a lie we will not celebrate. Instead we will in our own small way attempt to expose the celebration as one posing as something it is not ...... inclusive.

We look forward to the time when Australian society grows up & moves on from it's adolescence.

Modern politics has a lot to answer for. Polarising of difference, pitting different views against one another, winning & losing ...... instead of seeking & finding ways to accept & to come together. Even Left & Right means something different today to what it meant a decade ago. Somewhere there are those looking on rubbing their hands with glee.

If anyone feels inclined to 'put me right, or to abuse me on the basis of my views they will be wasting energy better utilised in seeking ways to 'embrace difference' as I have no intention to argue the toss further.

[Shirley]

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We'll share a dream and sing with one voice
" I am, you are, we are Australian."

Maybe the Seeker's song will come true some day.

[T1 Terry]

It really is a mess when you think about it. Australia was settled by white people who were actually prisoners of the British "Class" system that made some more powerful than others based simply on their family story line. There were clashes with those here already because they believed it was their land due to their family story line.
The British fort wars with anyone and everyone powered by the belief they were better than anyone else so the deserved to rule the world ......
The British white prisoners were forced into settling in a land half way around the globe from their original home ... but they made the best of it and tried to form one nation by unifying all the states to act as one voice ... still haven't really achieved that yet so let's call it a work in progress.
The original inhabitants had been slaughtered many years before by the people who now claimed they had been here forever .... yet another falsified story line passed down from generation to generation.

To sort the mess out, we need to be honest about the whole affair, on both sides. The people that were here when the white prisoners arrived can only claim it as an invasion of the land they had claimed if they admit they were also invaders themselves and had killed off the original inhabitants to do so .....

The problems that generates are many:
No native title, it wasn't theirs other than by winning a war against the original inhabitants, so if they believe they have lost the battle against the white people invasion then .....
No claim as the first nation people, they were the people that were here first and there are none of them left

The parts the invaders of the modern era need to address:
The treatment of those that lived here when they arrived was appalling. They only succeeded because the people that were here when they arrived were busy warring with each other rather than forming a united front against the invaders ... they would have slaughtered them or made them their slaves if they had been organised and prepared to defend their country. They wouldn't have even needed to fight them head to head, they could have starved them of food and water until they submitted to rule by a superior force. No message would have returned to "Mother England" so the "homeland" would not have known just what had happened to their ships full of prisoners.
The land the European settlers they took should have been purchased at a fair trade, not simply taken and assumed it was their right to just take it.

If the story had gone the other way and those that were here when the white prisoners arrived had taken control, armed themselves with he weapons they had seized along with the technology and then defended their shoreline .... "the boot would be on the other foot"so to speak and we white fellas would be the ones copping the kicking .......
Maybe that should be the basis for the celebration, pure luck put us in a land rich with resources yet very poorly defended.

As for those that were here when the white prisoners arrived, they were lucky the same wasn't done to them as they had done to the original inhabitants, they don't seem to have a voice in this at all ........

Yes, we really do live in the "Lucky Country", but it will only remain ours if we unite as one to fend off any invasion from without as well as from within. We all have a chance to make something of our lives, in the past the colour of our skin gave some a better chance than others, just as a families story line did for those with the same coloured skin back in the country they migrated from, but we can put that behind us if both sides are willing to move in the same direction, towards an even greater country that benefits us all .....

T1 Terry

[Cuppa]

https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement

[Noggins]

https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement

That is very political and not a common viewpoint amongst the general population of Aus, but mainly by the "I'll do for the Aboriginals what they can't do for themselves " brigade.
From my own ancestry there is a bit of ''Country" ( proven by DNA ) and I have had during my life many friends with more , and a lot of times, less, "Country", and from my own experiences, many don't give a shite about them "hedmukated white fellas' and just want what everyone else asks for, and that's a long and peaceful life without the Chinese Curse of " may you live in interesting times".

Any more politics from either side and the post might be shut down.

Ron

[Dot]

Think this will never end. Watched the "protests /marches "today. There were ones that yelled "Always was and a;ways will be Aboriginal land" then the marches with their boo hoo signs "Black Lives matter" then there were the ones yelling This is "Invasion day" Who really gives a shite bit like the 25th Dec, that date is not the day some mythical person was born yet that is acceptable ? Then there is the "Easter bunny date"? I think I should get an apology from the Romans for invading my Homeland . It is all BS and it needs to be put to sleep. I apologize to no one if I haven't done anything to them. This is the end of my rant just my opinion and no offense intended to anyone. But if you are offended then too bad.