can somebody please elaborate on this "rich and vibrant nature of Indigenous cultures"?
What is it exactly, and what was here (culturally) before the brits got here. The poor buggers hadnt even discovered the wheel or collective farming. Apart from the digeridoo and the boomerang, I literally cannot think of anything useful or interesting from their 'culture'

Shortly after arriving in this country I heard an Aborigine say “If four hundred thousand Blackfellas dropped dead today one million Whitefellas would be out of a job tomorrow.” In one sentence he explained why reconciliation is impossible. Too many people have a vested interest in a state of non-reconciliation.

What would all those self-righteous commentators do if there was reconciliation? What would Mr. Dodson do?

The present situation suits everybody. People who are so inclined can flaunt their virtue through empty gestures such as “sorry days” and issuing meaningless apologies. Inept governments can attempt to distract the electorate from their failings by proposing meaningless constitutional referenda. Aborigines can, if they so choose, evade all responsibility for their actions by blaming those horrible “White racists” while aforementioned “White racists” can wallow narcissistically in their guilt. And tens of thousands of “Whitefellas” can earn a living “rescuing” Aborigines.

This is a win-win situation.

So Peter I presumed that the OPENING comment filled you with such disgust and rage that you immediately stopped reading to write your comment?

To everyone else, please read the entirety of Patric Dodson's article- it makes a lot of very good points and what he endorses is more than a fair request (especially considering how little we have to lose from the way we currently run our industrial and management practices, a bit more accountability is no skin off my back- in fact we should add to the referendum that WE acquire these rights to).

As for the referendum- I sincerely hope Gillard doesn't fudge it into nothing more than another symbolic slosh. Were it any other cause it would be sad enough that we are reinforcing ourselves as a nation of shallow superficialities to mask business as usual;
To do this, again, to the Indigenous community with some long-overdue rights would be criminal.
(of course, if even the second case came through, you would have to convince every redneck with a gigantic chip in his shoulder over indigenous affairs that it would be to do the right thing and would not sacrifice anything to do it (the government would never, ever do that if it wanted to be re-elected).

Dear Patrick, it is hard to read your article and not feel sadness and compassion for the Indigenous Peoples of Australia.

That said, I wonder if your view of reconciliation is far too internalized and, as a consequence, tends to overstate the “soft benefits” promoted to the rest of Australia. By that I mean most of what you promote as beneficial is beneficial to whom?

Most would accept some cultural values however; outside of this many Australians look more at contribution to our society as a basis for inclusion. Yes there are many Australians who would like to see good things happen for Indigenous Australians and many people of good heart have many “solutions” to offer. Sadly, all the solutions from all of the people over a very long period in history seem to have amounted to little.

A “fair go” Australia is compassionate however, it is also dependent upon mutual effort and only goes so far. The mantle of “victimhood” is wearing very thin and predictably draws only a tokenistic approach to solutions. You have to admit that initiatives like saying sorry might have had temporary feel good value for Indigenous Peoples but sadly it offers no sustainable basis for anything.

There has been so much good intent brought to bear, so many institutions, bodies and entities created to “solve your problems”. As I look around Australia today I see very little evidence of any positive outcomes.

You place so much hope in constitutional inclusion, declarations on indigenous rights and referendums and yet fail to recognize that whatever solutions are implemented must be a workable solution for indigenous and non-indigenous people if they are to be sustainable.

If you try to force Australians into incorporating “Indigenous knowledge systems” into our industrialized society you will need to tell investors how this works. How relevant to our society are your knowledge systems?

Sadly there are too many Australians who will tell you what a great idea this is. And for too long you have listened to them. It’s time for indigenous peoples to show and tell and not just “tell”.

I found this article short on practical solutions, stating that " a real dialogue between us can proceed" only once " a proper recognition of the Indigenous people of Australia as the First Peoples, and an acknowledgement of our culture, our languages, and our economies within the Australian constitution." Perhaps you could state some practical steps that can be taken rather than empty symbolism leading to nothing but empty words.

You seem to blame the government for the regime of social oppression, yet appeal to them to make things right. It is time that the aboriginal people face reality, and realize that there is no economical way of surviving in remote places in the outback where there are no jobs, schools or hospitals. When I was a child we had to move around the country when there was no work to be foundin the area where we were living. That is called adaption. Second, back to reality again, "the Aboriginal peoples managed for millennia to maintain a balance between sustaining our societies, feeding our people, and living within our lands, sea, and waters without destroying another species of bird, fish or animal." get off your moral high horse, the aboriginal people significantly altered their environment with large-scale burning of the land, and hunting practices resulted in the extinction of many species in australia, including megafauna. This is supported by many studies now I'm sure you must be aware of. Written records by colonialists as well as Charles Darwin mention that at the time aboriginal people were often found starving, with vines tied around their stomach to alleviate the pain of starvation. Time to face reality and take responsibility for your own future.

The rich and vibrant nature of Indigenous cultures is too complex to be explained in a brief post. The sad fact is that most of us know more about Balinese, Italian or Vietnamese culture than we do about our own. I've been learning about Indigenous culture locally and through the University of South Australia. For a start the Indigenous way of seeing things is far more holistic and I think we'd all benefit from that. Local people have been teaching me about their culture and it connects me to country (which includes the sea and air) and what I'm taught totally makes sense and its very much about caring for country and looking after resources. If we are to learn anything about Indigenous cultures we have to go looking because they have been devalued by the mainstream. It's not just boomerangs and paintings it's a whole other way of seeing the world and the way the world is going it'd be very timely for the nation to learn from it! Most of us weren't taught anything at all about Indigneous culture when we were in the education system and non-Indigenous opinions have been formed by social myths and media stereotypes. Not knowing about culture doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If you want to become informed please visit your nearest Indigenous cultural centre, they're not just for tourists to visit. Also there are great resources for becoming informed on the Generation One website.