Minotaur,

The word 'aborigine', denoting native people of any country is a common noun, whose first letter should not be capitalised under rules of the English language.The person who started the capital A nonsense for Australia's aborigines was a complete dill. And it has nothing to do with respect! As for the rest of your claims, it seems that you are reading incompetent and untrusty activists rather than serious, honest historians who back their writing with references to original documents. That's what I do. But you have the right to be totally wrong, and I would not have said boo about your ignorance if you had not addressed your post directly me

ttbn, is the best you can come up with? It has been accepted for decades now that when writing about Australian Aboriginal people the 'A' is capitalized. To not do so, using the excuse of English grammar rules, is truly disrespectful and a using a pathetically weak excuse.

That was a woeful attempt to turn my comments back on me too. I note you make absolutely no reference to any historians at all and accuse me of using 'activists'. I didn't realise Henry Reynolds could be considered an activist. Nor others such as John Maynard, Nicholas Clements, John Connor, Jospehine Flood, Bain Attwood, Rosalind Kidd, Bruce Pascoe, Marcia Langton, Peter Sutton, Richard Broome, Max Griffiths, Murray Johnson, Ian Mcfarlane and the list goes on.

Who are you going to cite...Keith Windschuttle?

Minny,

Yes. Several of your heroes are activists, and you are clearly a good little, brainwashed evangelist for the lefty Australia - basher brigade. Drones like you are two a penny around here.

ttbn...seriously, that post is even worse than your previous one. You clearly don't have any sort of ability to offer a well-researched or considered refutation. Instead you resort to insult and attempted denigration as a means of trying to divert attention. Once again your extreme limitations are on show and it is obvious there is little point engaging you any further.

Forget all the fatuous arguments. Just hold a referendum on whether the flag should be changed. If the vote is No, then that's it for now. If the vote is Yes, put it out to a nationwide competition, as was done for the current flag.

Hi Minotaur,

I typed up all the letters of the Protector here in SA [on: www.firstsources.info], from 1837 through to 1912, and 'Aboriginal' etc. is always spelt with a capital 'A', unless I missed one or two, or my memory fails me over nine thousand letters.

Early respect :)

You airily suggest that " ....As to decrees that originated in Britain, well they were summarily ignored in the reality of the Australian experience. "

Not in South Australia. Perhaps you can cite just one 'decree' that was ignored ? Anywhere in Australia ?

It's so easy to make the most vapid accusations, isn't it ? If that's all you have, it may be wiser to wait until your gun is loaded before you pull the trigger, so to speak.

Joe