Good Afternoon Andris,

Thank You for the links and for sharing your father's
death. You write beautifully and your experience
brought back so many memories of my own father's
sudden passing. My husband and I were touring Canada
at the time when we received the phone-call that he'd
died. I remember the numb feelings very well. And still
do.

The pain we feel for familiar things that all too often in
a flash bring back glimpses of days past
And then I remember him
But with difficulty for he has not been gone long

The memory is clear and always sweet
The grey at his temples that turned white so quickly
people said
His joy at his privacy able to forget briefly his daily bread

Giving
Above all else I remember the giving
The smile, the talk, the laugh are all things that linger
with moments shared now remembered

But the giving will be his epitaph
"Give and you shall receive" words etched in sweat
on my father's grave

Now so much more than the words remain.

Hi Foxy,

Your generous Dad clearly lives on in you.

Hi Andris,

Thank You for your kind words.

I'm sure that my father is watching over me.
Like I'm sure yours is over you.

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord
And let perpetual light shine on them
May they rest in peace.
Amen.

Andris:/It is pointless to bring facts to your attention because as long as you cling to this underlying attitude of contempt, you will be simply unmotivated to adjust your views according to facts./

Do you know that the word "hypocrisy" is? If not then what you wrote above is an perfect example from which you can fathom its meaning.

Contrary to what you wrote above, I've pointedly asked for you to bring your historical facts to the the debate. But you have not produced one single fact.

Look, I'll even ask once again for some:
All you have to do to convince me that the traditional aboriginals were cognizant of their ancient history is produce (let's not make it too hard for you so I won't ask for too many), 10 historical facts that they knew from (again let's take it easy on you and give you plenty of range to chose from) say 10,000 to 60,000 years ago. That's a mere 10 facts over a 50,000 year range! If the aboriginals where such the avid historians that you claim they were then that should be piss easy.

Now, just to show you that it is possible to present such historical facts I'll give you 10 that modern western science has determined:
1) 49,000 : Archaeologists find the earliest known use of ochre in Australia and south-east Asia and bone fragments of extinct megafauna, including the diprotodon, at the Warratyi rock shelter in the northern Flinders Ranges, SA, in the traditional lands of the Adnyamathanha people.
2) 43,000 : ‘Mungo Man’ (also known as Lake Mungo 3 human remains, or LM3), a hunter gatherer who lived in western NSW. His skeleton is the oldest known remains in Australia.
3) 37,000 : Papuan and Aboriginal groups split, long before the continents are finally cut off from each other (around 8,000 years ago)
4) 35,000 : Age of a oldest known camping site found in the Pilbara region, Western Australia, near the Jugaling Rock Shelter.

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-- from above --

5) 30,000 : Devils’ Lair in southernmost Western Australia is home to Aboriginal people who leave bone tool artefacts, including unique bone-beads of split-pointed macropod shin bones
6) 28,000 : Age of a charcoal drawing found at Narwala Gabarnmung, in the Northern Territory, assumed to be Australia’s oldest known rock art specimen and one of the earliest examples of human art on the planet
7) 22,000 : Aboriginal people living at Malangangarr in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, use ground-edge grooved axes
8) 18,000 : Art at Ubirr in Kakadu National Park (Northern Territory, 300 kms east of Darwin) depicts now extinct animals, the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), and Zaglossus (the long-beaked echidna).
9) 16,000 : Hearths, stone and bone tools, Shaws Creek near Yarramundi (60 kms north-west from Sydney), NSW.
10) 13,000 : Land bridges between mainland Australia and Tasmania are flooded. Tasmanian Aboriginal people become isolated for the next 12,000 - 13,000 years.

The Toba eruption would have contributed to or even kicked-off the occupation of what is now known as Australia. Subsequent rises of sea level then put a stop to the migration & the further development of the occupiers. New Guinea had obviously continued to progress going by their culture & building of houses etc. Some Pacific island also had more advanced dwellings & agriculture in comparison to Australia. Similarly on other continents. It appears that Australia was totally isolated for thousands of years from the outside world and, the vastness of this continent also contributed to much isolation within.