Many thanks Foxy.
Can you give reference to your anthology and stories which sound delightful.
I met Kevin Gilbert in the early 1970's when on This Day Tonight I was a Production Assistant to Peter Luck who did a half an hour TV special on him on the occassion of being released from jail.
Individual: thank you for your comments.Yes, the admin. of Ab.l Affairs has a long history of disastreous mismanagement.
I have no illusions of the severity of degradation of many Aborigine communities.In 1973 I worked with the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Service.I followed the findings of the then Royal Commission on Aborinal Alcoholism in the Northern Territory.The findings were shocking.
Now I have a neighbour who has been a fly-in dentist to Arhnem Land
communities, especially Maningrida, for the last 6 years. The picture he paints of the conditions there are also horrendous.
Yet through all these, I never lost hope. The resilience of Aborigines in surviving and still going forward in spite of innumerable obstacles
has been nothing less than extraordinary. It even started with Captain Cook's landing when they told him in no uncertain terms that they didn't want him to come ashore and urged him to leave them alone.
Jump to the resilience of the https://startsat60.com/opinion/blogs/australias-poet-lorikeet-denis-kevans-megalong-gundangurra-werriberri

'Individual' : Please discard the error http reference above. What I wrote continues: Jump to the resilience of the Gurundjies who won higher wages and eventual landrights against the might of the pasturalists. And they could not have won, without the encouragement and guidance of Southern part-Aborigine activists who tutored them in the art of political struggle. Then came Charlie Perkins and other educated Aborigine activists who have devoted their lives to helping their people. By now nine indegenous politicians have served in the Parliament. I am particularly impressed by Pat Dodson, the late Eddie Mabo, Adam Goodes, Stan Grant and even Noel Pierson and more, who have demonstrated committed leadership for the upliftment of their people.

Gurundjies who won higher wages and eventual landrights against the might of the pasturalists.
Andris,
Have they taken over the pastoralists enterprise also & are now self-sufficient & no longer asking for Govt support ? Are they now paying themselves the higher wages ?
I'd be fully supportive of them if such efforts are indeed in place !
In our area, a lot of farm land has been handed back but the demand for funding projects & welfare is higher than ever.
Every time I hear Perkins mentioned I still see him sitting there with Lionel Rose at Manuka oval smoking Marihuana.

Dear Andris,

You have really had some wonderful and interesting
experiences. I envy your experience with our
Aboriginal people and communities.

A large portion of my experience came - working and living
in Los Angeles for close to ten years at the
University of Southern California. However I feel somewhat reluctant to say too
much on this public forum about myself because of the
personal attacks that can (and have) followed. Therefore
I prefer to remain under the cloak of anonymity. I hope
that you shall understand.

Take care. Stay safe.

Dear Individual. Let the historical, indigenous Makarrata perspective of the Ularu Statement From The Heart dissolve the ahistoric, impatiently self-rightous settler perspective, which blames the survivors of decades of abuse for slow progress in getting their act together. "It can be a negotiation of peace, or a negotiation and an agreement where both parties agree to one thing so that there is no dispute or no other bad feeling," says Ms Ganambarr-Stubbs.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-10/makarrata-explainer-yolngu-word-more-than-synonym-for-treaty/8790452

Thank you dear Foxy and the very best to you!