If he has not done so already, it might prove helpful, were Gavin to to engage this forum.

A reasonably new member of this tremendously and enlightening forum, I apologise for citing an argument which I believe though one of Australian born British stock has become so very important to relations in Australia between indigenous and non-indigenous. After reading most of the long list of indigenous-related articles amd commentaries, the critical query from me as a reader, becomes:

Why is it so hard for so many of our contributors to say sorry to our indigenous citizens. Why so hard to say sorry when we did not recognise the former owners of their native land as normal humans till 1970. To some of our contributors it seems that not to say sorry about inhuman events of history, should be the way of history - when it should be only the way of colonial history. It is to be reminded that we are now supposed to be a democracy where everyone has equal rights - or are we still the guided democracy of pre-WW2 when we were dumbed down so much it gave us schoolkids a thrill to view a map of the world all splashed with British colonial pinky red. - as it also gave a surge to the breast to hear the sound of Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free, just as George W Bush is now copying the colonial Brits with his promise of freedom for all the not quite white citizens of the Middle East. My God, what a hypocrical load of rubbish it’s all turning out to be.

After WW2, wasn’t there a Grand Meeting to end all such bulldust, when our Queen apologised to India, the West Indies, and to so many other former colonies it would fill more than half a page. And here we have John Howard still with not enough gumption to even ask the Queen if he should say sorry to the original inhabitants of this comandeered Terra Australis.

Regards - Bushbred - WA