the recent gesture of thankfulness from malaysia by awarding medals to australian servicemen who helped fight communist insurgency in malaysia 50 years ago fits in here too. most of those blokes have passed on, had 2 uncles over there in fact, and its great that their efforts are being recognised.

if its ok to accept thankful gestures for acts committed 50 years ago, it should also ok to offer up sorry for acts committed 50 years ago.

for one to be ok and the other not ok is hyprocracy.

Yes, this nation was built entirely on the dispossession of our Indigenous peoples. It is only fitting that their loss is commemorated alongide the sentiments and memorials of others who were sacrificed in the process of creating the Australia we know and love.

Both Anzacs and Aborigines were sacrificed by the British Empire to further its territorial and economic interests. Our current national identity draws heavily on both defeats.

How about this for a suggestion: make "Sorry Day" a public holiday, equivalent to Anzac Day? We could easily 'sacrifice' the Easter Monday public holiday for this purpose, since it has no inherent religious significance. We could even celebrate it on the same day, neatly harmonising with Christian ideas of sacrifice and regeneration.

Just a thought...

Mollydukes, you need to let go of this idyllic idea of aboriginal existence before settlement. Life expectancy was lower than it is today and the environment had been changed significantly over 60,000 years of aboriginal habitation of this continent. Mythology certainly tied indigenous people to the land but as a way of explaining things not some deep mystical attachment to the earth. Nature was powerful and unable to be explained without being in awe of some other powers.
What happened when white people arrived was a tragedy, I don't dispute that but saying sorry more than 200 years later will NOT change what happened.
There are very few aboriginal people living a traditional lifestyle now so loss of culture to urban aboriginals is just plain crap. The majority of aboriginal teenagers I know and associate with listen to rap music (with a lot of the non-indigenous kids)and live the same urban culture as the rest of the people in the neighbourhood.
A few of them even had holidays up in the NT with some of the more traditional tribes and absolutely hated it - they missed their coke and chips and chocolate biscuits.
If treating everyone equal and telling them to get on with their life without an apology is racist - then I am a racist.
But you are the one pigeonholing people and putting them into different baskets.

t.u.s.

t.u.s, its called assimilation and the current moves by johnny and co with their mutual obligation and shared responsiblity will try to bring all aboriginal people under more assimilation policies.

you're explanation of ties to country does not explain away things like the bora ring and ceremony, they didn't just put bora rings any old where and ceremony wasnt practiced in just any old place.

one of me uncles who served in malaysia, and nam as well, was also posted in the territory and told us some pretty amazing stories about the ways of the aboriginal people who helped them from time to time. one is about a yank soldier who went awol in desert there and they didn't know how to find him - bring in the aboriginal trackers who told em exactly where he was and that's where they found him.

there's more to connection to country then a bunch of stories that helped to make ya feel more safe from scary mother nature.

There are many complex ceremonies performed by many different peoples across the world which have evolved over time. However, most anthropologists will tell you that these ceremonies originated as a way to explain what was happening in the world.Things take on more meaning and become more sophisticated as time moves on and aboriginals certainly had a lot of time for their mythology to evolve. As nomadic people living in a resource poor continent - an acute understanding of the environment was important to survival and things grew from there.
You talk of assimilation as if it is some sort of evil. Mollydukes is very surprised how well assimilated I am because I don't want an apology. All it means is I have more time to provide for my family, spend time with my community and encourage people to stop waiting for something to happen and go do something yourself.
Turn negatives into positives. see article http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3301

And don't wait for an apology

t.u.s

t.u.s you make a lot of unjustified assumptions. I am not surprised at how well assimilated you are. Your western cultural background provided you with the cultural and philosophical basics to get on with it.

I am surprised at how ignorant you seem to be about Indigenous people who live in the outback settlements. You may understand the urban Indigenous but you really do not seem to have an accurate understanding of the conditions, or lack of, in the outback communities and although they do not live traditional lives, the traditional philosophies and attitudes are still very much intact.

You assume that I believe that Indigenous existence was idyllic before white settlement. Re read what I wrote and you will not find that is what I said. I would like to know your sources for assuming that life expectancy was lower than it was today though. Can you provide the reference for this? I am not being sarcastic.

You also do not appear to have much understanding of the traditional Indigenous religions. Can I recommend “Broken Song” by Barry Hill - about T.G H. Strehlow and his life with the Central Austalian Indgenous tribes?

Other unjustified assumptions you make are that I called you racist and that I am pigeonholing people. People are individuals and that surely was my point, that while an apology is meaningless to you and anyone you know, there are people to whom it is very meaningful.

Why are you are so against an apology. What does it mean to you?

It is not racist to say get on with your life and I am sure you would say that to disadvantaged white kids also. It is however indicative of your lack of understanding of the ‘causes’ of the failure of some people to be able to do this