Garra.. this is for you.

Your suggestion has a degree of merit I feel (which may sound rather different from my usual line on this issue) but probably not for the reasons you outlined, well, not completely.
For me as a Christian, I would like ANY day of special remembrance to have prophetic overtones. i.e. calling us back to justice and righteousness under God. Reconciliation is a major theme in the bible, in fact its a history of reconciliation and breakdown of a relationship between God and man. You gave your idea as 'just a thought'

I've got one also, but its a quote straight out of the 'good book'

"If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicket ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2nd Chronicles 7.14

Just a thought :

Mollydukes - the only people who really, really, really want an apology from the government is the lawyers. Just another trough to stick their faces in.

I'm sure most Australians who are all for an apology have the best of intent. I don't know what good they think it will do - apart from making themselves feel like really top-class, compassionate human beings - but I just have a disagreeable feeling that the main reason an apology is sought is for the potential financial gain.

In relation to Hagan's article there's a bit of difference between a cemetary, indigenous or non-indigenous, and war graves. We dig up old whitey cemetaries all the time. Aboriginal sacred sites - whether fair-dinkum or not - are protected all over this country. You'd be a bit offended if I chuckled at a bulldozer cavorting through an Aboriginal sacred site, similarly I'm a bit offended that you think it's fine to smirk at the possible digging up of our ANZAC heroes graves.

To Mollydukes:- and his assumption that the Canadians apologised, without any ramifications, legal or otherwise; go ask a Canadian, particularly a Canadian who lives in the city of Winnipeg, specifically a Canadian investment/revenue property owner who has a rental property in the inner suburbs of Winnipeg {colloquially known as the WAR ZONE}.

Don’t be mistaken or misled, I do not intend to malign the indigenous populations as a whole (no matter where in the world they happen to be); there is an element in any society which will take unfair advantage of rules and/or perceptions meant only to help the unfortunate.

While a element, any element or group in this country, regardless of how we all came to be here, continue to demand conditions and/or treatment different to that of any other, then we will never be a cohesive society.

tus, yes many indigenous peoples across the world practiced complex ceremonies, i think the most famous example would have to be feng shui, a vibrational science that aboriginal people were also very much aware of and of course expressed it differently to the chinese, probably due to population.

as for assimilation, when it involves decimation, deception and betrayal then yes it is 'evil' as you suggest. however, if it allows for the inclusion of cultural practices of those being assimilated then i wouldnt have a problem. eg italian, greek, yugoslav, chinese, vietnamese australians who have taken on australian way of life that includes parts of their cultural heritage. they're no different to aboriginal people except for the fact that they weren't classified as animals when they landed on australian shores. not to say that they didnt experience racism from anglo-extract australians but they were given opportunity to develop an asset base, something that was denied of aboriginal people until the late 60's.

as for sorry, i agree with you in part, sorry dont mean nothing to me without action to back it up its just a word. my father and his family were removed from their country, he and his sister utilised as the slave labour force who had their wages stolen. will sorry reinstate all that they've lost? i dont think so. will it make them feel any better? well, like a bandaid its temporary.

fact remains tho, if gestures of thanks can be accepted on behalf of dead people for their actions, then gestures of sorry can be accepted on behalf of dead people for the actions done against them.

Kalalli please accept my heartfelt sorrow for what we have done to you and yours. Fond Regards, numbat

I think the point of the original post was lost in the debate about Aboriginality and the need for a sorry etc.

The point was, we make a fuss when white graves are potentially desecrated, but don't when Aboriginal ones are. He argues that it is hypocrisy to treat them differently. And as a white Australian, I agree with that viewpoint. If we did not make a fuss about white graves in Turkey, then it would not be hypocrisy. However, as this is unlikely to occur, and in my view wouldn't be a good thing if it did, we probably should focus more on equal treatment and legal protection of Aboriginal sites. That being said, however, we do need a more careful undertaking of what exactly a "sacred site" is, so that we don't just have random bits of land being protected without any scrutiny.