Boaz, do you actually read the examples you put forward?

The wikipedia piece is headed "This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. Please improve it..."

This is the polite way the Wikipedians point out that the contribution is either biased or contentious, with insufficient scholarship to allow referrers to use its content with safety.

The first article is a discussion between adherents with differing ideas on interpretation. You choose to take one side - quelle surprise - but the argument was far from conclusive.

The inference you draw from these pieces is astounding.

>>Bilal Skaf (according to Shia) would not be guilty of any sin.
-He captured the girls.
-He had sex with them.
-Such captives have no say in this matter<<

That is utter fallacy, and you are fully aware of it.

There is absolutely no scriptural justification for gang rape, or for any other form of rape.

Slavery no longer exists, and you know it. "Capturing girls" doesn't turn them into slaves, and you know it.

What staggers me is that you can say this stuff with - presumably - a straight face, and still deny that you are a top-flight, copper-bottomed, out-and-out rabble-rouser.

Oh My! I'm amazed and horrified at your comment David Boaz...

I do not recall reading anything about storehouses or agriculture within aboriginal society but it would not suprise me to find this to be truthfull. The white dominant culture has perpertrated many untruths in its attempt to enforce its power throughout the world why would the colonies of the great southern continent be any different. I do believe that the liberty of all people in this country we now call Australia is tied up with the liberty of the indigenous people and their culture and would love to see a nation where we are truelly reconciled. My idealist view however gets knocked around by comments such as some of the replies to Australians in Denial. I would like to know why we can't teach our children about people like Benelong and Colbey. Why are we afraid to tell the stories of dispossession and massacres. Why do we take for granted that the economic wealth we enjoy today and beleive that it is because of good economic management of white governments when in reality it is a direct consequence of taking peoples land from them and using it for resources. The Centruy mine in Queensland made $750,000,000 in profit last year. The Queensland Government got $50,000,000 and the traditional owner groups got $50,000 each ie about $400,000. They live in poor conditions with basic infrastructure in their communities while we reap the benefits of thier land. Why do we not see this as wrong.

Hello Everyone,

Let me firstly say I am amazed at the gusto many people on here use in attack or defence of something they have never seen. What I would prefer to do, without having the benefit of visiting the site, is propose points for consideration that I personally would like to see more adequately evaluated, by people who are involved in the actual examination of the farm site in order for me personally to be able to scientifically accept this find:

1. ‘The hundreds of Stone Huts, dating somewhere between 200-8,000 years, are of international significance and evidence of a transition to sedentary living.’ As a professional miner involved in exploration I can assure you this time frame is far too vague and it seems to be deliberately expressed as such. A study of sedimentation in the farm system and a study of the rate of alluvial attrition on the host rock for the channel systems would be very accurate.

2. Huts resemble Celtic roundhouses which would have had a fire in the centre and hole in top of the roof. The bases and thatching are very much the same.

3. The initial contacts between Aboriginals and Europeans were with crews from Celtic Countries. These countries had been using this eel-farming system since ancient times and are considered masters of ancient freshwater aquaculture.

4. Where did the appropriate tools for cutting hard rock materialise from? I note there is no form of metal cutting tool recorded as being found, which would be required for this purpose. Where is the evidence of methods of smelting metals?

5. Have this tribe been DNA tested?

6. Why didn’t another tribe try and copy this farming it if it was so lucrative?

I know it will be an extremely important find to Aboriginal history if this is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but I do not believe that has yet been done.

The fact that Aboriginals and Europeans may have existed harmoniously before greed and colonialism entered the equation would also be an equally important historical find.

Regards To All,

Paul KTS
AUSTRALIA