Ludwig, having spent 22 years somewhere north of Townsville, and half a century or so well south of there, in honesty I have to agree with you.

The old penal colony of Palm Island is a can of worms. It has disturbing similarities to Devil’s Island off French Guiana. From 1918 it was a collecting place for leprous and “difficult” Aboriginal people separated permanently from their kin.

The “difficult” residents were from a great range of unrelated people. Good, leprous, bad, were all thrown together. In the late 1930s the father of children who were my contemporaries faced threat of Palm Island: declared a troublemaker after his two children attended primary school for the first time. The children had been excluded (in conformity with then QLD law) following the objections of local parents.

It was only in 1962 that Aborigines were given the right to vote in federal elections and in 1965 in Queensland elections.The Queensland reserves became “communities”, initially under the control of a government-appointed manager or missionary with wide-ranging powers.

In 1985, the Queensland government relinquished control of Palm Island, removing much of its infrastructure, including its timber mill, wharves, houses and shops. It passed title to the Palm Island Community Council in the form of the Deed of Grant in Trust, which allowed only temporary use of land.

Then Premier Bjelke-Petersen initiated an attempt to take over the island - turn it into a tourist resort. Strangely, the residents won the right to not be kicked out from the only home they knew in their lifetimes.

I find current gratuitous actions by the Queensland premiers, and the Police Association, counterproductive to what is needed to address underlying community problems in that sad place

Fair comments, SJF and Ludwig. I wasn't intending to diminish the extent of racism in Australian society generally - rather, I was responding to the historical specificities of the case described by John Tomlinson. Certainly, very similar patterns of systematic abuse occur in every part of Australia where a significant proportion of the population is Aboriginal.

However, I think that the sheer blundering cultural stupidity of the Queensland Police Service in this instance is something that is quite unique in the recent history of 'race relations' in Australia, and also that it is perfectly consistent with Queensland's specific approach to Indigenous people since colonisation. The fact that the current ALP Premier and Police Minister have supported this incredibly stupid symbolic act is perfectly consistent with the history to which colinsett alludes.

A policeman with a documented pattern of using excessive force in the exercise of his duties has been exonerated over the very suspicious and brutal death of an Aboriginal man in his custody. Various Aboriginal people who were either witnesses to, or closely associated with the event have subsequently died. The Aborigine who has been scapegoated as the ringleader of the violent community reaction to the death in custody is awaiting sentence, and the boofheaded Police Commissioner insists on pressing ahead with an unprecedented ritual affirmation of police heroism. The Premier and Police Minister collaborate in this.

Yes, there are appaling examples of racism still extant everywhere in Australia, but nonetheless I'm grateful to John Tomlinson for addressing this one in this forum.

CJ, (Ludwig, colinsett)

Agreed overall. I really don't think I can ever forgive our Premier for allowing this insane 'in your face' award ceremony to proceed under the present circumstances. It truly defies belief. And as for its 'accidental' timing ... do they really think we're that stupid?

And regarding Qld's history of Aboriginal treatment in relation to the other states ... Although Qld and the NT historically had the harshest laws governing indigenous people (and Tasmania just got rid of them altogether), the Native Title Acts in all the states were utterly draconian until the early 60s - prompting the famous remark by Soviet President Nikita Krushev at the UN General Assembly in 1960: 'Everyone knows in what way the aboriginal population of Australia was exterminated.'

A tad hypocritical perhaps, but indicative of Australia's longstanding and shoddy international reputation on its treatment of Aboriginal people, even back then.