You and others like yourself, Leigh, must never forget that traditionally our blacks as we call them, do have more claim on this country than we have.

It is the reason as with New Zealand's natives, and also lately with Canada, that the Southland's original owners should have permanent representation in our governments.

Further, maybe if we arranged more ceremonies honouring them for the above reason, maybe they would begin to respect us more and even copy us more by becoming interested in a history especially compiled for them.

Must say I tried this somehwat in my series called A Land in Need, but suffered much criticism for having more sympathy for the blacks than the whites.

From BB, WA.

"separate legislatures for aborigines, migrants, young people and old people"

not necessary PaulL, achieve equity between women and men and all else follows.

"aboriginal women suffer more mistreatment than just about any other minority group in the country"

absent provision for women's legislatures, all women, Aboriginal women included, suffer the indiginity of perpetual male supervision.

in your own words, I wouldn’t start romanticising Western culture if I were you.

Col Rouge, Western society is the consummate example of social organisation which counters the rules of practical social order and benefits of inclusion with an ongoing failure to achieve equity between women and men despite a century of overwhelming public support.

"Whatever they do, “assimilation” is the natural, unstoppable, way of the world."

" ... Assimilation will prevail, no doubt about it. Slam dunk, cannot be stopped, slowed briefly maybe but ultimately, it will prevail if not this century, in another 2 at the longest"

yes, mainstream Australia will assimilate into indigenous society with decision-making conducted by agreement between womens and men's legislatures, that's a certainty, but when?

there's no way Australian women are going to wait another two decades, let alone another two centuries, for their male colleagues to figure out what equity means.

"If the aboriginals way of life is so much “superior” to the way of the whites… why is their life expectance to much lower?"

because Australia is infested with the inequity of discriminatory decision-making.

"If aboriginals want what whites have, they need to adapt to doing what whites do."

yes, and if mainstream Australians want to achieve equity between women and men, they need to adapt to what indigenous Australians have been doing over millennia.

whistler,
You are a fruit loop. You need, O forget it, not worth wasting the effort on ding a lings

Whistler said: "if mainstream Australians want to achieve equity between women and men, they need to adapt to what indigenous Australians have been doing over millennia".

Thanks for that all-mighty big laugh. When I hear people falsely romanticise Aborignal culture in this way I am reminded of a small thing that happened to me at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park back in 2001.

I spent some days sharing a house with park rangers which included an Anangu woman. One evening after taking pictures at Kata Tjuta earlier in the day, I was chatting with her and relating how I had finally got the picture I was after - it had been cloudy on previous afternoons.

Anyway, she told me that she had been part of the Kata Tjuta patrol for some time - this is a ranger patrol that goes out there very afternoon - until as she put it, the "old men" found out about it. She was then summarily yanked from this ranger duty. As she sheepishly told me, "Kata Tjuta is OK for white woman, not good for Anangu woman".

And guess which area of the national park is seen as being the most important to Anangu culture? It's Kata Tjuta - the area of special MALE significance.

Anybody who thinks that there was "equality" between men and women in traditional Aboriginal culture needs to go see a shrink. I mean what other fairy tales do you believe in?

Why bother even posting a comment here? This place has gone to the dogs.

The answer is simple, Assimilation.
Western culture has assimilated many others including Anglo-Saxons. The folly is to believe that this hasn't happened. Western culture is the dominate culture for a reason. Perhaps it’s the name that puts some people off. For a time it could have just as easily be called eastern culture. All new members have some impact on it some more than others. The important point is it changes it evolves, if you wish to have its benefits then you must merge with it as best you can.
To think overwise is to close your eyes to history.