An interesting but sad reflection on much of Australian rural life. It is hard to see things changing much over the next 20 or so years. A lot of learning and understanding needed all round.

what constitutes racism.
CJMogan,
I KNOW what racism is & does, I live it daily whereas you & Big Al appear to be achetypical of the guilt industry reality smoke screen guild. I KNOW & experience that industry on a daily basis as well.
All I can suggest to you is go out there & live on communities it never was the Nirvana you attempt to portray. Of what benefit is to any indigenous to perpetuate myths ? It is & alway has been a very harsh environment & you haven't convinced anyone of those life spans you stated.

You miss the point "individual" or you dont want to understand it. Nobody said that the way that some Aboriginal live in rural communities is ideal. That said, some Aborigines living in rural areas seem to live normal suburban type lives.

The point was that all Aborigines shouldn't be subjected to racism - whether its to their faces or behind their backs. That it isn't said to them directly doesn't help. The fact that the rural whites are saying these things openly means that when it comes time to consider whether to hire an Aborigine or not they wont do it. Wide open spaces and empty minds.

individual: << I KNOW what racism is & does, I live it daily >>

No doubt. From what you've posted here, you're an example of what Joshua Lloyd writes about.

However, to understand why I think that, I'd suggest you look past your own very limited experience and look up the meaning of the word "racism" somewhere authoritative.

Bo suggestions for my first question. So here is a second. What is a race? Given the huge amount of trade and conquest over the centuries, where do you find anyone that could be said to belong to a single race?

An example. To the area around Ribchester,from where my paternal line ancestors come, invaders came from Denmark and Norway in the 800's. In the 500's Angles and Saxons came from Sleswig and Holsten, (sic) and Jutes from Jutland. From about 175-400 AD Ribchester was garrisoned by Sarmatian cavalry, and mingled their genes with those of the local population. They came from Dacia (now Roumania)--the famous Dacian horse. The Sarmatians were descended from people who rode into southeast Europe from the steppes of Russia. Herodotus tells us that at his time (c.400 BC) they were living in Samarkand, on the Silk Route, where their ancestors almost certainly included Chinese and Persians. Of what race am I? The question is absurd. I'll warrant it is as absurd to ask it of anyone with European ancestors

People need to stop being so bloody precious about all this.

Just as one person has posted that Aborigines are justified in being prejudiced toward whites on the basis of past injustice, then so too it should be recognised that prejudice toward Aborigines based on the behaviours displayed by some of their people is just as understandable.

The FACT IS that there's right and wrong on both sides - there are indeed white aussies who deride Aborigines and exclude them absolutely on the basis of race - and there are Aborigines who carry a massive historical chip and feel pretty much entitled to hate and attack whites at every opportunity on that basis.

Going a little deeper we'll find that generally the white aussies who deride Aborigines do so on the basis of a social prejudice - NOT actually a racial one per se - and likewise, Aborigines feeling a very strong social prejudice toward them are taking it as racist and lashing back.

As a society we need to DROP this race crap and make a paradygm shift toward thinking in terms of PREJUDICE instead.

"Racism" puts a whole raft of often complex issues into too big a basket and then forces the lot to collectively be looked at selectively in terms of clear right or wrong and often in different ways depending on the direction being viewed from.