shadowminister,

I'm not pushing anything.

Just stating historical facts.

And lets not forget that the prospect of being sent
to the far end of the world to a strange unknown land
was terrifying. Many convicts began to question why they'd
become convicts in the first place. This is not what we
signed up for, they said in a strident statement. So
of course wars with the natives would have broken out.
British criminals would have been very angry.

The powerful emotions generated by the discovery of their fate
were eloquently expressed in the classic old song - "Botany
Bay." :

"Farewll to old England forever
Farewell to my rum coes as well
Farewell to the well-known Tim Bailey
Who used to teach me how to spell
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-addity
Singing bing-bong-dum-doo-dad-fi-fay
Singing spinkly pom pinkly bom baddity
It's sh**t down in Botany Bay."

Only 4 days left to change the date this year. Better luck next time, although our great leader has indicated that he has no problem with the date as it is.

Hi Foxy,

"The Castle Hill Rebellion or ‘Australia’s Vinegar Hill’ began on 4 March 1804. Rebel leaders – Irishmen Philip Cunningham (a veteran of the 1798 rebellion) and William Johnston – aimed to overtake Parramatta and Port Jackson (Sydney), establish Irish rule and return willing convicts (political prisoners) to Ireland."

A little known fact, more than 230 convicts were hanged in Australia after transportation, 114 persons (officially), the vast majority male, have been hanged here since federation, although many Aboriginals were subjected to summery execution in places like Western Australia until well into 1930's. "The first recorded execution took place in Sydney on 27 February 1788, a month after European settlement, when Thomas Barrett was hanged for stealing food from the public stores."

At the time of federation it was most likely that the death penalty was supported by over 90% of the adult population. The majority of Australians supported the death penalty until the mid 1960's, then popular support began to wane, particularly after the political execution of Ronald Ryan by the Victorian conservative government of Henry Bolte in 1967. It was finally abolished in all states and territories in 1985. Today surveys put death penalty support at no more than 25%. Although Australian's are ambivalent when it comes to the death penalty for Australian's in foreign countries. (particularly for drug trafficking).

Dear Paul,

I wonder how many of us know our own history - apart
from the few basics we've picked up over the years.
Let alone about our Indigenous people. I'm consistently
amazed by some of the stuff that we share on this forum.
But I'm grateful for the knowledge. I intend to try to get
a hold of the book that Poirot recommended recently -
"Sapiens - the history of humankind." I looked it up and
it sounds fascinating. David Fisher is another great source
of knowledge in his postings.

If Foxy is reading the nonsense of Ben Pobjie's book - "Error Australis' is it any wonder, she cannot interpret facts of history, she enjoys fiction. She deliberately misrepresents facts and enjoys sarcasm.

Josephus,

When you actually can prove to us that you
know this country's history you
will be able to be taken seriously. Until then
best you don't express your ignorance about both
our country, its history or books you haven't
read, or people you don't know. So shoo - go away!