"... the greatest advantage of young Aboriginal servants was that they came cheap and were never paid beyond the provision of variable quantities of food and clothing. As a result any European on or near the frontier, quite regardless of their own circumstances, could acquire and maintain a personal servant (Reynolds 1990 page 169).

" Unlike white children who came into the state's control, far greater care was taken to ensure that [Aboriginal children] never saw their parents or families again. They were often given new names, and the greater distances involved in rural areas made it easier to prevent parents and children on separate missions from tracing each other (van Krieken 1991 page 108)

ginsyd, you articulated the other side of this very emotive and sometimes irrational discussion very well. Yes, perhaps things could have been done better more compassionately than perhaps in some cases was done to the children and parents.

But I ask you all generally, what is the apology going to achieve for the children in communities, who are as we speak are being subjected to the most inconceivable brutality of child rape, pack rape, seeing their parents - generally mothers being assaulted to the point of death, when is the apology going to come to the children, who due to family and community standards and degraded values due to alcohol will never have the opportunity to achieve all that they can be in school, due to the conditions around them. Are we going to apologize to those children and families, particularly the grandparents who have to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives? correction; are the Federal and State governments going to apologize for ignoring the decrepit situation that exists in many states of Australia, both in communities and under the bridges, railways, alley ways of our large cities with the homeless. This apology would be much more meaningful because with funding for viable LONG TERM community housing and genuine good will - these lives can be turned around.

We can't fix the past, we can learn from it. But we can positively influence the future. Saying 'sorry" over something that we had no control over, will do nothing - it won't change anything. Maybe by saying sorry for letting the situations get out of hand in the communities (both Western and Urban) and getting our hands dirty to change it - well the word "sorry" means something then and the impetus of change is then "owned" by all i.e. everybody. If 'sorry" is owned and acknowledged, then the behavior that led to the offence is less likely to occur again, and that is what we want to achieve.

Rainier,
I gather from your last post that australian Aboriginal children received much the same dreadful treatment as did many of the european Aboriginal children & indeed Aboriginal children from all over the world still do today courtesy of greed & mindless bureaucracy.
The reason why I asked you to reply to my question (which you haven't done yet) is, that I see indigenous children on a daily basis being treated at the clinics for conditions of neglect. Not so many months ago a 7 year old diabetic girl had a birthday party with soft drinks. cakes & lots of sweets. The clinic nurse approached the mother & explained how dangerous it was to let the girl have all these sweets. The mother & other relatives swore at the nurse & told her f-off. Only a day later the girl had to be evacuated to a hospital. Other people behave in exactly the same ignorant manner but they can't claim discrimination or appologies.
Rainier, these threads are not about who can win an argument, at least I don't view them as such. they are a great opportunity to find common ground & thus , hopefully more understanding & a better future. My honest opinion is that Bureaucracy is the single most cause of the wrongs in past & present & where I live indigenous people make up a large %tage of Bureaucracy who hold positions for reason other than merit much like everywhere.

rainier,
just as an add-on to my previous post. As you now know I live amongst indigenous people. Some are mixed european, asian however one is supposed to identify another person in these days of the insanity of political correctness which btw, caused more problems than it can ever solve.
In my workforce there are people who are given every & more opportunity to learn & enter the work force. What do you suggest I can do to entice several of the workers to attend work for a full day & for the whole week. Several of my indigenous co-workers share my concern so it's nothing racial. it's an attitude problem fostered by the politically correct ignorant academic do-gooders who have their limited mind locked into "every white is bad" mode & perpetuate that stupidity to justify more funding which is not questioned by the mindless bureaucrats who are largely left-wing. Outrageous ? YES ! Why am I so worked up ? I'm sick & tired of the hyporitical guilt industry brigade. If you REALLY want to do the right thing re wrongdoing & work out a solution then take a good look in the mirror & ask "what have I done today to make things better". I bet millions will stare at their own blank & hollow expression. as much as I hope Rudd's appology will improve the situation I fear that it will only open a can of even bigger worms.
Rainier, you're obviously an intelligent person so please use that blessing with positive action on your side of the fence. you never know we may even get rid of the fence like the Berlin wall.

There is no doubt that some children that were removed from Aboriginal communities in days past were being abused, but my understanding is that many of the children were not and were swept up in the campaign of removal regardless. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe these are the children that are referred to as the "Stolen Generation". You only have to listen to some of the stories from the Stolen Generation to feel the pain that this action caused.

Can you imagine the outcry if a white child (who was not abused) was removed from their family without cause. While I am sure the whites believed they acted in the best interests of the children at the time, the bottom line is large numbers of un-abused children were taken indiscriminately.

If the symbolism of an Apology from the government is an important part of bridging the gap between Indigenous and European Australians and aids in the moving on to more constructive policies to improve the quality of life for Indigenous people then so be it. The British Empire did introduce alcohol, killed Aboriginal people to possess their land, introduced new diseases, imposed a new language and a strange and foreign culture.

The problem is now with governments and the Courts being sensitised to cultural issues are probably too reticent in removing children from white or Aboriginal families when they should. DOCS do have their hands full and are sorely under-resourced and that is why some kids do slip between the cracks. The recent case in Newcastle where a young white girl died from malnutrition is one example.

The recent decision by a Judge in Cairns to release the men who raped a young Aboriginal girl because "she consented" just boggles the mind of the absurdity of political correctness. This poor child had been removed once before due to abuse and then returned to the same community in which the original perpetrators were still residing.

Child abuse is abhorrent and protecting children should be a first priority and cross the boundaries of race, religion and culture.

Dear individual,

Here is a website that may be of interest to you:

www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33dtexts/mosesAustrgenBib029.htm - 6k

If you have problems with the site - you can always Goggle:
"Bibliography. Genocide in Australia."

It will give you a list of references on the subject.