Dear Individual,

What did Henry Reynolds get out of the books he's
written, you ask? Well I imagine his uncompromising approach
to unravelling our past must have given him tremendous
satisfaction as a teacher. Especially his contribution to
the Reconciliation debate by inspiring readers to actively
seek out knowledge and understanding about Indigenous history.

Reynolds was also the Winner of the 1999 Australian Human
Rights Award For The Arts. In addition to praising the work of
Henry Reynolds for its literary merit, the judges admitted the
author's skill in communicating his own uncomfortable feelings
as an awareness of past and present injustices occurred.
They felt that many Australians would relate to Henry Reynolds'
early experiences of not knowing enough about the past.
They felt, as I stated earlier that his work will contribute
greatly to the Reconciliation debate by inspiring readers to
actively seek out knowledge and understanding about
Indigeous history.

Of course as Reynolds has pointed out - knowing brings burdens
which can be shirked by those living in ignorance. With
knowledge the question is no longer what we know but what we
are not to do, and that is a much harder matter to deal
with. It will continue to perplex us for many years to come.

Foxy,
I'm aware of Reynolds but have out of principle not purchased any of his writings. He denounces everything the invaders did but he doesn't denounce his very own existence here being born & raised & having made a career paid for by taxpayers' money on indigenous land.
There are many guilty invaders in Australia & many of them aren't anglo-saxon but no mention is ever made of them just as there are many indigenous of less than pure character & no mention is made of them. No, it's only the whities who are so bad, in fact so bad that they've gone head over heals in making conditions better for everyone but hey, that's not good enough for the hangers-on academics, bureaucrats & mixed race, who are so absorbed in the tearing on old scabs & totally disregarding that it's the white rednecks who make their very existence without effort possible by wasting good money on the hangers-on.
In genuine historical circles Reynolds does command all that much respect.

I've just come across a chapter by Henry Reynolds
that I'd like to share:

"Having lived in provincial north Australia for more
than thirty years, I have never doubted that racism
continues to be a powerful ever-present force. I was
not at all surprised by the sudden emergence of the
One Nation party or by the level of support it
received. But what seems to be the most significant thing
about contemporary Australia is not that racism is still
endemic; but that it is not more apparent than it is,
given its importance in the past and the almost universal
commitment to a white Australia right up to the 1960s."

"In the past thirty years the country has changed far more
rapidly than might have been expected. I think the retreat
from the racist heritage is far more noteworthy than its
surviving manifestations. But this is a hard case to argue
with young people, who often combine a laudable rejection
of racism with a lack of sympathy for older Australians.
My students often ask how it was that people in the past
held such objectionable views, how they could be so
terrible. They have no understanding of just how pervasive
racial thought was a generation or two ago, how the
Second World War and the Holocaust maked an intellectual
watershed after which nothing would be the same again."

"And so they find it easy and natural to condemn those
older Australians who cling to ideas taught to them in far-
off days when they were young and which at the same time
were sanctioned by scholars, scientists and statesmen."

"Experience outside Australia also helps to sharpen the
perspective and season the judgement. It is obvious that
Indigenous and tribal peoples are badly treated in many
parts of the world. That in itself should never be
accepted as an excuse for what happens here. We must be
judged by standards we espouse and commitments we mouth.
But in many countries the leaders of minority groups are
silenced, imprisoned, tortured, murdered - or just ignored."

cont'd ...

Foxy,
That makes no sense at all.
How does forcing my ethnic group to take responsibility for this imagined "genocide" improve race relations?
Surely if it can be shown that no "genocide" occurred then that's better for everyone because anti Racists will have no atrocity porn with which to terrorise and traumatise upcoming generations of Aboriginal and White children.
From our perspective Anti Racism is the dividing wall in White/Indigenous relations, not race itself, it's anti racism and the values systems of the political and academic castes which cause resentment among Whites and because they always claim to speak for Aboriginals the ire of uneducated Whites is misdirected at Indigenous folk in general.
All the racial problems and misunderstandings in this country are the fault of the academic and political castes because they're spreading false information.What's more the solutions at the end of their problem/reaction/solution chain basically amount to blame, shame and prosecute, which only feeds racial animosity and conclusively demonstrates that Anti Racists have no interest in solving problems and are wholly invested in maintaining the status quo.

"Having lived in provincial north Australia for more
than thirty years, I have never doubted that racism
continues to be a powerful ever-present force.
Foxy,
I have & still reside in remote communities after 33 years & agree that racism is alive & well. However, in the communities it is the local population that harbours that dreadful mentality whilst the blue collar outsiders try their best to make things work but the local racism fostered by Labor bureaucrat ideaology & selfishness constantly thwarts that goodwill.

cont'd ...

"Indigenous Australians have achieved a prominence in
public life, a moral and discursive authority scarcely
matched anywhere. In a similar way Indigenous culture -
painting and design, literature, dance, drama - has a
prominence almost unrivalled elsewhere. That is a
tribute both to the leading figures of the Aboriginal
rennaissance and to Australian society as a whole,
which both welcomed and nurtured the upsurge of
creativity - although conscientious people continue to
worry about where appreciation ends and appropriation
begins."

"Discussion overseas soom makes it clear how important for
Australia the High Court's Mabo decision was. The word
Mabo has become known all over the world as a symbol of
the struggle of Indigenous people for land and justice.
I have heard the judgement praised by leading academics
in Canada, by prominent Indian leaders in the United
States, by Norway's Chief Justice, by the Chairman of
New Zealand's Waitangi Tribunal and by senior jurists in
South Africa. In Adelaide I met a delegation of young
Masai men and women from Kenya who had come to Australia
because they had heard of Mabo; they thought it would
help them in the struggle to retain control of their
traditional lands, which the government was granting to
others on the assumption that a nomadic lifestyle did not
establish true title to the soil."

"But assertion of terra nullius is not confined to Africa.
The Swedish courts have also determined that the Sami
people of the north have not acquired title to traditional
territory because reindeer borders could not be considered
to be in actual occuptation of the land. Like the Masai, the
Sami no doubt wish that the spirit of Mabo and Wik would
blow through their own courts."

There are many other aspects in Australia that attract
admiration (or concern) overseas. I would highly recommend
further research to anyone genuinely interested in these issues.
And, of course I also recommend the reading of the works of
Henry Reynolds - the blend of documentary evidence and
personal experience provides a powerful basis for his
arguments and makes for compelling reading.