Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, has never been a problem. and she was right to say so, nor have Aboriginal people ever been a problem for themselves. From the day Europeans arrived on this continent, Aboriginals have been a "problem" for Europeans, and Europeans have been a "problem" for Aboriginal people, just as it has been wherever European colonisation has taken place. Europeans of the past wherever they went, failed to recognise the value of indigenous culture. In fact they always seen their own culture as being the natural superior one, that should be adopted by all. For those that could not, or would not adapt,and for those that would resist colonisations the alternative was their extermination in one way or another.
The struggle of indigenous people the world over has been well documented, and it continues today. Society needs firstly to recognise that many injustices have been, and continue to be, perpetrated against indigenous people, who ever they be, just as it was in the past. Injustice today takes a different form than it once did, but injustice it is never the less, and one of those injustices is the failure to recognise the value of indigenous culture. Some bigoted persons will claim that indigenous people had nothing worthwhile in the form of a culture, certainly nothing worth preserving. This could not be further from the truth, in fact indigenous culture is of such high value that it should be preserved at all cost.
It is true we all live in a modern world, and it is necessary to adapt to twenty first century modernism. it would be foolish to think otherwise. Even whilst embracing modernism there is no reason to think that to do so requires indigenous people to jettison their traditions of language and culture, the two can happily coexist

Paul,
Racing ahead again? As always the Lefties finish our sentences for us and write their own epilogue to our every post on race.
I'm pointing out that there's a settler culture with blood ties, Rosalie's grandfather was a German settler,the man from whom I get my surname came from Wales in 1847 and married a German girl in Adelaide.
I know Lefties don't think logically but Rosalie and I are related to some degree,the fact that she learned to speak two of her ancestral languages and I only speak one is a small point of difference.

Stanley of Sligo,
Well that's what happens in a multi-racial society, when we talk about first nations the starting point is 1788, the nation is a contrivance of the northern hemisphere, in fact many European societies were not even united into nations until the mid 19th century. Just as there's no White people in an all White nation the concept of an Alyawarra nation developed within multi racial Australia, not in parallel to it.
Do you understand what I'm saying? For the same reason that there were no White nationalists in Sweden before mass third world immigration when there were no Whites here there were no Alyawarra, APY or any other "Nations", only free sovereign people, ...heck, I understand where Rosalie is coming from even if the Lefties don't.

Hasbeen,

"I am always amused when someone refers to walking around nude, throwing rocks & sticks at things, trying desperately to get something to eat, as a culture."

And where do you think we all started, then. Our origins as hunter gatherers were steeped in "culture" which evolved over time.

I'll add that every Aboriginal dialect was/is as sophisticated as English...there are no stone-age "unsophisticated languages"....of course you wouldn't dream that could be true.

On the contrary, I am always amused when those with closed minds come onto 21st century forums, strutting around displaying their naked anthropological ignorance, throwing rhetorical rocks and stones, trying desperately to get someone to bite.

Jay, that is nice. I am not underscoring your rights as an Australian. You and I, and Rosalie are all Australians of some ancestry There is no need for any of us to apologies for who we are. Some should apologise for what they think, but that is a different matter. When Kevin Rudd delivered his now famous apology speech, I recall him apologising to Aboriginal people, not for the arrival of Europeans, or even their colonisation of the continent. However, Rudd did appoligise for what has transpired for Aboriginal people in general, and pacifically to the 'stolen generation', all as a consequence of Europeans arrival and subsequent colonisation. Serious mistakes were made, we can not change the past, but we can learn from that past, and make for a better tomorrow.

I appreciate all of your comments.

Watching "Q and A," and listening to Rosalie Kunoth-Monks
made me realise that there were aspects of Australian
life that I knew little about. But I can see that
there is a complex
web of social relations, habits, customs and beliefs
that both bounds white and black together and yet holds
them far apart. There seems to be a history at work, a
powerful all-important history which presses heavily on
the present.

As Kunoth Monks told the audience:

"I've lived for over 70 years under a regime and a system
that not only destroys my culture, but also me as a
person."

When asked by Tony Jones whether or not things had improved
for her people Kunoth-Monks answered:

"Nothing at all. It doesn't matter if the government changes.
A White Australia Policy is alive and well in Australia and
it usually experiments on blacks in the Northern Territory
becaue we are not a state."

"Come live with me some time. Live my life and I'll show you."

Perhaps that's something we all need to do.

Dear Foxy,

I knew the reference before I opened the thread. It was indeed a powerful episode.

I also knew that there would very quickly be a one of our esteemed middle age white males posting some version of 'what about me' in response and JOM fitted that bill very nicely.

I remember my German father-in-law being quite incensed about the question at our local hospital asking if he was Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. When I asked why he replied 'Why are they getting special treatment and seen to first while the rest of us have to wait?'.

I had a chance to later ask about the 'question' of an Aboriginal liaison officer whom I knew quite well and had seen at the hospital quite frequently. He informed me that once a person identifies as indigenous then his role was to see them and assist them if needed as quite a number of his community found a visit to the hospital quite daunting and often delayed or neglected treatment.

I asked did this mean they were pushed to the head of the queue? His reply was 'of course not', what it meant was those who were timid, struggling with a different culture, without strong communication skills, and who might otherwise have difficulty making staff aware of the urgency of their issue gained their rightful place in the queue.

I'm afraid there will be more like JOM who will come here to give their versions of 'what about me' but I do want thank you for the empathy of others, not only of the oppressed and disadvantaged, you constantly exhibit on this forum.

Bless you.