Foxy, thanks for the linguistics lesson.
I'm well aware of all that.

I'm quite sick of the deliberate, manipulative confusion of "Australians" (distinct ethnic group) and "Australians" (citizens of any ancestry).
There really should be two different words.

When I speak though, I make it quite clear which of the two I'm referring to.

"It's only by studying history and learning about the past, including the history of Indigenous-Settler relations - that we can try to ensure not to repeat the same mistakes."

Like imposing the introduction of 6000 alien ethnic groups, without consulting, and getting the consent of, the native Australian population first?

I wonder when we'll get our apology.

Dear Shocker,

Not every Australian agrees with your take
on things.

Thankfully.

Here's an extract reprinted from "The Age,"
12/7/1980. They're random thoughts by Philip Adams
when he was asked to speak at a Canberra Conference on
"Multi-Culturalism" in the Eighties:

"My birth coincided with that famous multi-cultural event.
World War II. Not that it seemed an urgent threat - for we
lived in perhaps the most remote, ethnocentric, inward-
looking, and changeless society on Earth. No. not Lhasa ub
Tibet, but East Kew in Victoria."

"Our family name was Smith and my playmates had names like
John, Peter, and David. So when foreign kids began appearing
in the playground at East Kew State, we stopped chanting,

"Catholic dogs stink like frogs,"

over the fence at the Micks next door and turned on the
enemies amongst us, yelling,

"Go back to your own country, you reffos," in their frightened
faces."

"...It's important to remember Australia before the most
recent waves of migration. It was dull, self-satisfied, and
joylessly conformist. Not simply null and boring but
nullarboring. Not merely mindless but lobotomised."

"Of course, the option of multi-culturalism involves taking
some considerable risks - but almost every human advance is
based on experiment, innovation, and adventure."

TBC...

cont'd ...

Dear Shocker,

"In the past we've had to travel the globe (which thanks
to multi-cultural marketing, media, and technology is
suffering from galloping homogeneity) to see worlds that
contrasted with our own."

"In a multi-cultural society, such experiences would be
within walking distance , or over the back fence. Good
heavens we could even risk inviting them inside."

"Now the migration programme initiated by Arthur "two
Wongs don't make a White," Calwell started to make a
powerful impact. Hence my decision to abandon the
racist bodgies and become a multi-cultural mod."

"I remember the moment of my conversion to the second.
Walking into the Legend Cafe in Bourke Street, standing
beneath the Sinbad murals of Leonard French, ordering
my first "cappa-cheeno." Minutes later I'd learned
two new words from the man behind the hellishly steaming
expresso machine - "prego" and "grazie."

Now things happened in a rush. I saw my first films with
writing-on-the-bottom at the Savoy, had my first Greek
and Italian friends (mind you being second generation
they tended to over conform to Australian values. Still
it was a begining). And we began to suspect that the world
didn't end sharply a few miles beyond St Kilda beach."

[This person is a sock puppet who has been barred from the forum for offensive behaviour. If anyone notices someone like this turning-up again can you please notify me? Their previous persona was Jay123. Thanks, GrahamY]

Dear Jay,

It's best to remember that -
views such as Shocker's belong to a small minority
in this country. I cited previously - "they offer
their audience partisan belligerence and a complete
package of hatreds - designed for the conceptually
and ethically impaired."

The future does not belong to them.
They will end up on the dung heap of history - where
they belong.

Jay123,

Perhaps tis thee that has watched too many films?

"Different countries use varying terms for "aliens" including:

a legal alien is a non-citizen who is legally permitted to remain in a country. This is a very broad category which includes tourists, guest workers, legal permanent residents and student visa resident aliens.

a resident alien is a non-citizen who has temporary or permanent residence in a country.

a nonresident alien is a non-citizen who is visiting a country, for example as a tourist, on business, entertainers, sportspeople or in the country to receive medical treatment.

an illegal alien is a non-citizen who is present in a country unlawfully or without the country's authorization.

an enemy alien is a non-citizen who is a national of an enemy country."

In Australia "enemy aliens" were interned in WW II.