Ooh Aurukun, I've got a video for that, oldie but a goodie:

http://blip.tv/slowtv/the-politics-of-suffering-peter-sutton-with-marcia-langton-2477583
http://blip.tv/slowtv/the-politics-of-suffering-peter-sutton-with-marcia-langton-p2-2477542

"There are simplistic, bourgeois ideas about what causes rage in such (remote) communities - simplistic, naive, self-serving, urban, bourgeois view(s).. The jig is up."To coincide with the launch of his new book, The Politics of Suffering, author and anthropologist Peter Sutton talks to Marcia Langton about the decline of basic standards of health and education in remote indigenous communities, and what needs to be done to address it. Both Sutton and Langton are renowned as fearless and authoritative voices on indigenous political issues, and this conversation reflects their latest thinking on the failure on idealist liberal politics to deliver positive results for remote indigenous communities.Readings Carlton, July 2009

S o G,

You said "Is M...............it is menial arguing over semantics...............the place was under constant generational habitation for 60,000 years"

Generational habitation for 60,000 years does not equate to "great nations" it only guarantees that there was, at most, a primitive tribal hunter gatherer society; where are the ruins of these great nations for assuredly no great nations existed in 1788 or earlier at the times of other European contacts.
That there was evidence of some Aboriginal Australians having lived in a town/village and cultivated fields in Western Australia is fact, but that progress is attributed to a Dutchman or two and is not indicative of any influence of a great indigenous nation.

Semantics doesn't come into it, the claim was that great nations existed whereas, in fact, none did.

Jay thanks for your links they were factual.

But your reason for posting them is to denigrate the indigenous community.

Given that the indigenous peoples have the lowest literacy rate of any group in Australia..............that their life expectancy is the lowest in Australia..............that the unemployment rate among indigenous Aussies as a segment is the highest............that the indigenous straddle the lowest socioeconomic segment .......that they are incarcerated at a rate five times the rest of the community.

Jay your expectation from a gene pool that was “stone age” three generations ago is unrealistic.

Is M>> Generational habitation for 60,000 years does not equate to "great nations" it only guarantees that there was, at most, a primitive tribal hunter gatherer society;<<

Is M, I understand what you are saying. Using European standards there was no empire building in Australia. But what makes those criteria the benchmark for nationhood?

Nationhood is about the collective, the people. They must identify with each other and have a social tenure passed down generationally. Our indigenous have a national pedigree of collectivism that dates back 60,000 years......unbroken, unadulterated...................unlike we Europeans who had 100’s of nations come and go in the past 1000 years.

Why do you want to smack our indigenous........ the poor and disenfranchised are always the easiest targets.

Sonofgloin,
Ok, got it...even though the links are truthful they're still "racist" because I have a racialised view of the world.

Did you pick up on Peter Sutton's comments on the classical world?
We don't speak Latin or Gaelic anymore, some people do it for fun or out of interest just as they will throw on a woolen cloak and a bronze Torc for the solstice celebration at Stonehenge.
The point is that's all well and good but those enthusiasts put the costumes away, jump back into their VW Golf and check the messages on their iPhone before driving back to suburbia.
Why would modern Aboriginals think any differently about their culture?

I only know Marcia Langton from TV & Peter Sutton I only know of what some one says about him occasionally.
From this limited perspective my opinion of Langton is that she is a activist opportunist who does not accept integrity as part of her agenda. Sutton is just an academic poodle who jumps when someone throws him something.
It's people such as those two who in my personal opinion are responsible for preventing the so-called Gap from narrowing. They are scab tearers.

sonofgloin,
How do I interprete your silence on my little math I offered you ? does that mean you accept those figures ?
I find it intriguing that you or no one else for that matter hasn't instantly disputed or at the least questioned those figures. Are you concerned they might be fairely close to the truth perhaps ? Anyhow a reply from you on that subject would be most interesting for most OLO'ers I'm sure.