Recommended reading:

Paul Wilson 1982 Black Death, White Hands.

Dear Cossomby,

Thank You for sharing with us.

What a tragic experience.
And part of life for many of our Indigenous
people. How on earth can we understand what
they went through, and are still experiencing
today.

Thank you for the recommended book.
I shall try to get hold of a copy.

Cossomby

your account of your friend and family tradegy is tragic and all to common. No doubt DCP or the equivelant Government department have much to answer for. The mistake however is to pretend life before white man coming to Australia was much better. Many barbaric practices took place before this land was settled. If some of those on the receiving end (young girls) were to write their stories people would be horrified. We can either continue to focus on the past (usually very very selectively) or we can move forward. There were many British who made great sacrifices to make life better for the 'natives'or first people. I have a number of aboriginal funerals which is always heartbreaking. A couple have been young teenagers killing themselves after stealing cars. Most have been people drinking themselves to death.

I remember reading some time ago about a Wiradjuri woman
from Cowra in central-western NSW. Colleen Shirley Smith.
known to everyone as "Mum Shirl." "Mum Shirl" over the
years influenced Father Ted Kennedy at Saint Vincent's
parish in Sydney's Redfern, when he turned the resources
of the church over to caring for dispossessed urban
aborigines. Extremely well read in Theology and Literature
Ted Kennedy described Mum Shirl at her funeral in 1998 in
Saint Mary's Basilica as "the greatest theologian I have
ever known." She had taught Kennedy how to fight for
justice. Mum Shirl did not suffer fools gladly, and quickly
brought the mighty and righteous down from their thrones,
often with some well-placed four letter words.

Before joining Redfern parish Mum Shirl had been a prison
visitor for years and she had raised as her own more than
60 children who came into her care. She worked with the
Redfern parish to establish the Aboriginal medical and
Legal services that now operate next door to the church.

The "Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia" says that her:

"work at Saint Vincent's evolved into an informal
welfare agency for a mixed clientele of ex-prisoners
children in need, single parents, alcoholics and young
probationers. With no money of her own, she often ran
her services on her own sickness benefits....By the
1990s Mum Shirl had assisted some 6,000 people."

Runner, 'The mistake is' to use the alleged barbaric life of Aborigines before European arrival to downplay the treatment of Aborigines after. 'Oh no matter how bad we treated them, it was MUCH worse before!'

I have some doubts about the extent of the horror of traditional Aboriginal life, the recent claims are very convenient to counter evidence of bad European behaviour. But, even if it was so, WE were the ones bringing western civilisation, enlightenment and the religion of love and mercy. We just didn't behave in a very civilized, enlightened, loving or merciful manner to the Aborigines we displaced. (Yes, I recognise there were good men and women).

We shouldn't focus on the past? Well, people like my friend's family are still suffering from the past, in fact a very recent past. How do we help them 'get over it'? Maybe they'll forget eventually, the day after we stop remembering Gallipoli, perhaps?

And wrt Gallipoli, I do believe there are some positive changes afoot - the recognition of the Black Diggers is one major step forward. See
http://www.dva.gov.au/i-am/aboriginal-andor-torres-strait-islander/indigenous-australians-war, and http://theconversation.com/indigenous-soldiers-remembered-the-research-behind-black-diggers-21056.
It must have been pretty devastating for Aboriginal families when the service of their father, husband, brother, son was never recognised. Just another straw ..

Dear Cossomby,

At last, someone on The Forum who has a grip on the reality of what has been happening to the aborigines over the past two centuries. The real question that needs to be answered is why does white society want to keep the realities hidden from public view. I don't think the reason is about shame or embarrassment on the part of whites. It's all about not being sympathetic to the plight of the aborigines or caring about their socio-economic position vis-a-vis whites.

I hate to seem to be bias but I must admit to believing that outside of anthropologists, historians, sociologists, archaeologists, and the aboriginal peoples themselves, virtually everyone else in Australia is totally disinterested in the position of the peoples that represent the world's oldest culture.