"where did you get the idea that "in those times women had no rights and were mere chattels"?"

non-PC history.

Dear mhaze,

What the hell is 'non-PC history'? Is that something they're pushing at university like Hasbeen's 'alternate truth'? Sounds absolutely fascinating.

As far as I remember Cook did nothing more than explore the East Coast of Australia; confirming the charts that he had from earlier explorers.

Paul,

Under our laws it would be difficult to have a treaty with our own citizens, there would be a decided conflict of interest where the recipients of welfare from their Government were negotiating a treaty with that same Government.

We could always check what the NZ, North America and Canada did with treaties with their indigenous people? They seem to be better off in their countries that were also invaded by the British.

"As far as I remember Cook did nothing more than explore the East Coast of Australia; confirming the charts that he had from earlier explorers."

is Mise I thought you would have a better understanding of European history in Australia than that. What earlier charts, by what explorers Able Tasman? On 22 August 1770 at Possession Island near the tip of the Cape York Peninsula, Cook claimed the east coast of what was New Holland, but not known to Cook at the time,in the name of King George III for Britain, naming it New South Wales.

Paul,

Probably Portuguese charts; when the Endeavor was holed on the reef, Cook didn't head back towards the coast that he had already explored but, in a seemingly un-seaman like manner he headed off into the unknown and unerringly made it to a safe haven where he was able to repair the ship.
This indicates that he had a chart of the East Coast.
Nothing else explains his action.

There are extant Portuguese maps of Australia's East coast and this

"A tiny drawing of a kangaroo curled in the letters of a 16th century Portuguese manuscript could rewrite Australian history.
The document, acquired by Les Enluminures Gallery in New York, shows a carefully-drawn sketch of kangaroo (know as a ''canguru'' in Portuguese) nestled in its text and is dated between 1580 and 1620. It has led researchers to believe images of the marsupial were already being circulated by the time the Dutch ship Duyfken - long thought to have been the first European vessel to visit Australia - landed in 1606.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-roo-that-could-rewrite-history-20140115-30vaw.html