Dear Is Mise,

Here's a link that explains:

http://theconversation.com/first-reconciliation-then-a-republic-starting-with-changing-the-date-of-australia-day-89955

Foxy,
How many aboriginals were murdered on January 26th 1788? The date is just a decoy to really remove the title "Australia" from the Aboriginal identity of Nation. They see themselves as a Nation within the Nation of settlers and independent of the settlers. No day on their calendar is acceptable as Australia day. Have a look at their Treaty proposal for them to be identified as a Nation separate to Australia, which term "Australia" is an invaders identity of Nation and not theirs.

They have been brainwashed by Muslim politics that have challenged our history and culture, and portrayed the English as murderers. Comparing the Balfour Declaration of injustice caused by the British to Arabs in Palestine. These presentations are available on U Tube. Of Australian aboriginals and Muslim students misrepresenting our History aided by the Marxist Greens.

Nothing learnt: Balfour and Britain's generosity with other people's lands. Bilal Cleland is a retired secondary teacher and was Secretary of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Chairman of the Muslim Welfare Board Victoria and Secretary of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/balfour-and-generosity-with-the-lands-of-other-peoples,10839

For foxy, https://www.facebook.com/fatima.mawas/videos/10160261677660157/

Hi Foxy

Thank you for your link about the power of language. I have no problem with use of the word "invasion". The British arrived, occupied the land and used violence where necessary. That is an invasion. However, I dislike the term "first Australians". It is possible that the first Aborigines displaced other people, very likely that the first Torres Strait Islanders invaded and almost certain that different Aboriginal groups have fought over land. Everyone's family tree includes some men who clobbered another bunch of men to death. "First Australians" has undertones of moral superiority, when we are better served by acknowledging that we are all descended from people who have been violent.

While we are talking about the power of language, racism is usually a subjective judgement and our language should reflect that. Some people claim to be strongly opposed to racism. However, the problem is with the unstated bit; my definition of racism is the definition that counts. Some people have no problem with things that I find racist, but that doesn't mean that they are bad people, with no understanding of the importance of racial tolerance. Conversely, some people piss in their own pocket about how hardline, anti-racism they are. However, they can be unconcerned when other people are offended by something, which is simply rude.

Australia Day doesn't look racist to me. However, that doesn't mean that I am unconcerned about how upset some (not all) Aboriginal or TSI people are. If Australia Day can't unite us, it isn't doing its job.

Dear Foxy,

Thank you. The frustrating thing is just how pervasive this reaction to Howard's derision of a 'black arm band of history' can be. Things that are under people's noses are just not seen. Often it is a willful ignorance that survives even though multiple assertions are dismantled with facts.

Dear Joe,

I acknowledge and accept your apology on this point.

Dear Josephus,

This really is becoming a chore now. Every assertion by you that I have corrected is easily addressed by doing a little research yourself. Perhaps rather than spouting a mantra you do some reading on Australian history.

You wrote;

“The British troops were here to manage the penal colonies, and manage relationships between the aboriginals and the settlers. Not to war against the aboriginal inhabitants.”

So what do you call the Battle of Bathurst? The rapid expansion into the Wiradjuri lands after the Blue mountains were crossed was unprecedented. In quick time over much of their lands, as described by an early settler Suttor, “the blacks were not allowed to wander at pleasure, hunting kangaroo and emu … the hunger was providing a bar to the peaceful settlement of the country and no doubt ill feeling was thereby created between the two races”. He understandably saw the problem not as the settlers but the soldiers and prisoners who he said raped and looted regarding the Wiradjuri as “a sort of dangerous wild animal whose speedy extermination was the best thing that could happen.”

Early skimishes had the commandant of the fortifications at Bathurst capture the man he identified as a Wiradjudi leader called Windradyne. He was released after a month of being chained in the barracks where constant beatings were so severe that all his ribs were said to have been broken. This was to have been a warning. It sparked clashes throughout the tribal lands and the withdrawal for a time of many settler communities. These clashes cost lives on both sides. The Wiradjudi warriors were able to capture weapons and become quite proficient with them.

Cont...