Dearest Foxy,

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. I'm sure that you and your family will be in the hearts of many OLO contributors in the coming weeks of grieving.

Love and very best wishes,

Joe

Hi Steele,

" .... when .... some towns controlled by powerful tribal families are prone to reject 'outside' interference and scrutiny then abuse occurs often unchecked.

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Certainly. But Aboriginal 'communities' are much more 'closed' than most country towns, in the sense that they are the entire world for most of their inhabitants - they've grown up in its tiny confines, they know more or less only the people there who have done the same, they feel very uncomfortable even going to the nearest big town for shopping, the people they take their advice from are mainly their close relatives: 'closed' in Karl Popper's sense. To be mistreated BY that community, ignored, nobody giving a toss what the most dreadful acts done to you, must be devastating, crushing, as if cast out of that world for something done to you BY the community.

I was amazed back in 2007, when the Intervention was announced, to learn that some decent-sized 'communities' had never had police stationed there, and that smaller 'communities' saw a copper drive through maybe only once a month (and during the daytime) - no outside interference or scrutiny then. No questioning of why kids are on the streets at three in the morning. So it must be ridiculously easy for 'powerful families' and individuals to do whatever the hell they like, with whoever they like. If Dante was dropped into one, he would invent a few more circles of Hell especially for some Aboriginal 'communities', and then run a mile.

Cheers,

Joe

Foxy, Sad to hear that your mother passed away. In the aboriginal treaty put forward by Elders want to re-establish their tribal laws. This includes rape and beatings of women as perfectly acceptable in Culture. There is no theft but the sharing use of property, it belongs to the mob. You see White fella laws deny these freedoms and incarcerate our youth. These behaviours I witnessed while working among the aboriginal community out from Alice.

SR,

We can count on you to monotonously regurgitate the loony left whinge talking points.

Perhaps your black armband version is hordes of savage pirates led by Philips descending on the peaceful natives caught meditating after eating an organic meal washed down with Soy lattes, and butchered in an unsustainable fashion.

Given that the minimum requirement for civilization is a written language Perhaps the 26th of January should be celebrated as the start of civilization in Australia.

Hi Everyone,

Thank You for your condolences. We'd been expecting
mum's passing on and off during these past weeks but
it's still a shock when it happens. However her
suffering has now ended and we will concentrate on the
positive, the legacy she left us and all the happy
memories that will live forever in our hearts.

I've got an hour before I head to Tobin Brothers to
make all the funeral arrangements. Her funeral won't be
in Melbourne. It will be in Sydney. Her wish was to be
buried with my father (her first husband). Tobin Brothers
will arrange everything.

Thank You for all your condolences. They are deeply appreciated.
Mum and I were very close - and it was hard seeing mum's
dementia affect her so greatly.

Anyway, back to the topic.

We've celebrated Australia Day for decades. And to me it was
always a day that we celebrated everything that's good about
this country. It did not even occur to me that there were
people who were actually grieving. Now I guess I'll have to
have a re-think about the date - and what if anything we
should do.

I can't help wondering though - is it all politics, and how
many of our Indigenous people really want the date changed?
This is a controversial issue I know - and there's so many
heated feelings about the issue. Personally, I don't mind
if the date is changed - providing that's what most people
decide they really want to do. Perhaps we should put it to
a vote?

On another thread, Luciferase has suggested moving NAIDOC Week to the week surrounding Australia Day, Sunday to Sunday. This sounds like a brilliant idea, solving one problem in a way that enhances and focuses attention on Indigenous issues, and centering it around a
Day that we can all commemorate.

What do you reckon ?

Joe