Foxy,

You are looking at this subject through the lense of identity politics. If someone is born in Australia then they are citizens and should have the same rights as any other person born here.

The statement "Some of us have managed to create a strong sense of patriotism around a country that was never ours in the first place" is just wrong in so many ways.

SM,

The reference was to the cultural amnesia that
many of us are suffering regarding our First
People's. It was linked to the current objections
some of them have today to our national anthem.
And the reasons for them.
But I've explained all of that in this discussion.
We have to realise that we pay lip service to
so many things but the reality for others may be
very different to our own.

Thank You for your contributions to this discussion.
For me it has now run its course.

SM, thanks for picking up on that point.
I completely missed it.
'Some of us ................around a country that was never ours in the first place'.
I agree, it was never 'anyone's', until the poms came along and said, 'we'll have this, thank you very much' and since then it was theirs.
These days it belongs to all those who have clear title to it because that is the law today, and that which is not privately owned is owned by the 'Crown', and that's why it's called 'Crown' land.
Why some people want to believe things that are not true when even 'they' have always said they never owned anything because they never believed or engaged in the practice or custom of 'owning' anything, possibly because they were 'transients' and it was too hard to carry any more than their hunting tools maybe, so anyone who says otherwise is either knowingly lying or simply unaware of this 'fact'.
Either way they're are wrong.
I know it's hard trying to get through to some people, but when something is a historical fact, I would think there was nothing to get through.
Some people just refuse to accept an uncomfortable truth and prefer a comfortable lie instead.
And that means they live in a world of their own making, or, in other words they're, living a lie.
Because of this, such people need to be made aware of the error of their ways and be brought back into the real world to minimize any on going mis-information or damage caused by them.

That is precisely what the Indigenous Leaders
are trying to do today. To correct the wrongs
of the past. They were counted in 1967. Today
they are asking to be heard.

"We have to acknowledge that pre-1788
this land was as Aboriginal then as it is
Australian now and until we acknowledge that,
we will be an incomplete nation and a torn
people... In short, we need to atone for the
emissions and for the hardness of heart of our
forebears to enable us all to embrace the future as
a united people."

- Tony Abbott, second reading of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
Recognition Bill, 2013.

The national anthem recording played at the primary school my grandkids in Broome go to has music provided by didgeridoo and tap sticks, amongst a few other instruments. Can’t get much more inclusive than that.

Foxy, you believe what you want, but as far as history goes there was no wrong done here.
The blacks got off extremely lightly when the same situation occurred in other countries (occupying) there would have been 'real' bloodshed and a 'real' effort at bringing them to heel.
Instead by and large there was no major conflicts and instead only occasional minor ones.
As if we didn't have as many white trouble makers to match the number of blacks making trouble. (eg; Ned Kelly)
As for wanting to be heard, don't care, we have been 'hearing' them for way too long, now it's time to shut-up if they were truly genuine, just get on with their life, like the rest of the Aussies, and keep moving forward.
We have been facilitating them for as long as I care to remember, and still they want to bleed us further.
Enough, I for one will never agree to throw any more money or privileges at these people.
I think we have gone way beyond our ability to cater for these people.
Now they are just being greedy.
Just want to be heard, my arse!
Grow up Foxy, if you're going to claim knowledge and expertise in everything you say, then please don't just take things at face value by using references and other peoples words or thinking, learn to question them, they are just people like the rest of us, with one great difference, they have agenda, we don't.
When you finally learn and accept this, you will be a better informed and interesting person, worth listening to.
Right now, you are neither.