Hi Joe,

I am concentrating on Cook, its clear from his journal entry that he was taking possession of "uninhabited" land, being the east coast of Australia. Cook well knew the land was inhabited, however being unsuccessful in following orders; "by all proper means to cultivate a Friendship and Alliance with them (Aboriginals)....with the Consent of the Natives to take Possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain"

British authority, obviously to expand the empire, conveniently dismissed those orders, and happy accepted possession as Cook had taken it. This is demonstrated by the fact 18 years later they sent a large colonising party under Governor Phillip. Phillip was given total control over all things, including the local inhabitants, he was free to grant land to anyone he chose, all in the name of the British monarch.

"conscious and puzzled every day over how and why people did this or that, trying to understand and put some 'crazy' behaviour into a meaningful context. Every day, and all day." Live in a houso' estate in the burbs of any city in Australia, and you might come to the same conclusion.

I have never claimed to have intricate knowledge of Australian Indigenous life. No one on this forum has such knowledge, such is its diversity that no one person could be so well versed to have such an understanding, and certainly not Indy!

Pleased with the quick practical response of the local Island/Maori community following the sudden death of a well respected Maori community leader this week. A quickly organised music gig yesterday, and a food and jumble sale, cultural entertainment, raffle etc, at the local hall today, all to raise money to help the family of the deceased man.

Paul,

That's how imperialism works. Do you think it would never have happened if the British had sailed away ? Of course it was inevitable - tragic, like it has been everywhere in that confrontation between militarily unequal societies, but inevitable.

So now, Indigenous people have pretty much full equal rights. Can you think of a right that they don't have ? Yes, let's not forget the past and flog the daylights out of all of those utter bastards who may have done something that we, being more virtuous, would never do.

But let's be mindful of the present and its potential. So, by 2026 or so, there could be a hundred thousand Indigenous university graduates, more or less on a par with Europe, and perhaps just a shade better than in New Zealand. Those Indigenous graduates will represent a quarter of the potential Indigenous work-force (and probably half of the actual work-force).

And it won't stop there: by 2035, there could be 150,000 graduates, perhaps a third of all adults in the cities, where people will be migrating to in the next few years, there won't be too many people left in remote areas by then. Close to 60 % of graduates will still be women: I don't know, for the life of me, what men are doing, since they're certainly not getting pregnant and dropping out of the potential work-force for that reason. Maybe there's another role for actually-working programs at universities - to find a way to attract more men into university.
Nah, it's more fun working on a thesis that all Dreaming stories are literally true, or that there were people on the upper Darling before whitefellas, yes indeed.

The worst disservice we can do in relation to Indigenous people is keep them convinced that they are eternal victims, pitiable, powerless. I'm not interested in any of that any more.

Joe

Dear Paul,

Thank You for your interesting posts and the information
they contained about Cook. I'm learning a great deal
as a result of this discussion.

The subject of Australia's colonisation exemplifies
the argument of those who insist that there is no
such thing as "objective history."

The historian can establish that an act took place on a
certain day, but this by historical standards constitutes only
chronology.

The moment a historian begins to look critically at motivation,
circumstances, context, or any other such consideration
the product becomes unacceptable for one or another camp of
readers.

Some people are more interested
in condemnation than in explanation.
Explanations seem tatamount to sympathising and excusing.
While others may be in total denial, brushing things
aside, and again excusing.

And so we have the case of the colonisation of our
country and the various emotive points of view involved.
Making it a hot political topic.

That is why the Uluru Statement from the Heart - asks
for truth in our past history to be told not denied.

As I stated in an earlier post. The celebration of
Captain Cook's landing can go ahead provided that our
Indigenous People are included and shown respect.
It is a question of balance. And surely we as a nation
are mature enough to be able to do that?

Even The Guardian polls show that only 6% of people whine and moan about Australia Day and other celebrations of our history and heritage.

Hi Paul,

Just to add to my claim that Indigenous people here are participating at higher rates than Maori in New Zealand, here's a useful file:

http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/sector-research-issues-facts-and-stats/building-ma%CC%84ori-and-pasifika-success/building-m%C4%81ori-success

In Australia, Indigenous student numbers have more than doubled since 2008 while Maori numbers have risen only by 29 %. There would currently be more than 20,000 Indigenous students, while in 2018 there were 24,000 Maori university students. The Maori population is a good deal higher than the Indigenous population here. And yes, as in NZ, Indigenous women are participating at about twice the rate of men.

Okay, participation is about the same. But the Indigenous rate of change is much faster than the Maori rate. It's worth remembering that Maori have been attending university since the 1890s, with Peter Buck, Maui Pomare, Apirana Ngata all graduating back then. But the efforts seem to be slackening :(

Just saying.

Cheers,

Joe

I spent many years living in the proximity of Redfern
Paul1405,
We hand a handful of "Redfern Aborigines" come up North over the years because the positions were advertised as "Indigenous Applicants are encouraged to apply".
Well, none lasted more than a few weeks. As I was in a position to ask them why the decision to leave the Community, the one common answer was "there's nothing here" ! They simply had no interest in the natural beauty of the place, they wanted Bars & Stadiums.
There are more Indigenous from up here down there so I find it very difficult to believe that the Europeans have so destroyed their idyllic natural existence. All those moving South are proof that that Fabel is just that !
Now that the the older relatives are gradually departing up here, many Indigenous born down South are now moving in here to claim "their Land". The majority aren't welcome by their own kind because they have no affinity with living on the land. All they appear to achieve is social division by exploiting their one & only drop of indigenous blood in their veins. They're the ones making it hard for the Indigenous, not the descendants of the European settlers.
Such as the critics of Cook who live on indigenous land unlike the Navigator who was only here for a couple of months 250 years ago !