the black arm band are always going to mourn (fakely) the achievements of the British. So why pander to them.

Is Mise,

Yes culture certainly is interesting - especially
that of this Australian of the year -

Lowitja O'Donoghue was born in a remote Aboriginal
community. She never knew her white father and at the
age of 2 was taken from her mother who she did not
see for 33 years. Her story is quite amazing as are
her achievements as an Aboriginal woman.

You should look up her biography. It's worth a read.
And is educational.

Is Mise,

Lowitja's father was named O'Donoghue. He was a station worker up beyond Oodnadatta, living with an Yankuntjatjara Aboriginal woman from the early twenties until the mid-thirties, when the drought really started to bite. He was an O'Donoghue. His children were O'Donoghues.

Put out of work, he had to go up to Queensland to find work, while his wife would have had to go back to her home country and face the 'difficulties' if she took her four or five kids with her. So they put their kids into the Oodnadatta home, known as Colebrook, and later to the Area School at Quorn. O'Donoghue didn't know, but WE know now how long that drought lasted, and if we had any empathy, we would understand why he didn't return.

Later Lowitja trained as a qualified nurse and served as matron of am Adelaide Hills hospital. One of her sisters qualified as a teacher, with one of SA's premiers remembering her as a beloved teacher. They were O'Donoghues.

Lowitja was a good friend of my wife's and I'm very proud of that. There aren't many Indigenous leaders with her skills and integrity.

Joe

Thanks Foxy for that insight into an outstanding Australian Lowitja O'Donoghue. And Joe thanks for the details about her father, and the hard times of the twenties and thirties that people had to endure.

Often the sceptics will pull out the "you can't be Indigenous with a name like "Patrick O'Shannessy" you must be Norwegian! I don't know if it happened in Australia but in my wife's case, at the age of five attending a small country school, she was stripped of her Maori name and an English name was literally pinned onto her dress by the teacher. She could hardly speak a word of English, the native language was spoken at home. Totally confused and bewildered, went home with her big sister who told Mum "XXXX has been given a new name XXXX by the teacher" her Mum simple said in Maori "From now on we will call you the English name, so you get used to it at school." her maiden surname is similar, an adopted English version, and her tribal name. Her passport carries her Maori first name which is two words (hard for bank computers to enter into the system ha ha) and her English surname, she has never bothered to change from her maiden name.

cont

cont

Joe, I do give you a bit of stick now and then, hope you don't take it too personally, I'm just as happy to take it from you at other times, and I deserve it.

Back to the "Cookie Monster", as you know I have said a thousand times the modern day tertiary education of aboriginal children, and you have all the figures, is the one beautiful flower growing in an otherwise rather weedy garden. What I don't see is its relevance to Cook and the celebration planned for 28th April 2020. Like the Ned Kelly myth there has been a purposely created Captain Cook myth by white Australia, and its been perpetuated for the last 200 odd years. Trying in this discussion to enlighten others about Cook, and what he was really like. Don't get me wrong, Cook was a great man in many ways, but he also had a down side, which has generally been hidden for a very long time.

p.s Some here want to determine aboriginality from a "Dulux" colour chart, Were the aborigines on missions, Mission Brown colour? Then there's the "external genes" what are they, maybe they are confusing genes with jeans.

Some here want to determine aboriginality from a "Dulux" colour chart,
Paul1405,
Tell us please, at what stage is a mixed Race person one Race or another. I personally hope that the whole of humanity just becomes one race & be done with it. The Aborigines are well on their way of achieving this except as they get lighter in complexion the more they claim to be Aborigine.
Surely, there's a tipping point where a human is more of one Race than another & therefore is a member of the race of which they have more genes ? That's way I see it, how do you ?
The feeling of being of a preferred race is only dependent on the amounts of compensation/privileges/Welfare associated. If, for example there was a system whereby we're all classed as humans instead of Race the whole show would take on different dimensions.
Sort of like refugees travelling though 10 countries to get to the one with the best welfare system ! It really is simply a matter of lack of integrity. And, yes there are way too many Caucasians who fit that description too.