cont'd ...

Dear Paul,

Captain Cook was not eaten by the local in Sandwich
Islands. According to Britannica - the Hawaiian
islanders who killed Captain Cook were not cannibals.

We're told that they believed that the power of a man
was in his bones so they cooked part of Cook's body
to enable the bones to be easily removed.

It was the cooking of his body which gave rise to the
rumour of cannibalism.

Cook's body was buried at sea.

Dear Belly,

Have a read of the link I gave on page 2 of this
discussion. It may put things into a better
perspective then I ever could for you regarding
the celebration or not of Captain Cook's landing.

It's worth a read.

I think the way the aboriginals treated Cook and his fellow travellers was abysmal.

Everyone knows that when people arrive in your country by boat, without passport or visa, unannounced and uninvited, you're supposed to welcome them with open arms. Welcome them into your community. Give them access to all you've got and then some.

Promise to make 'em citizens of your 'country' tout de suite.

Additionally you are forbidden to tell them that they need to learn your ways and if you're really compassionate you're supposed to tell them that in reality their culture is as good as or better than yours and they can and should continue to practice said culture even when it defies the original national culture.

But instead the aboriginals treated him like an invader, an illegal arrival, when we, more advanced and more caring all know that boat-people are neither. I'll bet that if the aboriginals knew there was such a thing as the Pacific they'd have found a Solution to the Cook problem there.

We need to celebrate Cook's good grace in being so forgiving while treated so appallingly as merely the first of the boat-people.

Foxy,
From where did you get the info that the government was going to spend $50 million on Cooks "Discovery Day"?

If anything is planned, they had better get a move on.

mhaze,

Not much the open borders mob can say to that.

Dear HenryL.,

The $50 million sum appeared in articles in the Australian,
the Conversation, the Business Insider, the Sydney
Morning Herald, and other sources on the web.