and how much did your ancestors pay the true owner for that cheap land?
Paul1405,
I don't suppose the real figures on how much compensation has been paid since Day 1 but I'm sure it's been paid for for several times over & we're still paying today !

Dear Bazz,

«Aborigines need to understand that the moment they got in a car, got
on a bus or a train or a plane, bought packaged food, used electricity
etc etc etc, they joined the rest of us on this planet.
They are no longer the people who were here in 1788.»

«So really the arrival of the British snatched them into the modern world.
What are they complaining about ?»

Exactly about this irreversible damage.
The loss of innocence, that birth of cynicism.
A meaningful harsh life turned into a comfortable but meaningless death.
A flower plucked out of soil and placed in a vase with water and nutrient powder from the supermarket.

Not much can we do about it, but let us mourn, for ourselves too.

Damage ? Really ? If so why haven't they thrown off their European
cloths thrown out their metal knives and forks, moved out of their
houses and camped in the bush ?

No ? Well maybe the only damage is what they brought with them into
the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Dear Bazz,

«If so why haven't they thrown off their European
cloths thrown out their metal knives and forks, moved out of their
houses and camped in the bush ?»

For the same reason that you and I do not - this lifestyle is addictive!

After 40 thousand plus years, it seems a little advancement was well overdue. Feigned indignation is unfortunately something the Aborigines learned from Western Academics !

Neither Cook or Philip landed on January 26, the day would not matter to the activists. The just want to cause division and not have any day to represent our culture. I celebrate a culture and history that has built Australia and its place in the world of human history.

The aboriginals who have not adopted to the introduced culture are still in the stone age. Those that do love the cattle, the horses, the musical instruments, the technology, the food and housing, the education and sport the new culture has brought to this land. The old culture has contributed virtually zero to Modern Australia its laws and values. Those aboriginals that have adjusted are great examples of what adaptation to the new culture can do.