Altrave,

We tend to take our culture - and identity - from our mothers. I'm sure you might relate to that ?

So my Aboriginal wife took her Aboriginality from her mother - not to mention the simple fact that he never knew her father, just that he was a Calabrese.

And her mother ? Both of her parents were Aboriginal, and the parents of those were also Aboriginal. Back in the mists of time, yes, there would have been blow-in and -out whitefellas, but not the people who raised the kids.

Well, one whitefella, I suppose a gr-gr-gr-grandfather who married a Kaurna woman, who took out a lease of land on Kangaroo Island in the 1850s. In those days, if a whitefella married an Aboriginal woman and they wanted to farm, the lease was made out in the name of the wife. Happened quite a bit: www.firstsources.info , on the Protector's Letters Page, Letters: check Indexes.

So generally, the only relations my wife ever knew were Aboriginal. Uncles and aunties would pass through their place in a small country town all the time, on their way between the city and the home-community.

So she was Aboriginal. End of.

Joe

Foul-Mouth,

And what about you?

I assume you are a Bogan Australian like me.

Loudmouth2, (Joe).
I can only beg to differ.
What you say might be a personal and/or cultural description of your understanding of the situation.
BUT, I must remind you of the FACT that, referring to your example, the mother and father are of different ethnicities, or as I put it 'blood lines'.
So you may choose to be referred to as what ever you wish, just the same as someone changes their name by deed-poll, but it in no way changes their blood line.
The example you give is a perfect one in explaining my point.
Similarly all the wannabees who claim to identify as aboriginal, when in fact they are Australian, WHY?
Because as I said previously, it is, at the very least, disrespectful to choose to identify as one parent over the other.
Both parents are equal in every way, so therefore the deciding factor can only be the off-springs country of birth, and in the example you give, it can only be Australian.
I understand that in your example the wife or maybe the culture allows one to take the mothers blood line, although I've never heard of that in the aboriginal customs.
Joe, you can't say "she was aboriginal, end of".
You can only say she "chose to identify as an aboriginal woman".
Either way, my point still stands, because my proposition explains and caters to all the factors involved, such as but not restricted to, legal and social, to mention but two.
The fact that your submission is one of culture, is merely seen and practiced within the aboriginal community, and even then, not sure if, it is recognised by ALL the different black communities, or whether it is a localised belief/practice.
So according to what would be regarded as common sense, the lady in question IS Australian, but with Aboriginal and Calabrese blood, end of!
Just for fun, I thought I'd throw the last couple of words in as a follow up to your little slip of humour.
Cheers.

Village Idiot,

Yes, English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh (convicts and workhouse refugees, almost invariably from hamlets and villages), with maybe some Gypsy. Australian.

Joe

Foul-Mouth,

And I'm my roots are Anglo-Saxon-Celtic-Gallic-Nordic.

Yes, we are definitely Bogan Australians.

Maybe we`should secede from the Commonwealth and create a Bogan Australia.

Village Idiot,

The Commonwealth IS Bogan, with civilizing influences from all over the rest of the world, mainly Asia.

Joe