" The first inhabitants of Australia were of course the
Aboriginal people, who generations of Australians remember
from that one history class when the teacher mentioned
them. But of course the inhabitants would not have thought
of themselves as Australians: the 250 individual nations
that occupied the continent had yet to gain the wonderful
sense of national unity that white men brought to Australia,
along with marvelous innovations such as guns and smallpox."

"For many thousands of years, these people lived in total
ignorance of what they were missing out on, not even knowing
how deprived they were until their European benefactors came
along to teach and/ or kill them."

"Of course, those white men didn't think of Australia as Australia
either. Prior to European settlement, the continent was known in the
Old World by a number of names: "New Holland," "New South Wales,"
"Old Zealand," "North Antarctica," "The Big Brownie,"
"Snakesville," were all common monikers for the
great Southern land."

"When the First Fleet sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788, the
passengers filled with hope for a quick and painless end to their
suffering. It was not Australia to which they thought they had
journeyed. It didn't much matter what they called it, though
Fleeters considered themselves, British, and the fact that they
were on the other side of the world would not stop them feeling
that way or wearing completely inappropriate clothing for
the climate."

"In fact it took some time for the British and their descendents
in Australia to stop thinking of England as "home" some say
the tendency only really began to die out when Robert Menzies
passed away in 1978. Australia under any name was viewed as
an outpost of the British Empire far beyond the point at which
this perception was literally true or even remotely reasonable."

" The diverse peoples of the Indigenous nations
and the deluded white criminals of the motherland ended up forming
a single nation, the amazing land we call Australia, which
combines the best of its brutally cruel origins with the
finest in modern complacency and self-deception."

cont'd ...

Hey ttbn,
"This continent didn't even have a name before the British found it and settled it."
Well that's not true.
The Dutch named the west New Holland and the rest Terra Australis.
The Indonesians are said to have visited here before Cook as well, they called it Marege.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makassan_contact_with_Australia#Voyage_to_Marege'_and_Kayu_Jawa

"Trepanging fleets began to visit the northern coasts of Australia from Makassar in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, from at least 1720 and possibly earlier. Campbell Macknight's classic study of the Makassan trepang industry accepts the start of the industry as about 1720, with the earliest recorded trepang voyage made in 1751. But Regina Ganter of Griffith University notes that a Sulawesi historian suggests a commencement date for the industry of about 1640. Ganter also notes that for some anthropologists, the extensive influence of the trepang industry on the Yolngu people suggests a longer period of contact. Arnhem Land Aboriginal rock art, recorded by archaeologists in 2008, appears to provide further evidence of Makassan contact in the mid-1600s. Based on radiocarbon dating for apparent prau (boat) designs in Aboriginal rock art, some scholars have proposed contact from as early as the 1500s."

History on this continent didn't begin on Sunday 29 April 1770 when Cook arrived.
The day before was a Saturday, the fleet hadn't arrived yet, and to the people already living here the next day 'Sunday' (to us)
- was 'just another bloody day' to them.

Australia was a vast place of many Aboriginal tribes.
They may not have had an official name for the continent but they had names for many places.
Why does it even need a name, anymore than one might call it 'home'.
That's what it was to them.

Others make arguments that lifespan was short.
Maybe 30 years as a free man is better than 60 subjugated under British rule.
In any case, what's done is done.

If people continue to make all these arguments of why it was ripe for conquest, and how we 'did them a favour'.
- Then the BS rift between Aboriginals and their 'invaders' is never ever going to end.

cont'd ...

"But when did Australia truly begin? Who were the first Australians?
the people who invented the idea of being Australian, and began the
long, slow track towards discovering exactly what being
Australian means? From the very beginning of the clash of
cultures that set this land on a collison course with nationhood,
there were a few remarkable individuals who, however they began
their lives, ended them fully deserving the prestigious and only
slightly insulting designation of "Great Australian."

For their stories you need to read the book - "Aussie, Aussie,
Aussie, questionable histories of Great Australians." as well
as the book - "Error Australis: The reality recap of Australian
History," both by Ben Pobjie.

AC

There are lots of "said to have beens" around, mate. I remember reading a book by a Gavin Menzies, that was lauded at the time, but since found to be a complete fantasy. Menzies had China poking around Australia in the 15th. Century. BS. An ex son-in-law presented my wife with a piece of 'Ming' china that was touted as being off a junk sunk during that made up voyage. BS.

Most of the nonsense - on any subject at all - comes from intellectual morons in the cloistered protection of tertiary institutions, where everybody is the same, and they all agree with each other. The ordinary morons accept what the intellectual morons say because it saves them the trouble of thinking for themselves.

People seem to confuse the living with the dead?
They talk about long past generations as if they were alive today?
They treat present day persons as if they are the ones actually suffering supposed injustices of the past.
All these things are wrong in fact.
And they provide nothing but destructive thought.
They encourage anger and revenge.
It is time to leave the past in the past.
Learn from its trends, but don't try to relive it.
Look forward, not back.
Break new ground: don't rehash past events.
Make your mental horizon support a bright future.
Stop dragging your feet.
However you like to put it, it is time to shake away the cobwebs?

Ipso Fatso,
They have to keep up the momentum to stop the funding pendulum from stopping ! I'm talking about the pseudo-indigenous activists & the hypocritical whose great, great, great grandparents once saw an Aboriginal walk down a settler-made track !