Let’s get real. If we are to rewrite history to make right, there is some mighty righting to do, and it will call upon all citizens worldwide to pack up and get walking, because all of us are trespassing on what were lands occupied by others.
We know humans were here at the time of Captain Philip taking possession, but we don’t know if they were the descendants of those living here 60,000 years ago. It could be that the humans of 200 years ago were themselves conquerors. That’s the beauty of Aboriginals not writing their history down – they can claim anything.
What we do know is that there is no way that the descendants of Captain Philip’s time would be in possession of this land today – it would have been claimed by Spain, the French, the Dutch, the Philippines, the Malaysians, the Japanese, Hitler – indeed by anyone armed with more than a spear. Let not the Aboriginal descendants of today forget that. They were doomed – just as all nations unable to guard themselves today are doomed.
It’s great for the Aboriginal descendants of today to still believe in Dreamtime dreams, but dreams would not have stopped the conquerors with superior arms.
So refreshing to see some balance. Thank you.
“If I didn’t do it someone else would have” wasn’t a rationalisation accepted at Nuremberg and perhaps we shouldn’t accept it here.
It’s true that history is littered with brutality, oppression, injustice, dispossession, slavery and entitlement. I think most of us like to think we can keep evolving though in humanity and moral awareness. Striving to do better is the type of world I’d like to inhabit.
Here Here.
Mr Pratt, I think you are self indulging in over simplification, Anthropologists do have a very good idea what people were occupying the continent 60 thousand years ago; but you are right that history has not been kind to conquered people, but that still doesn’t mean we have to ignore what happened and we can’t try and at least normalize relations with First Nations people now.
We do have a normalised relationship
With the Aboriginal People’s Keith..
From what i have observed this past
30 years..by and large the true aboriginal people’s
Who have hardly come accross white fella
Want to leave it that way period !!
“We do have a normalised relationship
With the Aboriginal People” – Um no we dont – it was illegal under British Royal Lay, British Parliamentary Law and International Law to take over already occupied land. Australia is still an occupying colony of Britain, with British based law basically put in place and held in place under an illegal European occupation, with the British King having the only power to sign off our laws (and sack elected governments) and who still owns all our crown reserves – yep, via the illegal occupation, King Charles asserts he owns Byron beachfront reserves, that were, are, and will continue to actually be still owned by the local mob.
The land did not fit the legal definition of ‘occupied’. There were no towns, villages, agriculture, nor written law.
“Terra nullius” means land belonging to no-one, not land with no written law. Terra – land. Nullius – of no one – genitive case denoting ownership.
Written laws, indeed a system of writing, agriculture, villages etc are not in the equation.
Knowone owns any lands in this Country
We all belong to it ..
So unless you’ve hardly come across white fellas you’re not a “true aboriginal” person? Interesting!
No sure what point you’re trying to make here?
Some basic research would provide some answers.
Archaeology & science have long demonstrated this continent was unoccupied by humans prior to the arrival of Aboriginal Australians.
Your “Dreaming” reference is needlessly mocking too…. FYI it’s not about dreams, it’s a combination of history, ecological observations, land management, survival skills & laws orally passed down the generations.
It’s religion, you mean. A creation myth. A Gnostic one at that.
There were 3 successive invasions, each one pushing the previous invaders further south. Then there are the pygmy tribes of NE QLD that have died out since we arrived, who were a completely different group again. There is also contention that some early remains found are from a species similar to the Denisovans, and are not actually Homo Sapiens. The conflict between the mitochondrial surveys and haplo-grouping surveys, is another exciting can of worms. Only your political science is settled.
Sounds fascinating. Sources?