If you remember, Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people, including two from Ocean Shores, at Port Arthur 27 years ago, and was sentenced to 35 consecutive life sentences (1,035 years) without parole.
Now just imagine one day he dies of old age and the police track down his closest living relative, say a cousin and arrest him and then chuck him into prison because despite dying of old age, Bryant had not completed his 35 life sentences (even though this person had nothing to do with the crime), he was held accountable, looked upon and treated like a criminal.
Then one day he dies of old age and his closest living relative is arrested and held accountable for ’Bryant’s crime and jailed for life and so on until 35 life sentences have been served.
The majority of those in prison would never have met, or ever even had a link to Bryant except through genealogy, or would not have been born at the time Bryant committed the crime.
To me, this is what is happening in Australia. Right now we white Australians are still being held accountable by those of Aboriginal descent for the actions of others, that occurred a few 100 years ago, despite the fact that no one is alive today, who witnessed or took part in it, is directly impacted by those events.
Stop blaming Australian people alive today for the actions of the British a few 100 years ago. Come to think of it nobody blames descendants of the Japanese or Nazis for what they did.
Who is throwing who in gaol?
And there is a huge difference with your Bryant analogy in that for 95% of our European history these crimes were denied, disputed, covered up & excluded from formal history. At the time & since there has been some begrudging admittance, but always with attempted justification.
As one of your fellow “white Australians”, I’ve never felt as though I’m being held accountable or blamed. I doubt few could possibly feel that.
To me it appears what is being sought is merely acknowledgement of the truth.
👍
60%+ and rising.
Hey Wilf .. whether you like it or not you are a beneficiary of the the great dispossession as is the entirety of Modern Australia. In this instance as always seems the case its not the crime that’s preposterous ( it was a product of the era) its our constant attempts at the cover up and a refusal to accept that our treatment of the people we “conquered” was deficient in every manner over the journey.. your letter lacks empathy and insight.. the country has been committing Boomercide since the republican referendum.. bring on the great demographic interment I say..
Well said but jaybuoy,Mate, there’s not a lot to be gained by countering one form of bigotry (and lack of empathy) with another. Do you know how offensive “bring on the great demographic interment” is to boomers like me who wrote the reply below that largely concurs with yours?
I would slightly take exception to your observation that “it was a product of the era”. David Marr, discussing his research for his latest book ‘Killing for Country’ – dealing with the horrific 19th century operations of the Queensland Native Police – claims that those responsible can’t entirely claim the exoneration of historical context. There were those at the time, who spoke out against the atrocities, most particularly journalists and newspapers.
There has always been a mix of attitudes and values in any era. Marr himself is a “boomer”, one of many of us who have paved the way for the greater enlightenment you prize today. Perhaps some acknowledgement and respect is due?
Keep up the good work!
Despite a galloping disparity in income distribution, most of us live a great life in this wonderful country. Part of our gratitude for this should be an acknowledgment that we are able to do so because it was taken from the people who were already here. Not just this but they were then treated abominably.
And this treatment wasn’t all “a few 100 years ago”. Many individuals and families are still feeling the trauma of policies that took children from their families. Between 1910 and the 1970s, governments, churches and welfare bodies forcibly removed many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Maybe have a read of the Bringing Them Home Report, tabled in Parliament in 1997.
This was not due to neglect or abuse, just unilateral. It was a policy of assimilation – tantamount to an admission of guilt, its justification was that the best chance in life was to become part of the white community.
Many discriminatory policies, and a virtual apartheid, existed in this country through much of the 20th century, where First Nations people were considered unworthy to mix with the non indigenous population, including ex service people barred from participating in remembrance occasions.
I personally haven’t done any of this, and no doubt neither have you.I can’t though, just wallow in my good fortune without accepting some responsibility to do what I can to address the intergenerational disadvantage and trauma that has been the aftermath of this privilege. Part of this was voting “yes” to a meagre request that most First Nations people supported.
That doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to be carted off to gaol.