What is a Aboriginal today

[Pete E]

This country was settled by an invading force, who cared sod all for the original people.
There are some who appreciate the wrongs done in the white settlement of this country, and then there are the ones who through ignorance deny any genocide or land theft.

Isn't that the story of mankind where ever you go though? Even if you go back into prehistory, early homo sapiens, conquered/ bred out / out competed other early humans such Nethanderals...I am not excusing what has gone on, but suggesting it's just what the human race has always done...

In the Bradshaw's of northern Australia isn't there a distinctive form of rock art that may predate the Aborigonal peoples of the area? I seem to recall Les Hiddins suggested a possible trade connection to Africa due to the presence of Boab trees there...

 

[aussiefarmer]

There wouldn't be many countries in the world that haven't at some point in history been taken over by another race ,that doesn't make it right.
We have no control of events before our lifetime nor do we have control of those who have racist ideologies , we do have some control of the future and the only way I can see smoothly moving forward is unity as Australians.

The history books all need rewriting to remove any legend status from the top brass and their injustices to be documented , we are lucky the world has evolved from the days of conquests to new lands otherwise we all may have been wiped out 2 or 3 times as "ownership" of Australia changed hands each time another super power wanted it.

 

[Goldtarget]

OldGt like many, you probably had some form of moral justice in your youth, and like so many of your peers you lost that and were bought off by the system. Every man has his price, and yours must have been pretty low.

Price has to be paid for justice, austerity, democracy and feedom Reg, in one form or another we carry the load as a civilisation. The trouble is a man cant align himself with every moral crusade that comes along, and in one way or another nature or the system is going to hand you hardship.

I prefer to focus on the end result, we are all much better off than a few generations (locally and globally) overall, humankind has evolved. That said there always has been and always will be more to do.

Equally though I dont go out of my way to exploit others and try to maintain a sense of fairness in my dealings. Noone is going to make all the right decisions 100% of the time.

 

[Adrian ss]

We all came to this country from some other country including the aborigines who have DNA taking their origins back to Africa, India, The Middle East, The Sudan, just like the rest of us.
Other people have lived in Australia before the current peoples and just as we have done they took this land from those who here before them.
Looking at rock art around the desert and along the South Coastal regions and elsewhere clearly shows people with almost zero war/fighting weapons that have been overpainted and the people dominated by those more violent people who came later and as recent as 5000 years ago.

It would almost seem to be that Australia may have been the last land mass to become occupied by humans

 

[happyenough]

happyenough, piss off with your 'lefty' crap. Right or left, you are Australian regardless. "From on all the lands on earth we come". As residents of this land there is much to be proud of, but spare me the wrapping yourself in the flag crap. Face facts. This country was settled by an invading force, who cared sod all for the original people.
There are some who appreciate the wrongs done in the white settlement of this country, and then there are the ones who through ignorance deny any genocide or land theft.
The original people of this country were expected to just assimilate and die out, and how dare they stand up for their rights to be themselves and to have any claim to the land that they occupied for thousands of years.
The bone ignorance of some of the rednecks on this forum leaves me breathless, and f@#k what the Cambridge Dictionary says.

Maybe write your own Dickionary to suit position - lets call it The Reg Wilson Dicktionary just to suit what you believe :|

And about me wrapping myself in the flag,no :/

And being proud of Australia I did not decide to be born here although I am very grateful especially in today global climate.

Anyway thanks Reginald

Note - congratulations to all contributors here still having this prickly subject still open. :Y:

 

[Heatho]

I find it ironic that 3 weeks ago we were "all in this together" and now it's "us and them", I just don't get it really.

Anyway I really like this piece written by Warren Mundine. A voice of reason calling out the oop:

"When I was born, Aboriginal people in NSW lived under a segregation regime called the Aborigines Protection Act.

My father needed a certificate of exemption just to travel home from work after 5pm. He carried it with him his whole life and if any young person complained about racism hed pull it out and tell them they didnt know what racism was.

Australia has completely changed. Yet I keep hearing young Aboriginal people complaining about racism; more than I ever did when it was actually ingrained into the law and in how people treated us.

The loudest complaints are from a minority subset who never lived under segregation and grew up with every opportunity: well-educated, benefited from special programs, live in nice homes, have good jobs and salaries.

Then theres this clique of progressive-left non-Aboriginal people falling over themselves with self-flagellation; the sorry-sorry people who apologise for things theyve never done or that are of no consequence to anyone...... "

 

[travelergold]

You know, the laws can be an ass. About 20 plus years ago every time i filled a form out that asked if i was aborigonal or torres strait islander I always ticked the yes box. I have done that every time since. And whenever gov agency ever asked me i always said yes too. Got some strange looks sometimes.
About12 months ago I went to government dentist as my chemo has had affect on my teeth and gums. They looked at me and asked if I was aboriginal or torres strait islander, then said is that correct as on paperwork i am listed as such. With that I answered yes I am, and the young lady said thats ok, just checking, your visit will cost you nothing. Since then I have had couple visits and each time they have been free, no more questions asked.
I am no more aborigonal than the pope is jewish, but i think i was born here, my parents and grandparents were all born here so am as australian as can be.

 

[happyenough]

I find it ironic that 3 weeks ago we were "all in this together" and now it's "us and them", I just don't get it really.

Anyway I really like this piece written by Warren Mundine. A voice of reason calling out the oop:

"When I was born, Aboriginal people in NSW lived under a segregation regime called the Aborigines Protection Act.

My father needed a certificate of exemption just to travel home from work after 5pm. He carried it with him his whole life and if any young person complained about racism hed pull it out and tell them they didnt know what racism was.

Australia has completely changed. Yet I keep hearing young Aboriginal people complaining about racism; more than I ever did when it was actually ingrained into the law and in how people treated us.

The loudest complaints are from a minority subset who never lived under segregation and grew up with every opportunity: well-educated, benefited from special programs, live in nice homes, have good jobs and salaries.

Then theres this clique of progressive-left non-Aboriginal people falling over themselves with self-flagellation; the sorry-sorry people who apologise for things theyve never done or that are of no consequence to anyone...... "

In it all together - if you ever believed that you must believe in the tooth fairy :lol: nothing has changed - still rich and poor - still right and left - nothing :100: sorry Heatho if I burst your bubble :|

 

[Heatho]

I didn't coin that phrase, it's what they keep telling us on TV.............. Not bursting my bubble.

 

[Outback]

Thanks for all your comments regarding this sensitive thread , shame some dopes fired up spewing their illogical crap as usual .
They have stamped themselves for all to see .

Most who posted ' gave a fair assumption of what they think without any personal attacks .
Also we had two moderators have there say , both excellent reply's !

Take Care
jack .

 

[Deepseeker]

I did get a chance many years ago to be Aboriginal for the day (or at least for half an hour or so). I went to the medical clinic for a weekend visit with a bad sore throat, and they had a locum working there who wasn't one of their regular Doctors. He wrote me out a script for some antibiotics, and on the way to the pharmacy I happened to look at the printing on the top of the script. I remember clearly that it had his name Dr Whiteside, and it said something like Fitzroy Aboriginal Health Clinic. Obviously his own prescription pad that he carried around with him.

Well, here I was in what was then WASPY Ashburton/ Glen Iris in Victoria, just thinking to myself "oh that's interesting". So, I walked across the road to the pharmacy, which I had been in a couple of times before in my young life, but couldn't say that I knew the people in there or that they knew me. I handed over the script, having already forgotten about the printing on it, when the until then pleasant looking and well spoken middle-aged lady behind the counter blurted out in a curt loud voice "Well, how are you going to pay for that!!?

Thinking I'd missed something I said "sorry?". To which in an angrier louder tone she repeated "How are you going to pay for it!???"
I replied- "just on card"
Her- "Show me the Card!"
Me- "Yeah sure", getting out my Visa card and handing it over, to which she literally snatched it off of me and studied it closely. Then she handed the card back and huffed off behind the second counter to hand the script to the pharmacist, muttering something which I couldn't hear, until he himself looked over the counter toward me disapprovingly.

Still thinking they must be having a bad day or something, I wandered around the shop killing time looking at all the stuff they sold while I waited for my script to be filled. Suddenly I realized that one of the assistants was moving around behind the counter so that her gaze could follow me around the shop, never letting me out of her sight. Then the penny dropped- they thought I was aboriginal because of the prescription....

The completed script was kept well out of my way until I had paid, and the transaction had gone through to the satisfaction of the counter bitch. Even once paid there were no niceties, "have a nice day", "thank you" or anything like that. Just a look of disgust that followed me to the door until I had left. I never ever went into that particular pharmacy again, convinced that they were a pack of racist turds. It occurred to me then that I had just had a little taste of what somebody who is aboriginal probably has to put up with every day, and worse. Sure, it was probably 30 or so years ago now. But, I'm sure indigenous people are still subjected to the same type of crap, and if it happened to me again now that I'm older and wiser, and more confident, I'd give them a serve and let the medical clinic know how that pharmacy across the road treats their patients. For indigenous people who have to put up with this kind of stuff for their whole life, I'd imagine it would grind them down to the point of damaging their self esteem, hopes, aspirations, and health.

 

[happyenough]

Thanks for all your comments regarding this sensitive thread , shame some dopes fired up spewing their illogical crap as usual .
They have stamped themselves for all to see .

Most who posted ' gave a fair assumption of what they think without any personal attacks .
Also we had two moderators have there say , both excellent reply's !

Take Care
jack .

We are all someones dope so dont forget that outback

 

[JD3]

Sat back and watched this for a bit.
I have aborignal mates. One actually was, still is last I know, the lead guitarist in the band that played at the handing over of the "Rock". Haven't seen Sel for ages but jammed with him a bit in the 90's. Had some cool times back then too.
Detected a fair bit with another Aboriginal mate too when I started detecting as I mentioned here on another thread. He was a stolen generation, his brother was a green beret and Aboriginal code talker. He spoke Aboriginal code talk giving information about movements to others like himself for us in the Pacific during the war with Japan.
You know what they used to think, say about this stuff people here are arguing about!? All they wanted was us all to get along and accept each other as mates, all equal. No us, them, they did this, we did that, your an invader, we are the owner. No, just we are all mates. Just as we, me and them were. And I can say that 100% that was the sentiment they always conveyed to me and we live and lived by.
It starts with each and every one of us, me included. Treat everyone regardless of past, race, colour, with the same respect as you would like yourself. As long as we keep pointing fingers, name calling, bringing up the past and paintiing others with the same brush, then we will be destined to keep repeating the very mistakes we condemn those before us for commiting. The same prejudices will be repeated, only now instead of it being against colour (aboriginality) it will be against ideas, beliefs, nationality, religion, origin, thoughts, lifestyle.....

 

[Swinging & digging]

We all came to this country from some other country including the aborigines who have DNA taking their origins back to Africa, India, The Middle East, The Sudan, just like the rest of us.
Other people have lived in Australia before the current peoples and just as we have done they took this land from those who here before them.
Looking at rock art around the desert and along the South Coastal regions and elsewhere clearly shows people with almost zero war/fighting weapons that have been overpainted and the people dominated by those more violent people who came later and as recent as 5000 years ago.

It would almost seem to be that Australia may have been the last land mass to become occupied by humans

I am pretty sure i read NZ was the last country to be occupied by humans.

Both Australia and NZ where once human free as the first arrivals came from other lands.

 

[aussiefarmer]

Don't believe to much , everyone makes it up , even David rabbitborrow , scientists figure it out and every 30 odd years they are proven wrong. It's been that way long before the earth was flat, them scientists that reckon the continent's moved are on some wicked drugs , I've looked under the ocean and the continent's are hooked together so the don't float about.
There's a dam good chance humans are aliens to earth and it would have been a sweet place if humans weren't here.

 

[Fossiker]

Hey gents well I wasnt gonna weigh in on this but I feel I should.

Im a proud Aboriginal (pronoun always with a capital A) Gamilaroi man from northern NSW. I was given away by my mother at 4 days old and raised by my grandfather in the article below on the left. I have fair skin but know nothing about my father or his ancestory. Although fair-ish I only know my strong Aboriginal culture through my grandparents. You see for me its more than percentages and colour. Using terms and percentages unfortunately were terms used by politicians during the white Australia policy and are not part of Aboriginal Australian language vocabulary. For our mob you either arent or are, There is no in between. Its more than colour its about, culture, belief and value systems, ancestory and cultural knowledge and the impacts of past government policy and how it affected our families.

Sadly I lost the old fulla in 1992. He returned minus his brother and up until the 1967 referendum was counted with the flora and fauna. His mates received war homes but he was ineligible due to his Aboriginality. Most people will never understand how he suffered before, during and after the war and a lot mainstream Australians will never have even considered. His son my uncle was a tunnel rat in Vietnam, a quick search of the AWM data base will confirm this, his sons my cousins are also in the Army. My family has done nothing but give, but got little or nothing in return. Believe me a lot of what people think is true is quite often not.

I do understand though its challenging for many to understand this concept as the foundations of your belief and Value systems are more than likely shaped by your parents. To challenge and unpack what you have been tought or believe about Aboriginality and how its constructed by media, family and government can be a difficult task.

Miss him everyday and Im proud his strong Gamilaroi blood pumps through mine and my sons veins. My pop (dad) is on the left and uncle George on the right.

 

[Outback]

Top post Fossiker , great photo Mate .

My Congratulations to you & your past relatives :Y:

Jack.

 

[bundyjd]

This pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter....

 

[blisters]

This brief highlights the problem the Aboriginal people face by having what they want or need determined by others.

On one hand there are little records kept of Aboriginal lineage unlike non Aboriginal yet, that is one of the three determining factors of proof.

Imagine the frustration of having to provide authentic documentary evidence showing direct line of ancestry through a family name to the time of colonisation just to keep your kid in school. All this when the Government from colonisation, sought to airbrush the Aboriginal people from the face of the map.

At least some common sense has been raised acknowledging that strict interpretation of the three tests will exclude Aboriginals and that defining Aboriginality perhaps should be left to Aboriginals, not by a Parliament and court which is not representative of the Aboriginal people.

Thanks for posting this brief Outback.

 

[bundyjd]

I reckon were lucky they are only looking for equality not revenge.