Australia Day Changing Date

[i_love_burritos]

That would be like having two Birthdays, fun and rewarding, but pointless all the same.

 

But meh.

[jemathonical]

Just make another date acknowledging what the aboriginals want. Equal rights plz.

 

 

 

They already have a whole week - NAIDOC Week.

[Lenticular_J]

I'm sorry but what? I know you guys try to be hilarious in every single post that you make but honestly, you suck 9 times out of 10.

 

I'm sorry, but I do take offense to this. For a funny thing: I aim for dry. And another thing: Mine wasn't really near dragoon's. I actually make points. I do, however, acknowledge most of my jokes are horrible. Purposefully.

 

 

 

Besides, can't laugh at yourself, whatcha got to live for.

[i_love_burritos]

I'm still trying to figure out how lions can talk :-k

[Kiriyama]

I'm still trying to figure out how lions can talk :-k

 

 

 

Magic.

[Nabbagad]

Back on topic.. I agree and think it would be stupid to change it.

 

 

 

Even though it marks the start of some horrible things, it's the historic side we celebrate.

[dluvs]

I think the idea of 'reconciliation' has escaped the minds of many aboriginals. If I'm not mistaken, aborginals are not discriminated against in Australia, they have equal rights as every Australian, and our Prime Minister has publicly apologised for the stolen generation (an event in which modern day Australians did not do or support).

 

 

 

Growing up in the city I had aboriginal friends who were as much our friends as anyone else and as much apart of the community as anybody else and also did not care about getting an apology or not. In other areas however (eg. North Queensland, Northern Territory) the local aboriginal community can be a problem, inciting violence and abusing alcohol. Despite this, our government and everyday Australians still put their hand out to help them.

 

 

 

I believe reconciliation was achieved along time ago, and it is the aboriginals causing problems who just want more from the Australian Government and its people. The Australian people can only do so much, it is up to them to take advantage of all the benefits given to them by the Australian Government and go to school, become educated, get a job. There is nothing stopping them if they are willing to cooperate. They do not deserve to be treated higher than other Australians, the idea of changing Australia Day is ridiculous and calling it 'Invasion Day' is downright offensive. Mick Dodson, after just being declared Australian of the Year, has made a statement which will do nothing but sever relations with the aboriginal community.

[Tim]

Even though the topic WAS dead almost a week now, i might as throw my input.

 

 

 

 

 

The way the aboriginals are treating others actully annoys me, not those who accepted the fact all this happened OVER 100 YEARS AGO but those who insits we are still tresspassing, they deserve more yatta yatta. Hell, for all we know, the British could have simply killed the Indig' (im lazy to type fully) compleatly leaving it as nothing but a white country full of condemned prisoners but no, it didn't happen that way. AS for deserving more, in my eyes i'll agree when you prove it to me, NT in Kathrine is the worst town i've lived so far, so bad the Indig' lie around, asking for money while drinking slightly expensive and disgusting Port to abolish their Anger and troubles (not that it works)

 

 

 

All in all, I might support you, but I expect to keep your words, help the Country and prove to me your men and not loiterers.

 

 

 

(My View by the way)

[IGoddessI]

Well at least the government now knows they can't keep palming off money, free education and cars. That's not how to make a group equal. I lived in the Northern Territory for 6 years and this is all the government did, palmed away money to make up for discrimination. Majority spent it all on alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, metho and even tore up their floor boards in their free accommodation to create camp fires in the living room. I kid you not. I used to have to step over them sleeping in the car park, hung over before I went to work in the morning. Both government and the aboriginals of Australia have come a long way since then. And I'm so glad the government decided to stop throwing money around to fix a problem.

[jemathonical]

Majority spent it all on alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, metho and even tore up their floor boards in their free accommodation to create camp fires in the living room. I kid you not.

 

 

 

The sad thing is, not many people in Australia are shocked by this anymore.

[Rollyboy]

The increase in alchohol and drug abuse within the Aboriginal community was mainly due to the collapse of Aboriginal society and culture. Before the colonisation of the Aboriginal people used drugs, one which was called Pituri (Western scientific name; Duboisia hopwoodii). Pituri is like a nicotine based drug. Aboriginal society suffered very little or no addiction. The Aboriginal people actually farmed Pituri, and even traded and exported the shrub as a form of currency. It just shows that Aboriginal people do not function well in todays structure of society and culture, not because of drugs and alchohol.

 

 

 

The European convicts started Australia, government and rules.

 

 

 

It was not only Europeans that had initially built Australia. Aboriginals also put in hard work. They were labourers and paid with flour, water and tabacco. West Australian Aboriginals were treated as slaves (unpaid and signed off as "x"). Aboriginal people therefore helped build Australia's pastrol industry, which was the beginning of a new economy. The employment of Aboriginal people even increased during the gold rush era.

 

Aboriginals already had a form of tribal governance and rules - hence it would support the claim of an "invasion".

 

 

 

Do you see us descendents of convicts pissing and moaning to the Queen expecting an apology for sending our forefathers halfway across the world to jail over here?

 

 

 

After a convict had served their time ("Assignment system"), convicts would be given free land. Prior to this convicts did not want to be sent to the 'unknown' and would rather be hanged. However convicts were well treated for the purpose of colonisation, therefore transportation was not a deterent for crime and people wanted to be transported.

 

 

 

Initial contact between non-indigenous and indigenous people was friendly, but Britian tried to force their rules and culture upon Aboriginal society. That would be like the equivalent of an Islamic state forcing it's ideas and values on America, and only their ideas and values. You have to also remember that the Aboriginal people had been running under their structure of society and culture for thousands of years.

 

 

 

I would think Aboriginals would have more of a reason to "piss and moan".

 

 

 

It was 100 years ago

 

 

 

Australian Aboriginals are not the only people in the world that are for lack of a better word "moaners". Look at the Russian-Chechen conflict - they have been moaning for thousands of years. Or the Palestine-Israel conflict. Though it was 100 years ago, similiar examples show that generations later still have a conciousness passed on to them by their generation(s) before them.

 

 

 

As for changing the date of Australia day, I do not support it. As someone has mentioned tradition is tradition. But you cannot remove the underlying hint that there was a form of 'invasion'. The means does not justify the ends.

 

 

 

From prior study into Australian criminal justice the only way to fix the disastorous social conditions of Aboriginals is to implement their mode of society and culture. Stating that there is already pre-exisiting structures and institutions (for education, health, etc.) is dubious to the fact that it has not worked for the past 100 years.

 

 

 

and as soon as a black man gets some limelight he wants to get everything changed

 

 

 

His views before receiving the Australian of the year award was concrete before he was underneath the limelight.

 

...and of the comment...just...no...

[IGoddessI]

The increase in alchohol and drug abuse within the Aboriginal community was mainly due to the collapse of Aboriginal society and culture. Before the colonisation of the Aboriginal people used drugs, one which was called Pituri (Western scientific name; Duboisia hopwoodii). Pituri is like a nicotine based drug. Aboriginal society suffered very little or no addiction. The Aboriginal people actually farmed Pituri, and even traded and exported the shrub as a form of currency. It just shows that Aboriginal people do not function well in todays structure of society and culture, not because of drugs and alchohol.

 

 

 

Fewer Aboriginal people drink alcohol in comparison with non-Aboriginal people. However, of those who drink, do so at more harmful levels. And that's hardly surprising considering the colonization and the ongoing legacy of that era. And when I say Aboriginal I am also including those of Torres Straight/Islander descent.

 

 

 

At the 2001 census, Australia's population amounted to almost 19.5 million (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002). Of this total, it was estimated that less than half a million people (2.4%) were Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander. One fifth of the Aboriginal population were concentrated in the Northern Territory. In other states (and territories) of Australia the Aboriginal population amounted to less than 4% of the total. Although in areas of the Northern Territory such as Jabiru and Apatula, aboriginals are accounted for approx. three quarters of the total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002).

 

 

 

In 2001, one fifth of the Aboriginals reported that they did not even drink alcohol (20.6%), in comparison to slightly fewer non Aboriginals (17.3%; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2002a). However, a higher percentage of Aboriginal people reported drinking amounts considered at risk for either short-term or long-term damage. Almost half the Aboriginal population have reported risky drinking for short-term harm, and 20% reported drinking at levels considered risky for long-term harm (48.7% and 19.9%, respectively; AIHW 2002b).

 

 

 

There is a general agreement that colonization is reflected in the social and economic disparities between Aboriginals and the rest of Australia. For example, in 1997-99 the life expectancy at birth for the Aboriginal people was approx. 20 years lower than the rest of Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001). A 1994 national survey involving Aboriginals showed that education, income and home ownership is reduced (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996). Hospital data also indicate higher levels of mental disorders, behavioural disorders and a higher hospitalization rate for diseases (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001).

 

 

 

There is also some debate that Aboriginals had access to intoxicating substances prior to colonization. Some argue that Aboriginal people's lack of awareness regarding intoxicating substances meant they were particularly vulnerable to alcohol misuse when colonization occurred. Brady (1998) reports various examples of Aboriginal's manufacture of low-alcohol drinks from the parts of Indigenous plants and trees, which took place before colonization. For example, the sap of Eucalyptus Gunnii, of which can be extremely intoxicating when allowed to be left for some time. Many Aboriginal slaves were also paid in Alcohol by the white landowners in exchange for their labor (Atkinson 2002; Saggers & Grey 1998). For almost a century, the Aboriginal population were legally prohibited from drinking (Alexander 1990). For example, as late as 1965, in Western Australia a person could be fined up to $200 or imprisoned for six months for supplying a "native" with alcohol (Saggers & Gray 1998).

 

 

 

Here are some Aboriginal comments which reflected the uplifting of this law:

 

 

 

"When we had citizenship to drink, that time I drink"

 

"When people got citizen for alcohol, then everybody start drinking" (Brady 1995a. pp. 54 & 63).

 

 

 

Aboriginals of Australia mainly drink in groups. Some Northern Territory locals named their favourite places as the following "the long grass", the "river bank" or "the park" (Alati 1996). Communal drinking contributes to feelings of equality and encourages sharing (Atkinson 2002). While other Aboriginals declared that they "drink in order to belong" (Alexander 1990, p. xvi). It seems it is a traditional obligation within the Aboriginal community to share their resources.

 

 

 

(If anyone wants the "complete" resource list please PM me).

[n00bfiterpk6]

i love how everyone not from australia thinks we are all like steve irwin, ride kangaroo's down the dirt rodes to the shop to buy some vegemite and are all total bogans \

 

 

 

OT:

 

LEts have 2 australia days.. call 26 jan "invasion day" and have another one sometime.. another day off sounds good right?

[Bouwzie]

i love how everyone not from australia thinks we are all like steve irwin, ride kangaroo's down the dirt rodes to the shop to buy some vegemite and are all total bogans \

 

 

 

OT:

 

LEts have 2 australia days.. call 26 jan "invasion day" and have another one sometime.. another day off sounds good right?

 

 

 

I have yet to see someone seriously think that.

[Kiriyama]

i love how everyone not from australia thinks we are all like steve irwin, ride kangaroo's down the dirt rodes to the shop to buy some vegemite and are all total bogans \

 

 

 

Wait... You mean you don't?

 

 

 

Well, chuck this book away, I'm back to square one.