Rewriting some of Australia's history

A rather heated conversation pervades the Australian scene on whether we need to recast our history to recognise that 26 January 1788 was to many of our indigenous Aboriginal peoples an invasion by Britain.

The eastern coast of what is now Australia was discovered by Captain Cooke circa 1770 but the truth was that the land he discovered had already been inhabited by the Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years.  On this basis many now want the statue of Cooke to reflect this so that we will no longer think of him as the discoverer of the east coast.

Cooke's information was followed up to bring about the settlement on 26 January 1788 by British convicts and British soldiers under Governor Arthur Phillip.  From this day forward the Aboriginal peoples were gradually dispossessed of their tribal lands.  Their culture(s) were desecrated and the attempt was made to convert them to Christianity.

2017 still finds severe disadvantage amongst many Aboriginal people.  This week the arguments for some rewriting of the history to bring out the real truth of what occurred so long ago was eloquently propounded by the respected Aboriginal journalist Stan Grant.  Well done Stan you are very much on the mark and should not be put off by those who oppose what you have suggested.

I always thought that history was a dynamic text that needed updating in terms of new evidence or recognition of extant evidence that now needed to be taken into consideration.

We will be a more mature nation if we can follow Stan's lead.

May the Force for tolerance and recognition be with us!


GD