rugbymatt

Is that a long river in Africa?


I have said all along that I don't endorse what happened, but Holywoodising (yes it is a word in my world) the events does it no justice.

The book was very different, and after reading it, while not agreeing with the actions, I understood better the events.

As I said, it matters not to me what a group of people think about someone, 10,000 miles away, on a computer says about an event that almost no one on this computer had a damn thing to do with.

rugbymatt

Only because you like discipline!

walla

Looks like you've been outed in TIO babe.

rugbymatt

Outed?

and when the hell did you start calling me babe?!

Gibbo

Can the moral views of today be used to condemn the people of the passed? They thought ,at that time, they were doing the right thing, although now we think differently. Let us not forget that at the same time this was happening to aboriginals the same thing was happening to white girls who had children out of wedlock, even when they wanted to keep their children.

Womat

I'm pretty sure Wolf Creek was based on Ivan Milat; he got a life sentence for each of his murder victims (7), 6 years for an assault and was sentenced to prison "for the term of his natural life".

Gibbo

Against the Wind is a very good TV series, just available on DVD, made by Channel 7 around 30 years ago. Traces the lives of convicts in the early days of the colony. Well worth a look.

chrispy

Hi,
Just remembered one of those short stories which were peoples real recollections as told by the person who it happned to.. goes to illustrate the complexities.. basically an Aborginal couple had a daughter. A local police man frequently rode out to the station to forcibly take the child to be re-located and each time they hid her in a suagr bag. Eventually when she grew too big they took her to the local orphanage themselves.. not because they didn't want her but because it was the only way they could still see her and prevent her from being taken away and lost forever, at least they got to see her through the bars of the school. The greatest tradgedy is that these people have no history or family, they were removed and never told where they came from... given that most of the people on this site who return to the UK do it because they cannot stand to be so far away from their family (and they made a active choice to go to Aus) imagine waht it must be like to know you have a loving family but can never know who they are.. throw in physical and sexual abuse, removal of the most basic of human rights and the constant reminder that you are not 'white enough' to be accepted and maybe you will get near to what many of these children and their parents went through... to have your child taken from you so that you never see them again is probably the worst form of perpetual torture...
as for the court cases, how many of the Judges were from the indigenous peoples..

like i said, you cannot change history but you shouldn't let it be conveniently forgotten to ease the conscience

Vegemite

Okay..thought I'd clear up a few myths...

1. Wolf Creek is a FICTIONAL story. No, the man did not get off and is now therefore not living in South Australia - there was no man. There were a lot of rumours about this horror movie at the time. Wolf Creek is a fictional concept inspired by true stories - a mixture of the true case of Peter Falconio, murdered by a fellow motorist in the Northern Territory (murderer eventually caught) and the B. State Forest backpacker murders (murderer Ivan Milatt was apprehended). THE STORYLINE OF WOLF CK IS NOT REAL. (Thankgod for that - it is freeking scarey!)

2. Picnic at Hanging Rock, popularly believed to be real, is also a fictional story, based on a novel. Its a classic movie - a bit haunting and old, and
if youve seen it you'll know what I mean by "Mirandaaaah, Mirandaaa!"

I recommend Priscilla Queen of the Desert for a laugh, and the Man from Snowy River (an old classic from the 80's or 70's, set in the 1800´s).
And yes, I loved Against the Wind mini series, I would love to see it again!! I might get that DVD myself!

Vegemite

Gibbo,

I respect your opinion, I know its a popular one in Oz. I find it hard to swallow entirely though that people back then just thought they were doing the right thing...I know it was a diferent time, different way of thinking, and its hard to judge now, but I'm sure some of them realised that they were not doing the right thing at the time as well. If you put yourself in that situation for instance, do you think that you could see the possible heartache it caused when an aboriginal child was forcibly taken from the parent? Imagine being there at the time and being the officer to remove the child...surely people then had eyes and ears and at least some of a conscience as well?
There was a time in our history where rape was also considered a perfectly legal practice, death by hanging was also considered "the right thing" by the established authority, but how does progress come about? It starts by people ALSO AT THE TIME, albeit the thinking minority, who knew it was the wrong thing to do...and builds from there.

Cheers,
V

Vegemite

Hey anyone seen the movie

"Idiots in Canberra?"

Thats a true story apparently, lead actor can act for nuts though.....



V.

blowfly

This is so very true. We are far better educated today. Australian white girls certainly did have their babies taken away even if they wanted to keep them. It isn't talked about much anymore though.

Gibbo

Your post only strengthens my argument. You cannot put yourself into their shoes. People in the past believed in racial superiority and had all sorts of other beliefs that most of us today would find repugnant. We cannot change the past but thankfully, to a degree, have become more compassionate beings. We do acknowledge what has happened but our energies should be directed at improving the present and so, hopefully, the future.

Vash the Stampede

Andrew Bolt's article (Rabbit Proof Myths) is worth reading.

aussietobe

The whole Stolen Generation things has two sides.... many of the children taken were suffering from severe neglect and there are nasty things that go on in some of these remote aboriginal communities, child sexual abuse for starters. I was reading an article on this topic ages ago and there was one aboriginal woman who said she was glad to be taken as her research had led her to believe she would have been just an old man's play thing.