What to do
My family has members who came to Australia from England and Ireland soon after the colony was begun in Sydney. A great, great, great, great grandmother was born on Norfolk Island in 1802. Her parents were Irish convicts who had a farm on Norfolk Island for twelve years before they were moved to Tasmania where they had a bigger farm. Another two were a trooper on a convict ship and one of the convicts who he married. They were given some land and developed a farm by dint of their own hard work.
They had some children who then had more but all of them had to work to survive.
Their efforts developed the country. Without the efforts of the settlers from overseas Australia would still be unchanged, just as it had been for the sixty five thousand years by the folk who were here when the First Fleet arrived.
Several had come to Australia as a punishment. And what a punishment. Sent to the other side of the world because you were hungry and stole some food. Or were ridiculously poor and stole a handkerchief, or a parasol, or a watch. You were not taken from your relatives who were not looking after you properly and sent a day or two away by contemporary transport times, but were punished ferociously and sent to a place five or six months away by the transport of the time; never to see your country of origin again.
Others came looking for opportunities. While they arrived on the east coast in Sydney or Hobart they moved to where there were more opportunities. Hence some ended up on the west coast of Australia after the gold was discovered there. When that did not result in success they tried another avenue. Some of them developed farms on the west coast. They changed the forest to farms. While the original people had been unable to improve the country, my family did.
Some of them gave their lives for the country. A cousin went down with the Sydney, another was on the Perth when it was sunk and taken prisoner of war and survived that. Another died on the Canberra. Those rellies liked boats. Others fought with the Army. In the First World War another was killed at Pozieres, France on July 29, 1916, aged 39. An uncle spent the war in North Africa but after his capture on Crete in a camp in Germany.
Unfortunately being bright does not necessarily mean that your decisions are necessarily correct and I think our bright people are making some wrong decisions with respect to the Aboriginal people.
When I was a member of Men of the Trees in Perth, Western Australia, I participated in the planting of hundreds of trees, and in one instance where 1,700 trees were planted, did all the organising of the activity.
I will plant any tree that is suitable for the particular location, no matter what its origin. Unfortunately there were members of the organisation who wanted to only plant the type of tree that had originally been growing in the location we were planting in. This meant that in their view the glorious displays of trees in the different areas of Canberra would not happen as only the original gum trees or whatever would be grown there.
These people were not noticeably odd, just fixated in their concept of what trees should be grown, which was to the detriment of the areas that had originally had only poor scrub growing on them.
On Garden Island, a small island of limestone and sand which is part of the sunken coast, a row of beautiful peppermint trees was destroyed because of these beliefs and the original rubbish grown to replace them.
It is a case of having an idea, but it being the wrong idea.
The same thing is happening in Australia at present with Aboriginal people. Very few Aboriginal people are only of Aboriginal ancestry. Just about all of them are a mixture of Aboriginal and other races. This is easily seen as Aboriginal people were dark skinned whereas few who are identified these days as Aboriginal are black with most being anything but, with most approaching white. Hence they have British, Irish, Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Indonesian and many other countries ancestry. If it was not financially beneficial to be Aboriginal in Australia at present they could just as well be calling themselves British or Irish or whatever. However the problem arises that they are being encouraged to speak the language of the Aboriginal ancestor which means that English is a second language to them. I have lived in Thailand, Korea and China where English is a second language. The people are greatly disadvantaged. Most do not speak English. One woman I met in Thailand but could not converse with because she for all her sixty years had only spoken Thai, which meant she had missed out listening to the Beatles, and all the others, which was a huge loss. Despite the argument of the intellectuals that learning a language means learning a second one is easier in practice only a few people do manage to learn a second language.
Aboriginal students should learn English first and then learn another language. Turnbull was postulating that to become an Australian all migrants have to be competent in the use of English which does bring up the point of where many Aborigines are going to be sent.
Another decision of smart people in Australia applies to the idea that giving the original people back large slabs of Australia is a good idea. The purpose was to improve their lot. The process began forty years ago and as that is more than a generation we would expect some improvement in their lives today. As well as the land there are also the racist policies of treating the original people in a different way to those whose families have been here for up to two hundred years or so and whose efforts have developed the country. These original people have thirty billion dollars spent directly on solving their problems each year without the money spent having the desired effect.
There are any number of indications that the present policy is not working, such as the suicide rate with young people, incarceration rates, health, and age at death.
The money and the land are not working.
A different tack is needed.
It could be that the original people should be expected to take responsibility for their own situation.
What is the result of the present racist policy of giving land to some people and not to others? To say that the original inhabitants have a connection with the land of a spiritual nature that justifies it supposes that even one who can only claim to be one sixteenth or one thirty second or one sixty fourth Aboriginal still has this spiritual connection. This has to be the excrement from a male bovine.
Gough Whitlam started the giving back of the country. He thought it to be a good idea. His other good ideas resulted in the country sacking him as the Government because they were actually not so good ideas. He was not a politician. He had principles that he followed no matter how bad they were for the country's economy. Enough of them anyway for him and his government to be removed from office. I think that his principle of giving back the country was another bad one for Aboriginal development but that it has been popular with the voters so politicians run with it.
The life of my relatives who were the first of the family to come to Australia was incredibly different to the life of Australians today, and that is only about two hundred years ago. What they had, how they lived, and what they thought were different. Even less than a hundred years ago my mother was going to school on a horse.
The members of the family who are around in two hundred years’ time are going to be wondering why we listened to Gough. Why did the ninety seven percent of the country give half the land to a people who don't like to work? Who won't move to where the opportunities are. Who don't look after themselves but are being given billions of dollars in royalties from mineral extraction. Our great, great, great grandchildren are going to think we were completely stupid.
We need a referendum to return the land so far given away back to the people of Australia and a policy introduced that actually helps the original inhabitants of the country who need help.
The idea that just being one two hundred and fifty sixth Aboriginal gives you spiritual connection with the land is just more excrement. Your relatives in eight generations are going to think the same of you if we don't get the country back.
Cars and Roads
Cars are lethal weapons
Handguns are not allowed to be used by the general public because they can easily kill people but we have motor cars allowed to be driven by anyone with the suitable permission which are equally capable of doing the same thing. Cars need to be better equipped so they can be stopped from killing people.
Speed is one aspect of cars which should be able to be electronically monitored so that it cannot be exceeded from that allowed in the current time or place. Otherwise sensible drivers can end up demolishing their car on a tree if they travel too quickly for the current conditions.
Another aspect is the permitted driver of the vehicle. It is easy to see that with suitable devices cars can be rendered immobile if an unauthorised driver attempts to use them.
Many deaths on the road are the result of young drivers speeding in their own cars or stealing cars and driving too fast. These two measures would stop this practice.
This obviously sounds a lot BIG BROTHERISH but with thousands of people killed and injured on the roads here each year we need to accept it just as we in Australia accept that handguns should not be readily available to the general public.
Driving lessons in NSW
The latest bit of political stupidity has resulted in the following headline on the ABC.
Driving lessons for kids as young as 12 proposed in bid to help reduce NSW road toll
A member of the NSW Parliament has come up with an idea which he should have kept to himself. The problem is one of attitude, not aptitude. Young drivers have to be capable drivers to get a licence in Australia and it is not the place of schools to engage in driver education. The problem is the attitude of the young drivers when they get behind the wheel. This might be augmented by excess alcohol or drugs but “it ain’t necessarily so”. Being young frequently means being a danger to other road users. The only solution is for cars to be equipped with devices so they can only be driven by the appropriate person, so that they cannot be driven dangerously, and they can safely be immobilised by internal or external means.
What is the function of roads?
They are to allow people to get to work or play as quickly and comfortably as possible.
For this purpose Australians buy and drive a motor car.
The ability of the car to successfully traverse the road system in a quick and comfortable manner is frequently impaired by persons on bicycles who are slow and a hazard to the driver.
Cars are quick; cyclists are slow. The two are incompatible.
Cyclists should compensate society for the construction of bike paths which allow them to ride their bikes safely and without hindering drivers. If bike paths are not available they would need to ride on some roads.
All roads are not safe for the use of both cyclists and drivers. The roads which are main pathways for vehicles should be cyclist free and designated as non-safe roads. Roads safe for both cyclists and drivers should be clearly marked and known to the users. Cyclists should be banned from non-safe roads.
Cyclists riding on non-safe roads should have their bikes confiscated.
Bike helmet stupidity
The following is from an item on the ABC.
The chief executive of the ACT's peak cycling body, Pedal Power, said a possible relaxation of the laws would have to be carefully tested.
Ian Ross said the group welcomed the review, but they supported mandatory helmet laws.
"There are really good reasons why one would wear a helmet," Mr Ross said.
"I have on two occasions come off my bike and hit my head and have been very grateful for those laws."
The dumbass is saying that he could not wear a helmet if it was not a law to do so. What stupidity.
When the British settled Australia
The Aborigines think they were the only ones hard done by when Australia was settled by the British.
My great, great, grandfather was given 25 lashes when he was accused of not wanting to work as was one of the following convicts. But note the crimes which could result in being sent to Australia.
Mary Jones Age 16. Nurse girl from Greenock. Tried in Glasgow 7th September 1830 and sentenced to 14 years transportation for stealing a parasol. 1 prior conviction. Assigned to W.G. Barker in Prince St. Sydney on arrival in Port Jackson in April 1831
Thomas Jaques who arrived in Sydney on the General Stewart 1818 was Assigned to Mr. T. Winder. Sentenced by Magistrates Henry Gillman and E.C. Close to 100 lashes for frequent cruelty and ill treatment of his master's bullocks and refusing work in April 1824.
James Johnson who also arrived on the General Stewart 1818 was Assigned to V. Bloomfield. Sentenced to 25 lashes for neglect of work and idling in August 1824.
Mary Ann Allen Age 27. House Maid from London. Tried in London 8 July 1830 and sentenced to 7 years Transportation for stealing a watch. Assigned to Mr. Milson at the North Shore on arrival at Port Jackson in April 1831.
Matilda Britton Age 20. Married. Native of Sunderland. House maid and nursery maid. Tried at Newgate 16 September 1830 and sentenced to 14 years transportation for stealing a shawl. Arrived at Port Jackson in April 1831.
Elizabeth CollinsAge 28. Married with 2 children. Native of Shrewsbury. Laundress. Sentenced at Newgate 16 September 1830 and sentenced to 14 years Transportation for stealing a watch. Assigned to Mrs. Fisk in Kent Street, Sydney on arrival. Accidentally killed on the Parramatta Road.
Jean Gray Age 32. Married with 4 children. Occupation - All work in a lodging house. Native of Boness. Tried in Perth 9th September 1830 and sentenced to 7 years transportation for stealing whiskey. Assigned to Mrs. Panton in Sydney on arrival at Port Jackson in April, 1831.
Pauline is sometimes right
A speech by Pauline Hanson
EQUALITY FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS REGARDLESS OF RACE
Today I spoke in the Senate on why I believe we need to stop making decisions based on race and start treating all Australians equally.
I believe this is an important issue that many everyday Australians want to be addressed but few outside of One Nation have the guts to speak the truth.
I did my best to raise this issue and speak on behalf of the silent majority.
This is what I said-
All lives matter.
The majority of the Senate opposed that motion that was put up by me and supported by only one other senator, Malcolm Roberts.
All Australians should be treated equally when it involves the delivery of government services and funding.
All citizens and residents are equally deserving of services that make our lives better, but there remains a significant imbalance in the funds and services dedicated specifically to those of Aboriginal heritage as opposed to non-Aboriginals.
This was a matter that I raised in my maiden speech to the parliament in 1996, and in the ensuing two decades plus there has been little change to the attitude of the government, which continues to throw money at the problem, with virtually no improvement to the lives of those needy Aboriginals.
It seems to be a bottomless pit into which money continues to be thrown, but that money has achieved virtually nothing.
If taxpayer funds are spent in a specific area, we are right to expect positive outcomes.
As I said in the Senate in February 2020, most Australians know that tens of billions of dollars are spent each year to help alter the standard of living of those in remote Aboriginal communities and even those living in developed parts of Australia.
When you spend billions of dollars a year on any group of people, you expect outcomes.
Sadly, those billions have gone to the non-productive, unrepentant Aboriginal industry, not to where they should go, the grassroots Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
It is an industry that has achieved no notable benefits in pulling our First Nations people out of squalor, domestic violence and poverty.
Over the years I have been labelled a racist for my views, mostly by white Australians and those Indigenous who thrive financially for themselves and their families.
I call it the Aboriginal industry.
Their agenda is not in the best interest of all Australians, white or black. It's about milking the cow—the taxpayer—crying the victim constantly and blaming whites for a so-called invasion.
I was born in Australia. This is my land. Where the hell do I go? I will not accept the blame game for the so-called invasion you refer to.
Your push to change our history books and the false claims that are foisted on our young throughout our education system are disgraceful, all to better suit the Left's agenda.
All atrocities must be noted and taught to ensure we acknowledge our past, but, more importantly, to protect our future.
I will not acknowledge or echo the words 'welcome to country' that have been forced on people to say at functions or events. I am very respectful to those who have fought for our freedom and sacrificed their lives for our way of life that we all have the opportunity to enjoy today.
I will not support those whose agenda is to divide us as Australians. Wanting a separate nation within a nation at the expense of the Australian taxpayer—this should never happen.
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that I have met over the years, including many elders, have come to understand my honesty and resolve and not the lies they had been fed mostly by Labor and the Greens and less so the coalition, to destroy me and stop One Nation from taking their votes. Remember, it was John Howard who disendorsed me as a candidate in 1996, when I called for equality for all Australians.
The Closing the gap report 2020 shows just how little improvement has been realised for the Aboriginal people, despite the billions spent each year over the past decades.
As I have said many times, money alone will not solve the problem. It comes back to determination, discipline and a willingness to make the changes, and that must come primarily from the Aboriginal people themselves.
I met recently with a group of strong and focused Aboriginal women from all parts of Australia, who are desperate for positive change for their children and their communities. I think it makes sense to allow women to play a bigger role and have a say in the direction taken by initiatives to improve the lives of Aboriginal Australians.
These same Aboriginal women and elders say they want the Aboriginal land councils gone or made accountable; they are corrupt and don't represent the needs of the Aboriginal people. There is duplication of Aboriginal services, costing billions of taxpayers' dollars to prop them up, with no review or accountability—why?
Members in this place are continually calling for accountability from other government departments.
In seven key areas the Closing the Gap initiative has not performed well, with even Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitting the poor results. Poor results will continue in substance abuse, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, education, housing, jobs, health and Aboriginal incarceration if we keep giving excuses, calling them disadvantaged, throwing money at it, and treating their ineptness as our responsibility when they have to take responsibility for their own actions. Someone needs to start looking in the mirror.
The child sexual abuse that is committed in Aboriginal communities is an absolute disgrace. Very little is done about it by authorities because they are black and they pull the race and cultural card.
Those poor children, and also the women who are bashed and raped—is that the fault of the white man? No.
Go to Doomadgee and see the children walking the streets to at night to flee the abuse they receive in their own homes from their own parents and family members. Is that the white man's fault? No.
I have had a gutful of the bleating from the Greens and others. How many Indigenous have you had in your homes?
Have you fought personally to help an Indigenous woman in prison to get her life on track?
Have you been with her seven children in her own home? I very much doubt it. I have.
Many in this place are all BS and push their own political agenda without really understanding the implications and ramifications of what they are saying.
My research has found that, although the systems and programs may have changed in some ways and perhaps become more complex, there is still an overwhelming imbalance weighing heavily in favour of Aboriginal Australians in services provided in the areas of education, legal services, housing loans, health, royalties for mining operations and employment support services.
Are handouts a good thing? Do they help improve the lives and positions of many Aboriginals, particularly those who live in remote areas?
To favour any one race in Australia over other races in government support and the provision of services amounts to racist policy and actually prolongs the problems.
There are many Australians who would love the handouts and opportunities given to the Indigenous.
I might add that many Indigenous are living in very nice housing, are in well paid jobs and are not struggling, but they can apply for educational assistance for their children that many Australians would love for their own children but can't get because of race. Tell me this is not racism.
As I said at the outset, additional handouts to Aboriginals do not help them. They make them reliant on government and actually prevent them from becoming independent and being able to create new and more fulfilling lives for themselves.
We need to encourage Aboriginal people themselves to take control of their communities, to reduce substance use and abuse, to encourage school attendance and education, and to promote discipline and determination in employment.
The definition of 'Aboriginal' continues to be contentious and unclear in many cases. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies provides an outline of three working criteria for confirming Aboriginality which are usually accepted by government agencies and community organisations. These three criteria are:
• being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent
• identifying as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person
• being accepted as such by the community in which you live, or formerly lived.
It is worth noting that the number of those who identify as Aboriginals has increased dramatically in the last 50 years. In 1971 there were officially 115,953 Aboriginals in Australia, or 0.9 per cent. Since that time, we've had an increase of 459 per cent, while the population generally has increased by 83.5 per cent.
Some suggest the increase is the result of increased willingness to identify as Aboriginal.
It is a matter for further research as to whether the increase is because of the loose definition and the many government benefits available to Aboriginals. I believe it is.
To all those struggling Australians wanting equal opportunities for their children and families: tick the box. There is no place in our country for racism or, for that matter, reverse racism.
I will finish with a quote from a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr's in 1963:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.
This is what I want for Australia. Every individual life matters. Aboriginal lives matter.
All lives matter.
A contemporary description of Aboriginals
An extract from “The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811)”, by David Dickinson Mann
Natives.
Speaking generally of the natives, they are a filthy, disagreeable race of people; nor is it my opinion that any measures which could be adopted would ever make them otherwise.
Their wars are as frequent as usual, and are attended with as much cruelty both towards men and women. They are still ready at all times to commit depredations upon the Indian corn, whenever there is a probability of their attempts being attended with the desired success; and this predatory disposition renders it frequently necessary to send detachments of the military to disperse them; but the utmost care is taken to prevent any fatal circumstances from attending these acts of needful hostility, and orders are uniformly issued never to fire upon the natives, unless any particularly irritating act should render such a measure expedient. They are amazingly expert at throwing the spear, and will launch it with unerring aim to a distance of thirty to sixty yards. I myself have seen a lad hurl his spear at a hawk-eagle (a bird which, with wings expanded, measures from seven to ten feet), flying in the air, with such velocity and correctness as to pierce his object, and bring the feathered victim to the earth. This circumstance will tend to shew how soon the youth of these tribes are trained to the use of the spear, and the dexterity to which they attain in this art before they reach the age of manhood. Indeed, instances are by no means uncommon, where an army of natives is seen following a youthful leader of fifteen or sixteen years of age, and obeying his directions implicitly, because his previous conduct had been characterised by remarkable vigour of body, and intrepidity of mind--virtues which qualify natives of every age and rank for the highest honours and the most marked distinctions amongst these untutored sons of nature. Their attachment to savage life is unconquerable; nor can the strongest allurements tempt them to exchange their wild residences in the recesses of the country, for the comforts of European life. A singular instance of this fact occurred in the case of Be-ne-long, who was brought to England by Governor Phillip, and returned with Governor Hunter. For some time after his return, it is true, he assumed the manners, the dress, and the consequence of an European, and treated his countrymen with a distance which evinced the sense he entertained of his own increased importance; and this disposition was encouraged by every method which suggested itself to the minds of those of the colony with whom he associated; but, notwithstanding so much pains had been taken for his improvement, both when separated from his countrymen, and since his return to New South Wales, he has subsequently taken to the woods again, returned to his old habits, and now lives in the same manner as those who have never mixed with the civilised world. Sometimes, indeed, he holds intercourse with the colony; but every effort uniformly fails to draw him once again into the circle of polished society, since he prefers to taste of liberty amongst his native scenes, to the unsatisfactory gratification which arises from an association with strangers, however kind their treatment of him, and however superior to his own enjoyments.
Yet there are many of the natives who feel no disinclination to mix with the inhabitants occasionally--to take their share in the labours and the reward of those who toil. Amongst these there are five in particular, to whom our countrymen have given the names of Bull Dog, Bidgy Bidgy, Bundell, Bloody Jack, and another whose name I cannot call to recollection, but who had a farm of four acres and upwards, planted with maize, at Hawkesbury, which he held by permission of Governor King; and the other four made themselves extremely useful on board colonial vessels employed in the fishing and sealing trade, for which they are in the regular receipt of wages. They strive, by every means in their power, to make themselves appear like the sailors with whom they associate, by copying their customs, and imitating their manners; such as swearing, using a great quantity of tobacco, drinking grog, and other similar habits. These natives are the only ones, I believe, who are inclined to industrious behaviour, and they have most certainly rendered more essential services to the colony than any others of their countrymen, who, in general, content themselves with assisting to draw nets for fish, for the purpose of coming in for a share of the produce of others toil.
The general pursuits of the natives, their manners and customs, have been so accurately described by preceding writers on the subject, that I shall forbear from entering into more minute particulars, which would swell my sketch far beyond its intended limits, and could add nothing to the knowledge of which the well-informed reader is already possessed. It will be sufficient to remark, that such as the inhabitants of the interior of New Holland were represented ten years since, they still remain, as the antecedent remarks must sufficiently illustrate: The jealousy of the new settlers, which originally existed, has indeed entirely vanished; but the proximity of a civilised colony has not tended in the least to polish the native rudeness and barbarism, which mark the behaviour of the original inhabitants of this remote spot of the universe.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811), by David Dickinson Mann
