No photo's in this one...
I've only been here a couple of months and I absolutely love the Aussie way of life, their approach and attitude.
One thing bothers me though... I am sure that Australia is a thesis waiting to be written on, "White Man's Stupidity". Not today's Australians but yesterday's English. It may have already been written but bearing in mind we have only been here for, what, 200 years or so it does offer a few examples of how dumb we can be.
1. We introduced foxes here, on settlement, for 'sporting purposes'. Today, every national park I have visited is baited with poisoned meat to try to control them and the damage they inflict on indigenous species. No one can let their dog off a lead in these parks because of the bait.
2. We introduced rabbits. Very quickly we then had to build over 2000 miles (!) of fencing to try to stop them spreading because of the damage they were causing... I can't believe "breed like rabbits" is a new saying... Duh!
3. The worst. Our treatment of the Aboriginal people here. On two counts:
a) they had been farming these very difficult lands for 'ever' and their cultural beliefs held the land and Mother Nature centrally. They understood how to get a sustainable yield and the responsibility for doing so was a venerated one handed down through generations with utmost respect. We came along and displaced these guys not that long ago. Circa 25% of previously farmed land (think I got that right) is now completely unproductive due to overly intensive farming methods applied and subsequent salinity issues.
b) in our superior wisdom we decided that it was in the best interests of all concerned if Aboriginal children were removed from their families, where possible, for Darwinian, Christian, any other-ian, or just disguised slave-labour reasons. (it's worth noting that "family" too was/is absolutely central to their culture).
So at State and Federal levels, acts of law were passed to enable any state representative (or policeman) to enter an Aboriginal home and remove any child from newborn to teenager without notice or delay. It was also decided that the child should then be moved a great distance away from said family to enable them to 'integrate' into White culture more easily and learn useful skills (slavery basically). I didn't know this, not sure too many people do?
Now we might excuse crazy behaviour of many generations ago but this went on, officially, until 1969 and unofficially into the 70's! Many of us were born in the 70's!
It's crazy how the White Man always thinks he knows best, not to mention why the indigenous people are, I guess, still so angry... This was only 40 years ago and happened to people our age or their parents...
Anyway, rant over. Normal service will resume...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment