BlueMage said:
That makes sense then, I was about to comment that I didn't really learn Australian history until high school and pretty much the first thing I learnt was the Stolen Generation and that we were dicks when we got here.
Also was pretty disgusted that the White Australia Policy existed right upto 1975. Made me less proud of this country, although I still love it I now know we're not perfect, which I think is the right way to teach a country's history
Beware: a fair bit of the history is being rewritten to suit a more ... palatable tale of white abuse. For example, texts written at the time to record happenings (including ships' logs) have been removed from some historical exhibits because the tale told doesn't match that which is politically correct.
White Australia Policy. Hmm, I remember seeing a video about it, not paying much attention, and then everyone getting outraged about one particular comment (done in a Father-knows-best-in-the-50s style of voice) - had the darnedest time trying to figure out what the outrage was about. Something about what can these people possibly offer to our land? Looking back, it's almost prohpetic. Anyways, we're doing so well with it now abolished.... when I walk down the street and 1 out of every 6 is not an immigrant, but an immigrant that flatout refuses to learn the language of this country, I wonder if we weren't better off with the White Australia policy in place. Sure as Hells, were I over there to live, I'd be forced in short order to learn the language.
The worst part? These folks are the minority. They really are. And they give every other immigrant a bad name, my family among them. An undeserved reputation for refusing to integrate. But for the actions of a few, half-heard beliefs turn into hostility.
Can I just point out that for all the Stolen Generation this and Stolen Generation that, the net result was that those "stolen" were able to integrate into the dominant culture. That's called a survival trait.