No excuse for ignoring the realities of invasion

One can hope that the indigenous folks of this country get a fair go in every aspect of life in 2018 starting with a better result for the recognition campaign.

Protesters participate in an Invasion Day march in Brisbane on Australia Day, Friday, January 26, 2018. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt). Picture: GLENN HUNT

ISABELLA Parker (Daily, January 30) is trying hard to follow the old custom of 'passing the buck' in regard to if it really was 'an invasion' on Invasion Day (Australia Day).

Of course it is debatable on how often any country was conquered over the centuries while mankind was evolving.

The big difference with Australia and the First Fleet truly is that they pretended to do so on 'civilised terms' and therefore created an Apartheid-type system that was strictly and often cruelly enforced well into the 1980s in the more remoter parts of this country.

Apart from not even recognising the fact Aborigines were humans they placed them into the Flora & Fauna Act which is a misdeed that speaks for itself.

Then to deny officially as to what actually had been done to these people for that long is truly appalling, to ignore these facts even in our curriculum until recent years indicates a systematic approach of deliberate suppression that cannot be excused.

A really civilised settlement would have exposed and addressed these countless injustices like the stolen generations, stolen wages, the right to vote, death in custody issues, etc instead of causing these misdeeds to continue for as long as they did.

One can only hope that the indigenous folks of this country get a fair go in every aspect of life in 2018 starting with a better result for the recognition campaign.

GABRIELLE LUFT

Maleny