University Tells Students Britain 'invaded' Australia

[naomi24]

And there’s me thinking the Aussies were down to earth, sensible people immune to the nonsense of political correctness. How disappointing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-35922858

[EDDIE51]

It's not far from the truth, we didn't give a thought to the native inhabitants the aborigines. Then we used it as a penal colony to get rid of our undesirables.

[TheChair]

You seem to be confusing the term "political correctness" with "historical accuracy".

[naomi24]

TheChair, //You seem to be confusing the term "political correctness" with "historical accuracy". //

I don't think so.

//The guide also lists words such as "primitive", "simple", "native" and "prehistoric" as less appropriate than "complex and diverse societies". //

[KARL]

When one country takes over an area which is unpopulated and "belongs to no-one", i.e. makes it their territory, including introducing their police and military forces, (perhaps an example of an area not belonging to anybody would be Antarctica - no police or military involved, much) it is perhaps arguably not an invasion. When said area is populated by a different race and more or less up to the time of the takeover neither knew of each other's existence....what is that to be called (in any language) ?

[Gromit]

We were certainly not invited, we just took.

It was a conquest, exactly the same as the Anglo Saxon and the Norman invadions of England. The indigenous Britons were over-run just as the aboriginies were in Australia.

If we refer to the Norman invasion and conquest of England, it is difficult to argue the settlement and colonisation of Australia was any different. 'Discovery' is a feeble term, it had been there forever, and populated for over 50,000 years.

[mikey4444]

The Chair is correct here...of course we invaded OZ ! We used it as a penal colony, to rid Britain of its petty criminals, who were proving to be a nuisance to our growing middle class.

People, including young children were sent to this penal colony, for committing the pettiest of crimes.

I recommend everybody to read "The Fatal Shore" by the late Robert Hughes

::

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fatal_Shore

To quote the first line of the above Wiki entry :::

"The Fatal Shore. The epic of Australia's founding by Robert Hughes is a history of the birth of Australia which came out of the suffering and brutality of England's infamous convict transportation system"

And the aboriginal people continued to be treated appallingly, by the Oz Government up until recent times, and matters are still not perfect now.

[jim360]

Well what would you call it then? And why is it not an "invasion", of sorts? I suppose there was no formal military conquest, so maybe in that sense "invasion" is overstating it. We just ignored the locals, walked all over them and the land in which they had lived for ages, and in many cases (and not just in Australia) destroyed their livelihoods.

[naomi24]

I'm not disputing history - I used the heading from the article. I'm simply disappointed that this university has succumbed to political correctness. Tell it as it is, by all means, but dispense with the nonsense of flowery language.

[Old_Geezer]

Does it rate the name conquest or invasion if there is no established civilisation there ? At what point in history does normal nomadic movement and displacement become invasions ? I think the activity isn't in question, it is the description and whether it warrants an emotive label. It does seem to fit some folk's agenda to portray us Brits, and Europe in general, as the bad guys simply because western Europe advanced far enough to take over control of much of the world at one point.

[mikey4444]

Naomi..."tell it like it is"

Yes of course, but when people do that, its next to impossible to step on somebody else's toes.

For too many years, the truth wasn't told....now it is.

[anotheoldgit]

There would have been no such thing as Australian Universities, if it had not been for Britain.

[jim360]

For sure -- but the aboriginal peoples would instead have been able to get on with their lives rather a lot more freely.

[ummmm]

Quite, Jim.

[Islay]

My best mates new girlfriend is Australian and she is very PC and proper - I was most disappointed!!

[RATTER15]

AOG."There would have been no such thing as Australian Universities, if it had not been for Britain."

So do you think that the native aborigines needed universities?

[Old_Geezer]

Every people needs such places of learning if they are to progress.

[jim360]

Progress isn't necessary, though, if you're living comfortably enough.

We shouldn't be romanticising too much indigenous ways of life, as they were not always so easy as watching a survival programme with Ray Mears in it, or something, might make out. Still -- and I would have thought that people supporting Brexit should appreciate this point even more than I do -- shouldn't that be the choice of the indigenous peoples how (and indeed if) they should "progress"? In Australia -- and everywhere else Europeans reached in their explorations -- that choice was, universally, taken away.

[Gromit]

The voyage was a Royal Navy one, a branch of the military. If you look at the picture in the link, Cook is armed with a sword and his men have guns. The fact that the locals on this occassion offered little resistance is immaterial.

Later, when he tried to 'discover' Hawaii, the natives were not so friendly and killed him. He did after all, try to kidnap the King.

[steg]

//There were already more than 250 tribes of Aboriginal people living on the land, each with their own language, customs and territories.
Then began a process of colonisation and land confiscation which denied Aboriginal rights to land, citizenship and equal status - rights which in many cases were only finally bestowed in recent decades.//

Sounds like invasion to me

[Old_Geezer]

People who settle for living comfortably don't spot the coming disasters nor know how to avoid/deal with them. We are all on this planet together and need to get out to the stars eventually. All eggs in one basket is not ideal.