Archives July 2014

None of the recognition proposals confer any right on Aborigines to sue, nor do they impose any obligation on government to act, writes First Nations Activist, Michael Mansell.

"New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have already recognised indigenous people in their state constitutions and the Federal Parliament passed the Act of Recognition in 2013. Not a single benefit to anyone has flowed from those measures, writes Michael Mansell, a Lawyer and First Nations Activist from Tasmania." [node:read-more:link]

In the seven years the Bogimbah Creek mission was open, more than 100 First Nations people perished from illness and malnutrition - the result of appalling living conditions ... Now scientists from the University of the Sunshine Coast will try to return that knowledge to the island's K'Gari community, with the help of ground-penetrating radar.
In 1897, members of Butchulla clans on the island and on the mainland were rounded up and forced to live in the notorious Bogimbah Creek mission, under governments genocidal policy. [node:read-more:link]

First Nations children are eight times more likely to be receiving child protection services than non-Indigenous kids, and more than 10 times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care, a report has revealed.

Across Australia, 68% of children placed in care are placed with relatives or kin, other Indigenous caregivers or in Indigenous residential care, in line with the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle.

Summary by Helen Davidson (Guardian) and link to Full Report [node:read-more:link]

A researcher, who presented alarming numbers of the deaths in Queenslands Frontier Wars between 1788 and 1930 to the Australian Historical Association, said the estimated figure of 65,180 was "conservative" and could be as high as 115,000. A co-author of the report, historian Professor Raymond Evans, said the calculations were based on official records, witnesses' reports and the number of patrols undertaken by the colonial Queensland government's Native Police. - Pictured: Historian Professor Raymond Evans [node:read-more:link]

Matt Thistlethwaite MP responds on behalf of his local First Nations community to Tony Abbott's claim that Australia was unsettled prior to British investment. Published on Jul 17, 2014

Matt Thistlethwaite Labor MP - 'Kingsford Smith electorate' covers the South-Eastern corner of the Sydney Inner Metropolitan area. The electorate area covers approximately 127 sq km from La Perouse in the south to Randwick and Coogee in the north. [node:read-more:link]

Yolngu Nations Assembly (YNA) urges the Commonwealth Government and Indigenous communities to consult carefully before considering entering into 99-year township leases ... The Traditional Owners only made an agreed to negotiate. "When Yolngu say, 'yes, we understand' that doesn't mean 'yes, we can go ahead'."

To force our people to accept 99 year leases for their land as the only way for them to achieve any form of economic advantage from their homelands is a crime. [node:read-more:link]

The British have waged undeclared wars on First Nations peoples ever since 1788.

The murder and misery inflicted today reminds us of when settlers rode into communities on horse back and cut down extended families. In current times, the government does not only allow multi-national mining giants to rape the country and destroy ancient cultures, but they are trying to force First Nations people to live with the poisonous waste. [node:read-more:link]