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History reveals The King George of England declared war on all lane in the Name of the Dutch in 1786, as this land was called New Holland (1606) at that time, in 1788, the British arrived with a fleet of some 11 ships 3 being ship of War, However the Dutch were obligated under maritime law at that time, and abandon this land, as they did Van Diemans Land
Captain Philip entered later named Botany Bay, English Marines boarded a French boat mourned in the bay Captain La Purouse, they seised all charts, records and maps, soon after the boat found a sea wrecked.,
As to comply with the know world law, The British maintain that this was only to be penal settlement, their is no records, that the British crown declared war on the Native inhabits of this land.
Les McDonald
Chief Lore Officer’
Aboriginal Embassy Victoria
Lt James cook declared that this land belonged to no-one. Why? Because he did not see any tilled farmland as is done in England. The British, under this premise assumed if they could come and farm this land then it would automatically make the land theirs.By ignoring the original people of this country we were negated. Eventually this came to be known as Terra Nullius. Now, seeing that Terra Nullius was overturned in 1992 what does that tell us. Our land was taken by force without a declaration of war and our people forced to adapt and adopt a different language and way of life. Is this not invasion?
Joyce Summers
An Aboriginal woman with a viewpoint.
The Aboriginal peoples of Australia had laws by which they lived. White man came with superior weapons and made laws that legalized the seizure of Aboriginal land. (1778)
The Federal Government suspends laws and makes others that legitimizes the take over of administration of Aboriginal owned lands in the Northern Territory. (2007).
Has anything changed?
Oh! One more thing. The Queensland Government and NSW Governments witheld wages earned by Aboriginal workers (1900 – 1968) and failed to put it in a safe place. Now they say sorry and pay out only a portion.
Federal Government now (2006) witholds part of welfare entitlements in the NT. Who knows where and how much of this money is going. And, who is accountable?
All this to “Save the Little Children”?
We need acknoledgement of past to go forward into the future.
Truth in history is important or you are trying to cheat life it’s self.
I desend from Jimmy Lambert shot in the leg around 8years old while the rest of his tribe was killed he lived to tell the story and died with the bullet still in his leg in the 1880′s. he was in his 80′s
I thought this would have had a lot more comment.
England invaded Australia and settled it, just how things were done back then. I dont have a problem with the using of the word invasion, thats what it was. No money or anything changed hands but in an invasion it doesnt. The English came in, invaded and took ownership of the land. I dont know anyone that was alive at the time to say any different. The English took control of Australia in what was the accepted way at the time. Just like Argentina tried to do in the Falklands war in 1982. How on earth Argentina thought they wouldnt get beaten is beyond me but if they took control they wouldnt have been paying anyone for the land because it was an invasion…. What is there to dispute?
ps, unlike now, where America and China are buying Australia one farm at a time and no one is stopping them
The Chinese Government plan on buying our farms and mining them or shipping the food back to China.. Instead of fighting for land rights we should be fighting to stop foreign ownership. We can fight for land rights once we have that under control. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/land-rush/story-fn59niix-1226085165144
@DEAN B, all invasions come with ongoing costs. are you staying, or when are you leaving? honestly, i wish these settlers would just settle up as well as down, blindly stumbling for the dictionary for solace every time this subject emerges. stuff that, we want redress, asap!
This article sets the appropriate tone, is right on point and elegantly expresses the view of most Australians. You don’t advance reconciliation by invalidating any group, Indigenous or those of British heritage. So this invasion debate sets things back. As a City of Sydney ratepayer, I’m looking for imaginative solutions for the future, initiatives which empower and enrich us all, our Indigenous brothers and sisters included. Let’s fashion that future together, not rewrite history. It seems to me that, in Councillor Shayne Mallard, the City of Sydney has a balanced, articulate and fair representative. All credit to him.
I once had a Cook Island friend who said that we Aboriginals did it all wrong. I asked him what he meant and he said ‘we just ate ‘em’ …… maybe that is why they weren’t invaded
This land was peacefully settled until a bunch of badly behaving trespassing Brits arrived and thought they could ignore the statutes of their own UK parliament and usurp the Sovereignty of the Tribes….a stunt they have almost pulled off with the assistance of people like Les …….’Australia’ is a corporate state with NO lawful claim to Sovereignty of ANY standing over the lands of this continent….if Les was half as smart as he thinks he is he would comprehend this…oor maybe he is and we underestimate his agenda.
The Act of Settlement 1701, the Pacific Islander Protection Act 1875 (PIP Act), and even the CONstitution its self deny ANY claim by the crown (in ANY of its’ purported ‘rights’ or ‘authorities’) to Sovereignty or dominion here….in fact in Section 6 of the PIP Act the Uk is limited to having jurisdiction over Her Majesties subjects ONLY…..and in Section 7 that Her Majesty was statute barred from ‘extending or construing to extend ‘ ‘sovereignty or dominion’ onto this continent – PERIOD….pretty simple….the rule regarding parliamentary authority for the UK to claim or vest sovereignty here or in the Pacific Islands can be found in Halsburys’ Rules (3rd Ed. Volume 36, Statutes, page 337, para 559.12 and 12.1) the UK parliament was statute barred from usurping the Sovereignty of the Tribes. It also dictates that because every UK parliament is Sovereign a later parliament can not derogate from the legislation of a previous parliament.
Regardless of whether the minion ‘australian’ parliaments THINK they have attained political or parliamentary Sovereignty, the fact is they can not…they are statute barred form doing so……that is why the CONstitution held at Section 51.26 that they can not make laws for us, and at Section 127 that we are not to be counted as a part of the population of the Commonwealth or any state or territory….
The CONstitution, being a statute of the UK parliament (or part of one anyhow) having bee given Royal Ascent by the monarch of the UK parliament applies to British subjects ONLY….
Those British subjects living as badly behaving guests upon Tribal lands may have amended THEIR CONstitution in 1967 (to remove the above cited sections) but that act DID NOT have the effect of usurping nor altering theTribes’ Sovereignty NOR of making us British subjects….
This land was not invaded, it is just being trespassed upon, generally by people who don’t have any idea of the truth….like Les.
SUN HERALD July 3, 2011 The Fitz Files
True meaning
Just say that next week, a flotilla came into Sydney Harbour with people and weaponry so powerful that we were powerless to resist their intent to occupy our land, and they did not even begin to recognise our ownership of it. Just say that within a few years we had been all but wiped out, with the survivors pushed to the outer regions. Here is the question, requiring an intellectually honest answer. Would that be characterised as ”an invasion”, or not? We, surely, all know the answer, however uncomfortably that answer might sit. So what was all the recent outcry over Sydney City Council deciding to rename the landing of Captain Phillip and his men in Sydney Cove in 1788 for what it was? If the word ”invasion” is to have any meaning, then of course it has to apply to what happened. It does not mean, as all the predictable attackers have it, that all those who believe this should head to Sydney Airport so as to ”uninvade” this land. It means that by simply acknowledging the truth of the past, we’ve some chance of healing the wounds and ensuring a harmonious future. And of course ”invasion” is a very ugly and emotional word, likely to offend many. I dare say it was pretty ugly and emotional for the Aborigines at the time, too. But bravo to Councillor Marcelle Hoff, who said: ”It’s intellectually dishonest to not use words that offend some people.”
US MOB … Well said … Truth is that anyone else not agreeing is “whitewashing” . Jan 26th is Invasion Day, a Day of Mourning for the Original Australians who lived here for the last 40,000 years as one with the land … Many newer Australians have no idea how the country was settled as a Penal Settlement by the British…mainly to rid Britain of the Irish … many have no idea of the mrders committed wiping out whole settlements of Aborigines or the Genocide of the Tasmanian Aboriganls either, neither do they know about the stolen generation … I’ve just been reading about Paul Keating’s 1992 Redfern Speech … all Australians should be aware, acknowledge the truth of the past and in doing this they have more understanding and empathy for the original Australians of this land – you’re right – this leads to True Reconciliation, not further division.
Just for the record, my Great Great Grandfather was an Irish Convict arriving here in 1801 (not a Rebel) – I do not have much time for the British Invaders at all of any country they’ve invaded – whether it’s here, NZ, USA, India, Ireland, Scotland just to name a few.
Cook was given orders to make a treaty but he decided that we are not able to make a treaty (bad move on his behalf), English decendants are crazy about records because it helps their cause(because they never recorded the bad stuff) so I would like to see the non existent records that show our people giving their right to country. They dont exist like english having a legal claim, tresspass is when your moving on but aussies are fighting to cement their superiourity over everyone else for good, thats invasion
other nations came and left because it was taken, that proves who owns the land, who cares about laws on the other side of the globe, go home if you love the queen so much, that makes you a tourist, with terra nullius proved as a lie, customary law stands, we are not english subjects, so the queens laws dont apply to Aboriginals, bring on international law, shame the english for the devil pleasing lies and violence they insist on continuing. Im glad my family history will not be associated with the shameful history of Australia, aussie peoples grand children will be so shamed by their selfish ancestors and will be laughed at around the world, silly aussies are going against evolution trying to stop time, the level of intelligence shown by aussies give Aboriginal people hope for the future, while your people continue to think you know, my people are continuing to learn, the future makes me smile but for the scared majority that freak out at anything different all I can say is grow up.
The larger issue here is not the labels that are put on everything, “invasion” “lost children” “stolen generation” etc etc.
It appears to be compensation for all of the above, and that compensation has been paid out time and time again and continue to be a never ending circle, with no practical benefits.
The only way forward is to stop being victims, my great grand parents left Demark for Australia because of the threat of war and Hitler, came here, worked their ass off and forgot the problems, just like the Greeks, the Italians, Asians people who came here for a better life.
They don’t sit around on their lazy rear ends whining, drinking, sniffing, and moaning about what should have and what they didn’t get.
If I went back to Denmark to claim my land, they would laugh at me, if I asked for dole payments based on my heritage, there would not be any.
I am totally fed up with White Racism, take some responsibility for your own lives, I did not commit the crimes against Indigenous peoples, neither did my family, I did not apologise, why should I, then I become the rescuer of victims.
Attitudes like yours Peter are shameful and abhorred to women like myself, born on Kalkatungu Lands classified as an animal under the laws that your great grandparents upheld. My great great-grandfather was one of the first premiers (Archibald Mosman) of Qld; my generation of mixed blood were still under the Act which controlled livestock. I was one years old before the government of Australia recognised me and mine as citizen of this land.
Patriarchal attitudes like yours who governed and told six generations of the women in my family to work their asses off as hired help for tea, flour and tobacco, while they banked the money.
I am a forty six year old mother of two who is nobody’s victim and has raised my children to respect the cultures of others, whom are without an understanding of their cultural connection to this land which we are all walking on.
Educate yourself sir as my mother and I have done before you blanket call us victims. We have university degrees; we are directors, administration, professors, lecturers and teachers, doctors’, lawyers, etc.
Our family even though entitled to have not asked or received any compensation to achieve what we have. If you are so fed up with Racism, stop perpetuating it and have a long hard look at the real issues and the mirror.
I did not ask for your apology nor have you rescued me or my children.
Right on Yapuru!! This country’s major media sensationalists are quick to breed hatred and ignorance in reinforcing white propaganda. White propaganda is the name that portrays non white Australians and in particular aboriginal peoples with only negative representation. Consistently showcasing negative imagery without thought in providing a portrayal of these minorities that is realistic and true. This constant force feeding of false portrayal is impacting negatively on the few opportunities non white Australians have in representing themselves and their opinions to the public on this issue. In truth and reality, it seems as though White Australia’s opinions have not distanced themselves from that of the last century and this I believe can be eradicated by putting the pressure on a) the media as a short term solution and b) what children are being taught at a young age in school.
I still remember the first time I was taught about Australia Day in grade 4 and I was neglected the aboriginal side of the story until grade 11 where in my elective subject (an unpopular school subject, modern history) was I then given by a teacher, unbiased lessons on the first fleet and it’s consequences. I felt quite betrayed that only then was I educated formerly on the issues surrounding the invasion and only then because of my elective subject, a subject that on average 40 out of 1000 students per year will be apart of. I realised I learnt more from my parents on Australian history than I did for 10 years at school and I felt as though I was misguided by the education system and led to feel that there was nothing wrong about Australian colonialism. I consider myself very lucky that I was raised in a family who’s views were opposed to White Australia and that I chose modern history as my elective. I noticed that the majority of my peers who weren’t in that class in the end became outwardly racist towards aboriginal people with somewhat daily rituals of imitating Aboriginal peoples to the point that you would hear it everytime you saw them.