We’re all Australians Today
Stop fighting for division; it makes no sense
Today being Australia Day, there’s the usual ceremonial breast-beating and gnashing of teeth.
Some say that if the British hadn’t landed in Australia on this day in 1788, there would be a land full of people living their traditional lives. The myth usually continues that these people would be happy and free, living in harmony with nature, free from disease, war, starvation etc.
Well, maybe. If you have your head up your bum.
If the British hadn’t arrived, then one of the other nations would have. The Dutch had a significant influence, the French landed in Botany Bay on the exact same day, and there were other nations busily seeking colonies.
Japan and the USA would certainly have arrived to claim the land if it had remained ungoverned until the 20th Century.
Or the Maori would have crossed the Tasman Sea, and they would have destroyed the locals utterly.
As it was, the Torres Strait Islanders were steadily expanding their invasion from their beachhead in Cape York. Another two centuries, they would have taken the rest of what became Queensland.
But it was the British who landed and settled and prevailed. There’s no getting over that. It’s a…
