I'm currently reading "1788", Tim Flannery's edition of the two journals of the earliest days of white settlement in Australia by Watkin Tench, a captain of the marines.

What's remarkable - given the European mind-set at the time - is Tench's open-mindedness and willingness to listen and learn. At first he sees the local Aboriginal peoples around the Sydney area as "savages"; then he gets to know them personally, takes the trouble to learn their language, and so sees them as individual people who he comes to greatly admire and respect.

We have gone backwards in huge leaps since then. And the biggest thing we've lost, it seems to me, is the ability to listen and learn. If we kept our mouths shut and our ears and minds open we may do a lot better.

#Australia #history #firstfleet #aboriginal #colonialism

January 26 is THE WRONG DATE!

'Some believe 26 January commemorates the landing of the First Fleet, when convicts from England first set foot in Australia in 1788.

But the ships actually arrived at Sydney's Botany Bay around a week earlier, sometime between 18-20 January. They decided to shift further north after finding the bay unsuitable.

The 26th was actually the day the fleet set ashore in Sydney Cove, a small bay in Sydney Harbour.' #australia day #firstfleet #invasionday #survivalday #auspol https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/why-australia-day-is-really-held-on-26-january/1bkbb2gyv

Australia Day is sacrosanct they say. It’s my right as an Australian to celebrate the day that the #FirstFleet arrived at #SydneyCove.

It’s my god given right to wave the Australian flag. To drink 57 stubbies, eat a leg of lamb. To spew all over everyone.

It’s in my DNA. I would die for. It’s who I am.

Hey Bruce, if you work Australia Day, I’ll give you either Friday or Monday off.

Bruce: great that’ll give me the a long weekend. You, I’m in.

#Bogans #Racist & the #PerpetuallyOutraged, can guck right off.

I overheard a fellow old white man boasting about being "5th generation Australian, I can trace my ancestors back to the first fleet"
So what? All Aboriginal Australians are about 1600th generation, you don't hear them boasting about it. Maybe they should. #firstnations #aboriginal
#colonisation #colonialism #FirstFleet
Actually I am first generation convict descendant because my dad knocked out a copper in a pub brawl in the 50s so he served 3 months behind bars. #Convicts

The Conversation's Friday essay: a slave state - how blackbirding in colonial Australia created a legacy of racism. #slavery #history #colonialism #Australia #FirstFleet #emancipation #Queensland https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-slave-state-how-blackbirding-in-colonial-australia-created-a-legacy-of-racism-187782