"I think their legacy is still a strong and positive one and maybe a reason why so many migramnts have chosen Australia as their future". ...... it might surprise you, but I do agree with you.
though I don't know if we might have been better/worse off with the French or Dutch cultural base. the result has been pretty mixed under British rule. but this reinforces the need for Aus to break with the Brits and finally grow up to be an independent republic.
but it is what it is and our history has a very mixed legacy. whats more is we can't change our history, just understand history from broader perspectives that include the views of those first Aussies who our forebears sought to destroy..... the plan was genocidal, the removal of the "Aboriginal people" from the land through either death or assimilation and genetic homogenisation. This was part of the White Australia Plan.
the colonies struggled hard to achieve any semblance of civilisation until federation, and even then the semblance was limited due to the White Aus policy. We truly didn't have much of a British culture from the 1840s at the start of the goldrush until the Menzies era when Pigiron Bob brought us closer to the beauty of Her Maj. and hence the British culture.
