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02:08
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Originally posted by RedCedar
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A bit more on the missionaries at the Roper River.The government of South Australia granted a lease of 320 square kilometres with a frontage of sixteen Kilometres on the Roper River and promised financial aid for a mission and in 1908 a mission was officially established. The motivation and justifications for the northern mission were the Aborigines that had been sorely oppressed. ‘if we didn't occupy the north, the Asian hordes on our doorstep soon would.’ From the outset it was intended that the mission should be industrial and agricultural as well as educational and spiritual. The mission was to take advantage of Aborigines who could tolerate the climate and they were to be used for non-skilled or semi-skilled work. ‘If we were to preserve Australia for ourselves, we had to train the Aborigines to develop the north: Only by united efforts and mutual willingness to sacrifice our own interests and our own particular theories for the common good can we hope for long to preserve this continent as a whole for ourselves and our children. . .’ ‘In going to the Roper River of the Northern Territory you, my brethren, are entering upon a service of a distinctly national character. One of the most sacred obligations resting upon the people of this Commonwealth is to give the original possessors of this continent - the Aborigines - the benefits of our Christianity and civilisation. . .
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Who really cares? Why don't you go blame all the Germans for what happened to the Jews during the second world war? Or go blame all the Japanese people for what happened to the Australian POWs? Or go blame all the Spanish people on what happened to the Aztecs? Or. . . Or. . . Or . . . I could go on and on . . . . The fact is most of us prefer to forget the past and focus on the future. But if you want to keep blaming yourself for what other people did in the past go right ahead.
