Song of colonialism

‘ BONJOUR’ was the greeting that I was taught at high school in the 1960s Sandra Chesney even though I’m not of French ancestry ( TB, Aug. 9).

Many of my generation way back then were totally aware of the black and white segregation that existed particularly in the southern states.

The sanitised version of the perceived ‘ white settlement’ history was scholastically enforced and made compulsory reading.

We simply didn’t question any racial disparities in those days as our future was psychologically manipulated and sternly dictated to us by white authorities. You wrote about ‘ past freedom’. ‘ Unbridled freedom’ encompassed the whole of aboriginal Australia until the unexpected English invasion obliterated the ancestral freedom of the then ‘ first Australians’.

You mentioned the movie They’re a Weird Mob.

Classic Australian movie Marbuk and Jedda which featured aboriginal actors Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth was directed by acclaimed producer Charles Chauvel in the 1950s.

This movie accurately depicted the ancestral customs of traditional Aborigines in an era when they were still considered as being a part of the ‘ flora and fauna’ species and were not even recognised as Australian citizens.

The national anthem Advance Australia Fair is nothing more than a hypocritical wrapup of overpowering colonialism set in song.

There is not a stanza that acknowledges the first Australians yet they have inhabited Oz since time immemorial.

So when will we descendants of the first Australians be included in this ‘ national’ anthem, Sandra?

Accomplished and internationally recognised North- ern Territory aboriginal band Yothu Yindi sang with great pride their strong desire for a ‘ treaty’ way back in the 1990s.

Guess what Sandra Chesney ... we are still waiting!

The first Australians have never relinquished their sovereignty status neither have we voluntary ceded ownership of our ancestral lands.

We may be a minority population these days ... however our timeless cultural connection to our ancestral country simply cannot be disputed.

Are you aware Sandra Chesney that aboriginal Australia is the only Common- wealth country that doesn’t have a ‘ treaty’ with the original indigenous people?

Our aboriginal pride shows no signs of diminishing even though we’re not recognised in the constitution.

Your concluding comment leaves me bewildered, Sandra Chesney.

The first Australians also ‘ stood up for aboriginal Australia’ during the colonial invasion but no one took heed of our sovereignty rights.

Likewise Sandra, do not take the Aborigines out of Australia either. CORALIE CASSADY,

Heatley.