General Chat

The coroner's inquest into the death of Mr Ward and the fact that no-one is to be charged fills me with indignation, too.
A different case is still going on in North Queensland. A man was drunk and disorderly, and as the copper was taking him in he "tripped and fell on him". Fell hard enough to rupture his liver. The official police enquiry exonerated the policemen of course. Did I say the dead man was Aboriginal? Gave him a good kicking, more likely. Several inquests and enquiries later and the matter is not yet concluded.
Also in Queensland "Doctor Death" has been found guilty on 3 charges of manslaughter and one GBH. No doubt, as he is of Indian ethnicity the Indian government will trot out the old Australians are racists card. Of course many of us are. But so are many Indians.
Talking of grandparents, I was lucky enough to know all of mine, although I really only met my father's father a few times due to a long ago separation. One of my sister'r regrets is that her two girls never knew their grandparents as all died before the girls were old enough to remember them.
I was going to write some more cheerful comments but work beckons.

G'day Colin.

Selective justice is alive and well!

Nothing much has changed in the nearly thirty years I've been out here.

My first position in WA was as an Environmental Health Officer to the Shires of Laverton, Leonora, Menzies and Wiluna.

Within those Shires were many Aboriginal Communities. However, I was not supposed to visit them because they didn't pay rates, and therefore were not entitled to receive any Council services.

I used to leave my car in the pub carpark and go out with the Aboriginal Health Worker who was a full blood and one fantastic guy.

My movements were never queried by the Shire Clerks who I presume must have thought that I spent all my time in the Pub!!

I suspect that they knew what was going on but thought that it was better ignored. Those communities needed all the help that they could get!

Allan

Hi everyone, My motto is "Judge not lest ye be judged."
My ancestors are Cornish/English/Spanish/French.
We are all descended from people from another country.
Yes! I know, as kids we called our school friends names and they retaliated, that didn't make it right ,I would hope we learn't from it and grew up. I treat people as I would want them to treat me.I only remember seeing, not meeting, my grandmas, it was "go outside children,while I talk to your mother." I never knew my grandfathers. We were never acknowledged.
Cheers Hollzy

Morning CC and all,It's 7.15 pm here, I post then edit, post then edit again, as I lose track of the discussion. I'm that slow (No rude comments thanks;)) Dr Death has been getting away with horrible deeds for some time, It's time justice was done. It's been too long for the families.

Hello all - good to see you Colin and Hollzy.

CC - here is a link for Dr Patel or Dr Death as he has been dubbed. A dreadful man.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/dr-death-jayant-patel-guilty-of-killing-three-patients/story-e6freuy9-1225885956420

The treatment of our indigenous people is the shame of Australia.

Sue xx

CC........

Quote "There is "something" about a man in uniform"

I was a man in uniform for many years - I hope there wasn't "something" about me - certainly not a funny smell.

Tec.

good morning evening all

CC while I was in Leonora it was my privilege to get to know Sadie Canning, who was the matron at the Leonora Hospital. Sadly she has now passed away, but was agreat champion for Aboriginal rights. She was herself onr of the 'Stolen Generation' and had to overcome all sorts of obstacles to become a nurse.

At the time sadie wanted to study Nursing, Aboriginlas were not allowed by WA Law to undertake such studies.

As Sadie was born in 1930, this was in realtively recent times.

Good Evening Tec and good morning Pam

Allan

Well there certainly aren't any babies due in this house, and would make medical history if there were.
My nephew knew about everything coming in threes, his wife gave birth to triplets nearly four months ago.

Those of us on board ship knew that it was the uniform the girls fell for, and not us - I was the bashful type, so learnt to run round the decks.

We haven't heard news from Linda today, I do hope all is well, and that they are very busy getting things organised for the early arrival of the little girl.

Tec.

Hellooooo everyone - I'm up a bit later because it's so cold.

I would say Linda is too busy cuddling her new grand-daughter.

Things may come in threes but don't look in this direction:-))

There is something about a man in uniform but I always like to see a man in a suit. My OH and sons look very handsome on the occasions I see them in a suit.

Tec - I had a vision of you running around the decks with a gaggle of women chasing you:-)) Did you ever allow yourself to be caught?

Sue xx

* puts on the Benny Hill Show Theme Tune*

Good morning Sue :0))

Allan

Good morning Allan:-))

Sue xx

Good Morning Sue,
Good Morning Allan,

Sue.........A gentleman never tells :)))

Allan.......I listened to a programme on BBC World Service some time ago, from Sydney Opera House that was the venue for a discussion with a lady lawyer of Aboriginal origin. She is apparently well known in Australia and champions the cause of Aboriginal Rights. Much of the discussion was to do with land rights. It was very interesting.

Tec.

Tec - when a gentleman says he never tells that's usually because he has something to tell:-))

Unfortunately we generally hear the bad news regarding our indigenous people. We have a couple of families living in our town and they cause some trouble on occasions. A group sit in our shopping area and do no harm - never accost passers-by etc. However they have family members who have caused damage to shop windows and stand outside the pub asking patrons to buy them drinks because they have been banned for bad behaviour. The two families are well known. This happens in many urban areas and we tend to think of all indigenous people being the same. There needs to be more newspaper articles and programs on the telly about the many people who live in mostly self-sufficient tribes and who work when they need money for buildings such as schools etc. One of our nieces lived in Darwin and worked as a dental nurse for the Aborigines and she had a great respect for the tribes she visited. I get very annoyed when I hear people say that they sit around getting handouts from the government, shoes for their children etc. These people are under-privileged by any standards. I think the government has instigated a new program to help indigenous people achieve in university and job training programs. I truly hope it works.

Sue xx

Good evening, this is just a flying visit. I spent three hours at the hospital today with my lovely granddaughter. Her daddy was there all night,so he came home and went to bed this morning. My daughter is still in hospital because of the problems she had, but we hope she may be allowed out tomorrow

Hello CC:-)) I suggested that my daughter try cinnamon with the children and she has been giving them cinnamon toast for morning tea and sprinkling it on their stewed apples and the little cakes that they all make on the weekends. Let's hope it works. They are all well at the moment - thank you for asking.

Sue xx

Hello Linda - I knew you would be spending your time with your girls. Hopefully your daughter will be home soon but they do well to keep an eye on her for a day or so. Did you get that wonderful buzz seeing your daughter holding her daughter? It's a beautiful sight.

Hello all, You know, one of the things that I constantly am aware of is the vast areas of Australia and the areas that the Indigenous choose to live in. There is no way that the collective population of Australia wherever they originate from (and there are many cultures now here in Australia just as there are in UK) can afford to build and provide the lifestyle and services that are required to give these peoples living in these remote communities the necessities for them. If a white (or otherwise) person decides to go and live in these remote areas they can't expect to have these services either. Indeed, there are people living on remote cattle stations in Australia who don't have access to all the privileges of living even in a country town.

We must remember that England would fit into Victoria in Australia and Victoria is one of our smallest states. Australia is a vast land, most of it dry and arid and not suitable for human occupation because of the lack of water.

So just the logisitics of this whole subject is mind boggling and I have no idea how the situation can be resolved. But it takes 2 to tango and so far it seems to me, that it's now a fairly one sided dance.

Pam.

Allan, Here in Qld. we have many Aboriginals training in the Health professions and esp. at university level. They do seem though to stream into Aboriginal health and not into the mainstream so this should be of some help to the indigenous peoples.

Hi Linda,
Good to hear from you - hopefully your daughter can come home tomorrow for some rest , and everyone cacn settle to a routine, controlled of course by the young lady.

Tec.

Hello Pam - you are right in what you say. I think the best we can offer indigenous people when they live way out in the sticks is medical help and perhaps a chance of basic education.

Sue xx

hello Linda.

Have you recovered yet? :0))

Hopefully your daughter will be home soon.

Allan

Thank you all for your emails, I have sent a photo of the little cutie
She is going to lead them a dance because being premature, they are suggesting that she is fed every two hours, that doesn't sound like fun