If this was about racism, maybe they would have written something racist, and not what appears to be children stuff?

It's quite possible (if not likely) that it was done by the local indigenous kids and not by Trump supporters (or whatever boogeyman you made) who drove over from Brisbane.

The assertion (one I personally believe) is it isn't really overt racism as much as it is one of dismissal and treatment of their concerns as less valid, for example, people in other comments saying "they just look like lines," which itself is dismissive of the fact that the indigenous people there found these markings as sacred themselves. The original sin lies with the government just not treating it as important as it should be, which comes down to them not seeing the markings as being as precious and worthy of protection as say a historic building that they'd likely protect to some degree. That dismissive attitude toward one piece of cultural heritage isn't overt racism (like hurling slurs, being disciminatory, etc) but it is treatment of serious concerns without the weight they deserve.

> the indigenous Australians I interacted with didn't do themselves any favors

Aboriginal and Torres Straight islanders have experienced systemic, soul crushing racism for 300 years. It seems unfair to expect them to be cordial and have a nice discussion about it all.

I'm not talking about having a discussion with them. I'm talking about attending highschool in a country town with 30% indigenous population.

Also I'm acutely aware of what their people have endured. I personally don't feel like it justifies the behavior that I encountered in my schooling years.

As someone keenly aware of the history of Australian country towns I have to ask .. when you talk to the old people in town that were born in the 1920s and 1930s did any of them talk about going out and beating up or shooting "trouble making" fringe dwellers?

That was pretty commonplace right across Australia and leaves attitudes that persist for decades, not to mention the rounding up and confining by law to reservations, denial of access to employment, treatment as "welfare leeches" despite being denied access to trad. land, employment, and preyed upon by grog dealers that see aboriginal welfare checks the way a meth dealer sees marks.

This is how we arrive at Brigg's Bad Apples [3] .. and then we have the locals going out and running aboriginal kids over (2016) [1] or beating them to death (2022) [2] on suspicion of theft.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elijah_Doughty

[2] https://nit.com.au/25-10-2022/4163/shocking-attack-on-indige...

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MVsBS7OZvo

Not really? Then again my town was predominantly German Lutheran when it comes to the oldies and they are much more reserved. Even if they held those opinions they would keep them to themselves.

My experience with crime and indigenous folk was unfortunately much more personal. When I was ~13 a group of Aboriginal teenagers stole our car, proceeded to use it in a robbery and then left it burn out on the side of the highway. Thankfully we don't leave anything of value in our car. Those kids weren't much older than me, the eldest was 15 I think. They were caught but not charged or anything.. which I also think is a bit unfair given they already had prior history. Had I been caught doing the same thing I can almost guarantee I would have been punished severely if not for the fact I have no previous record at all.

If that was the only incident I could probably write it off as just a few bad apples but I had to go to school with them.

They were rude, disruptive and physically beat the shit out of people just for amusement assuming they actually went to school, much more likely would be to find them at the skate park drinking, smoking weed and vandalizing random public property.

If anything when I was growing up I couldn't understand why the oldies seemed to put up with them when if I was to even be caught having a beer with some mates underage I was treated like I had disrespected the entire community.

Growing older I begun to understand a bit, obviously at that age I didn't fully comprehend the extensive damage that had been done to their culture and I think that is a contributing factor why the older people in our community was more lenient on them than us.

> German Lutheran

S.A. then ? :-)

It's an ongoing battle with real grievances behind it all for sure - and people that hunt and kill to survive, even today, don't pull back on the violence when it arises.

It's rare to scratch an old town Australia and not find covered over 'genocide' like past events, and the rights given in 60s and 70s were very much a double edge sword for many, "now you can vote and we see you as people and not 'native animals' anymore - now fuck off and don't get in our eyeline".

The cure, although not simple, is respect and understanding and recognition of that, from both sides - albeit how hard such positions can be to reach.

My first move in country when I'm staying for any time is to see who the families are and to talk to some and to watch and see people.

That tends to minimise any trouble down the road, but there are few easy answers as yet.

>Contributing factor is that racism against indigenous Australians is somewhat fueled by the same sort of rhetoric that became popular in the Trump election campaign.

indigenous Australians have been the victims of racism and racist action for centuries. Trump's effect on them -- if there is any at all -- is a small blip in their history.

Your attempt to shoe-horn your personal issues into this feels apparent to me.

If you weren't living here during this time you may not have been aware that Abbot + Morrison being elected resulted in a distinct change in what was considered "acceptable" discourse. The reality is it definitely emboldened the worst kind of people.

I was here, and you're spouting rubbish.

Whilst the Morrison government was pretty shit, the call of "aboriginals are getting more from Centrelink than me" is not at all a new one, and can't be attributed back to them. And comparing our government at the time to the Trump administration is laughable.

The "acceptable discourse" is no more right wing or conservative since Abbott. If anything, progressive voices are louder. You know Rudd was publicly against gay marriage as a sitting PM, and it was passed under a Liberal government, right?

If you want to see the evolution of our acceptable discourse, go read a Murdoch rag from 40 years ago. A few opinion pieces from The Herald in the 80s might let you see what "acceptable discourse" was then compared to now.

Throwaway, because this is unfortunately a contentious issue. You shouldn't get a pass for treating people like shit regardless of what your ancestors did or did not do, so it pains me to hear your story. I never had much trouble at school with anyone except for poor or 'cashed-up' bogans, and yes it was damn traumatising. I can see a lot of personal bias in the comments here - whether that's warranted or not I don't know but it's interesting to see how people reflect on indigenous matters.

I was schooled in multiple Australian states, and 'indigenous studies' was a mandatory class in all of them. I'm not sure how valuable they really are. Yes, I can make cave art and face paint with ochre. I can safely eat a few otherwise inedible looking plants in my backyard and the bush if I so choose. We got to pat crocodiles and learn languages that have probably since died out. (Fun fact: Some aboriginal languages are now mere heuristics completely made up by people in government/local municipality-run initiatives with next to no association to indigenous cultures but with an enormous sense of undeserved guilt).

Thanks to those classes I'm also aware of the various atrocities that took place, it was drummed into us constantly that we should feel personally responsible for what some dead or otherwise decrepit people did or did not do. Most Australians are migrants, even more so now than in decades past. Why should they be made to feel guilty or be 'short-changed' as you so put it? It's ridiculous and stifles humanity's progress if you ask me. I suppose that's my biased opinion.

Respect to all, but I don't believe indigenous issues have much to do with me or millions of other Australians. We didn't do anything wrong, why should we pay the price? It's got nothing to do with me or my family.

My personal opinion is that we should acknowledge what was done wrong unto them and do our best to support those that are disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

However I draw the line at ignoring or being more lenient when it comes to crime, poor behavior in schools, vandalism etc. Yes, bad stuff happened in the past but it shouldn't create license to be poor members of society forever.

There have been periods where we have seen this from different socioeconomic/racial groups and usually they moved past it. I remember when I was studying in Sydney there was a lot of angst about Vietnamese gangs in the South-West, over time that gave way to Vietnamese being welcomed and considered some of the most friendly communities in our society.

I hope we are to see similar take place with the Sudanese in Melbourne, currently characterized similarly to what the Vietnamese gangs were and still undergoing difficult integration into Australian society.

At it's core Australia is a multi-cultural nation, almost entirely composed of immigrants from all around the world. It's unfortunate that it came at the cost of the traditional lands of the indigenous Australians but they really should be able to see at this point that it's not race that holds them back, otherwise other disadvantaged and displaced would similarly have the same issues.