ABC News Thur, 16 Mar 2000 11:46 CDT LOCAL NEWS : Alice Springs Historian claims federation hurt Aborigines A leading University of New South Wales historian says Federation was a significant step backwards for Aboriginal rights. Bruce Scates says before 1900, many Aborigines had the right to vote as landowners and had the rights and responsibilities of British subjects. Mr Scates says Federation was achieved at great human cost. "The way that we've omitted Aboriginal people from this story, the way that we can speak about a new nation and open and democratic society and overlook the terrible condition of Aboriginal people," he said. "The fact that under the so-called protection legislation, which exisited in this country effectively through till the 1960s, Aboriginal people were no more than wards of the state. "Their legal status was something between an idiot and a child, they weren't permitted to own property, their wages were taken from them, their children were taken from them." © 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation -- ********************************* Make the Hunger Site your homepage! http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html ********************************* ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
