Australian Day, a cause for celebration?

1. Willie Gordon is co-owner & operator of the Guurrbi Tours, and avery great guide.
see also what Judy has to write about him.

2. Eric Deermal and my daughter. He is an elder, a very wise man.

 
 
 
 

3. My daughter and RMcI the artist
4. My two half Aboriginal grandchildren

Today is Australian Day, a lot of people are celebrating. I wonder if many Aboriginals are as happy as the white people.
As you all know my daughter's first husband is an Aborigene, and she has two children by him. She still sees her MIL and all the other Aboriginal relatives. She has just finished a book about the life of RMcI, who is an Aboriginal painter.
Of course we talked a lot about the fact that both Aboriginals and European settlers were traumatized. I leave it to you to have your thoughts about these problems. I can only say that I am glad that Kevin Rudd was so brave to offer his excuses. Another thing is, that at the opening of the Olympic Games of 2000, a song was sung, the lyrics of which say exactly what all Australians must feel. It always brings tears in my eyes.

Extra information, which I got from Gordon:See survival day

Lyrics I Am Australian
VARIOUS
(Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton)
I came from the dream time, from the dusty red soil plains,
I am the ancient heart - the keeper of the flame,
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come,
For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.
I came upon the prison ship bound down by iron chains
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.
I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian.
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.
I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, and I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian.
I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I AM, YOU ARE, WE ARE AUSTRALIAN.!!!