Face the fact: what is now Australia was invaded

30 March 2016 

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) has praised the University of New South Wales for providing students with an accurate account of Australia's history.

NSWALC Chair Roy Ah-See said references to the invasion of Australia in the university's Diversity Toolkit were accepted by historians, including conservative professors Geoffrey Blainey and the late John Hirst.

"How else could you describe a process whereby one group of people entered the lands inhabited by another group of people without permission, and then claimed those lands as their own and dispossessed the first group?

"If we remove the emotion and just look at the facts then invasion is the most appropriate and accurate term."

Cr Ah-See said the so-called exclusive in this morning's tabloid media generated predictable responses from shock jocks and other conservative commentators.

"However, public opinion in Australia moved on a long time ago and accepts the fact that Aboriginal peoples and lands were subject to invasion by a foreign force under the authority of the British Empire.

"In fact, as long ago as the mid-1970s, Australia's most respected conservative historian, Geoffrey Blainey, described the arrival of Europeans as an invasion.

"To continue to claim that Aboriginal land in Australia was settled, not invaded, by the British is the greatest example of rewriting history in this country today.

"Our universities should be commended for ensuring future generations of Australian and international students are provided with facts, not outdated campaigns based on dividing the country."

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Media contact: Andrew Williams 0429 595 291