I think the discussion of where the conflicts in Ireland came from are quite irrelevant to the point of my comment. The simple fact is that the Protestant majority of Australians regarded Catholics in much the same way that many Australians today regard Muslims - in both cases it was/is on the basis of religion.
And my further point is that a couple of generations later, we look back on this and wonder what the fuss was about. I expect the same will apply to Muslims in a couple of generations. I do not see Muslims taking over Australia any more than the Catholic takeover my father and grandfather feared!
I could have talked about the position of some other minorities, such as the Australian Chinese, or, as some have sort of raised, the Aboriginals; but they are not distinguished on the basis of religion, but mainly colour, so the Catholic comparison was more apt. And it should be pointed out that not by any means all Catholics were/are Irish - none of the families in the street I grew up in were; I think they were two English and one Italian.
John
John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
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