Thread: MUNGO MAN...SHOULD WE GIVING THIS MORE PRIORITY?

Originally Posted by bob10

The World would be Germany 1933. Forget history at our own peril. However, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I totally endorse that.

Well exactly. That’s what would happen if one dictatorial world view prevailed.

Originally Posted by Zeros

...It’s a way of looking at the world which is no more or less valid than any other.

You might be happy accepting no evidence for whatever claims are made by people. I'm not.

Originally Posted by Ferret

You might be happy accepting no evidence for whatever claims are made by people. I'm not.

Who are you to ‘accept’ or ‘not accept’ a third parties ‘evidence’ as to someone else’s cultural identity, knowledge or ancestry?

Originally Posted by trout1105

I have lived and worked in the Pilbara and the NT, I have also had first hand experience of remote communities working with an electrical contractor out of Darwin So stick your "Tourist" label up your Bum Mate.

Interesting work. I had the dubious pleasure of spending time at Yuendemu. Papunya, Docker River and Giles, with visits to Gove and a couple of other remote places. The larger communities were a real eye opener, showed clearly what happens when a large group of different tribes, or clans are thrown together without any thought to the consequences. Throw alcohol in the mix, bad, bad news. Alcohol was banned in some areas, the problem moved to Alice Springs. A large influx of River bank people. Giles was probably the most interesting place. They seemed to be from the same tribe, at that point alcohol was banned, although the Met station had a bar. There seemed to be much less trouble at Giles, the natives were living more of a natural life, or so I was told. It was at Giles we drove down the Gun Barrel hwy, and off it a bit, to inspect a section of a Woomera rocket, that had a box with " danger, radioactive " on it. That rocket section is now at Giles Met station, I believe.

Docker River was interesting. From what I was told, there were two clan groups there, and they were controlled by the Elders. A handful of Europeans were there to keep the books, Hatch, match, dispatch my mate said. He was the Manager or administrator, registered births, marriages ,deaths, and was responsible for the proper use of Government funds. Once again , a dry town. The only problem he had was when a young man from one skin group took off with a girl from another, taboo . They tracked them down, the Elders put him on trial, and he received a spear thru the leg. After that, he was banned to the bush with a couple of senior men of his clan, to consider the error of his ways. All the mate could do was ring Alice Springs Police and report it. He was told to do nothing. A couple of days later NT Police arrived, and a report was made, and filed.

Another very interesting experience was we were told that there was a spring that has never dried up in living memory. In times of severe drought, tribes from all over central NT would gather around the spring, and all differences and fights would be put aside, until the drought was over. We found the spring, a nondescript rock ledge surrounded by a circle of trees, with a rusted old ladder down into it. Once into it, it opened up into a huge cave, with the spring itself off in one corner. Cool, sweet water. We took a sample and it was sent off for testing. Thinking about that, we probably should have done that the other way around, test then drink. It was said that the report came back that the water was deemed to come down from New Guinea, under the Torres strait, and into that particular aquifer. I can not confirm that.

I won't go into the numerous interactions with the local indigenous people in the Darwin area, but if you lived there, you will know. One duty we had was to patrol the area above and around the oil fuel tanks in Darwin. The bush natives would come to town, and loaded up with alcohol, on occasions use our vehicle for spear or nulla practice. Not very often but I wondered why the oldest vehicle in the fleet was used. We were given strict instructions that if we ran over one of them, do not stop, do not get out, report to Darwin Police. Darwin, a different part of paradise, but I loved it. Yeah, you might say I have been to the Territory. At this stage I haven't regaled our adventures in the West, that's another day.

The cliche that Aboriginal people are more susceptible to alcohol abuse is Null. Disadvantaged, disrespected people living in poverty anywhere on the planet are susceptible to substance abuse, let alone the wealthy and privileged! whose abuse of all kinds of drugs is destroying our society, and even though whilst they (sometimes) attempt to keep it more private is totally transparent and hypocritical.

The real story above above is the local knowledge of ancient aquifers, which the testing only confirmed.

Originally Posted by Zeros

The cliche that Aboriginal people are more susceptible to alcohol abuse is Null. Disadvantaged, disrespected people living in poverty anywhere on the planet are susceptible to substance abuse, let alone the wealthy and privileged! whose abuse of all kinds of drugs is destroying our society, and even though whilst they (sometimes) attempt to keep it more private is totally transparent and hypocritical.

The real story above above is the local knowledge of ancient aquifers, which the testing only confirmed.

Originally Posted by Zeros

The cliche that Aboriginal people are more susceptible to alcohol abuse is Null. Disadvantaged, disrespected people living in poverty anywhere on the planet are susceptible to substance abuse, let alone the wealthy and privileged! whose abuse of all kinds of drugs is destroying our society, and even though whilst they (sometimes) attempt to keep it more private is totally transparent and hypocritical.

Originally Posted by Zeros

The real story above above is the local knowledge of ancient aquifers, which the testing only confirmed.

I agree that there is still a lot we can learn off the first Australians and that Not All communities are ****holes But there are a hell of a lot of communities and towns that are damn near unliveable due to the behaviour of the local indigenous inhabitants.
Too many people and politicians have this rose coloured glasses impression of these remote communities/towns and their answer to all of the problems found there is to throw taxpayers money and resources at it which in reality has only made the problem worse.
I have worked, met and played with heaps of fantastic first Australians and I am Not a racist arsehole like many here think, I also have 2 aboriginal grandkids But that doesn't mean that I ignore the fact that there are problems at many of the communities/towns.
I personally think that getting rid of the racism and mistrust from both sides would go a long way to solving the problems at many communities as would stopping people getting "Sit Down Money" that have absolutely No intention or will to go out and earn their living by working for it.
The do gooders have been the architects of many of the problem communities by mollycoddling them to the point that they are now pretty much solely reliant on social services and have no ambition to better their lot from the sweat of their own brow.
The Drugs and booze problems are Australia wide and is Not just a problem at the communities.

Getting back to the topic of this thread The Mungo Man.
Yes he is an interesting piece of our history But it is Not that important of a find to dedicate millions of dollars of taxpayers money to creating a monument too.

Originally Posted by Zeros

Who are you to ‘accept’ or ‘not accept’ a third parties ‘evidence’ as to someone else’s cultural identity, knowledge or ancestry?

Who am I....?

I am the one that questions you when you make claims that carbon dating is a cultural concept. That current theories of human origin are 'imagined' into being. That 'evolution' is significantly influenced by religious beliefs.

I don't care what **** you believe but don't expect me to believe or take them seriously just because you (or somebody else) says random things for which they offer no evidence when there is significant evidence for the alternatives.

Originally Posted by Ferret

Who am I....?

I am the one that questions you when you make claims that carbon dating is a cultural concept. That current theories of human origin are 'imagined' into being. That 'evolution' is significantly influenced by religious beliefs.

I don't care what **** you believe but don't expect me to believe or take them seriously just because you (or somebody else) says random things for which they offer no evidence when there is significant evidence for the alternatives.

No one is expecting you to do anything Ferret. I'm simply sharing an alternative point of view.
The 'evidence' as you call it is out there if you care to listen and look a little further. It won't necessarily be in the limited evidence format you expect. Take it or leave it.