Letter to The Editor - Natives Were To Be Fairly Treated

to THE AGE
     As an Australian of British ethnicity, I object to the defamatory statements about the British made by Margaret Shaw (20/7). There was no collective intention to exterminate the Aboriginal people at any stage of history and the British arrival, on balance, has brought more of benefit to our present Aboriginal citizens than it took away.  Even before Captain Arthur Phillip sailed with the First Fleet, British authorities had insisted that the natives were to be fairly treated; and most British Australians have abided by that ideal.
NJ, Belgrave, Victoria