Letter to The Editor - The profound development that has occurred on this continent in the last three centuries cannot be undone

To The Age         Lorenza Nolan claims (18/10) that "we" (the term is vague) "stole" the land of what is now Victoria from "the First Nations people". She supports the signing of a treaty to redress the situation. There is idealism in this view of things, but also folly and injustice. In another way of looking at things the Aboriginal tribes living here failed to defend their territory from the incoming settlers. The world of Nature, of which mankind is a part, operates continually in a mode of contest between stronger and weaker individuals and groups. This pattern is not necessarily of itself to be condemned as immoral or unethical. An eternal crying over spilt milk is unhelpful. The profound development that has occurred on this continent in the last three centuries cannot be undone. It can, and should be, shared by all Australians, not stolen in a new kind of theft by a few ideologues to satisfy political fantasies and what is really self-aggrandising politicking.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave