To The Age Nova Peris challenges people unsympathetic to Aboriginal aspirations "to stand in an Aboriginal person's shoes" ("Lunch with Nova Peris", 16/2), which is fair enough, but I ask her to stand in turn in the shoes of those of us Australians who are devoted to our history of British civilization and loath to see it go. Born in Melbourne and not qualifying for UK citizenship, I have only one nation in which to live and call my own. I want it to retain everything of good that British settlement brought to it, including monarchical government and the free way of life that is a part of British culture. We can love and honour the contribution made and still being made to the Australia of today by Aboriginal history and tradition; but do not ask us to include in that the foolish dismantling of a constitution and political order that has kept our land unstained by tyranny.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic