We are all left to speculate on what this country might have been like had the invasion and occupation not taken place. Accepting that the Aboriginal population 200 years ago was somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000, then normal population increases with inevitable immigration would perhaps put the population somewhere around 20 -25 million people.

The face of the nation though, would be recognisably different. Greater contact with the outside world would have influenced the nature and shape of things. This country would have been appropriately described as black, rich (in both resources and culture), and the envy of many. Its political influence in the southern hemisphere would have indeed been remarkable. Its people would probably not have known poverty. Aborigines, as a nation of prosperous people, would have been sought after as friends and allies of other countries.

Such speculation, some may say, is merely romanticising what might have been : that what occurred is an historical fact not capable of being changed. Others might go even further, arguing that the takeover was fate, so that all the goodwill in the world could not affect the outcome.

True, we cannot turn back the clock. However, reflecting on what might have been is a very useful tool for opening up the options for discussion about the future. At present the choices hardly arouse interest - either more welfare spending, greater powers to ATSIC or being reconciled with whites seem to be the best on offer. No one has explained what these dull possibilities might give Aborigines in the long run. Nor for that matter has much else cropped up to make the people think. It is as if the future for Aborigines is a foregone conclusion. It is as if somewhere somehow a group of white people made the decision about our future but forgot to ask us if it was okay!

White people complain about us making them feel guilty about the past, arguing that they had nothing to do with what happened. Maybe not. But they have every right to feel guilty. Had our lands not been invaded, how could their nation exist today? Had tribes not been slaughtered, where would their farms and cities be located? Had we not been totally controlled in the last two centuries, how could they go on happily building their dream homes, educating their children, finding jobs? They should feel guilty about receiving the fruits of the theft of land,and the murder and oppression of our people. Yet somehow they manage to imply that it is us and not them who are the wrongdoers.

Australia's has a shocking human rights record, because of its treatment of Aboriginal people. Now that the Black Deaths in Custody Royal Commission has handed down its report there can no longer be any excuses for delaying giving Aborigines what we want.

The Royal Commission has made it clear that persisting with policies designed to control the destiny of Aboriginal people has to stop. Consider this : what we might have been once is now a lot more relevant than what we have become used to. We no longer have to accept what white people and their governments have in store for us. Our destiny is in our own hands. We must take firm hold of the opportunity to develop a future which suits us, regardless of anyone else.

May, 1992