Letter to Prime Minister

1. Australian Aborogines have lived in Australia for 35,000-70,000 years. Back then the sea water level was 50 meters lower so the Aborogines had to go through less water while traveling to Australia. They were totally isolated until 1788 when the English arrived. There were over 300,000 Aborogines in Australia by the time the Sydney Cove was settled.
2. The aborogines did not have a form of government and no permanent ownership so the British made them move. Because of this many Aborogines suffered from small pox, measels, influenza, etc. The British cut down forests and brought in over 20 milliojn sheep into Australia. The cattle and these sheep destroyed the watering holes of the Aboroginal people. These white settlers were at war with the Aborogines for water and land.
3. During the time when many white settlers had arrived, 1 in 10 Aboroginal children were taken out of their homes by these settlers in an effort to "civilize them". They suffered from abuse and lost identity. There are over 100,000 people living today who are a part of Australias "Lost Generation, all the children who were taken from their homes.
4. These people who lived in the "stolen generation" suffered from abuse and lost identity in their lifetime and have to deal with knowing that they went through that for the rest of their lives. This leaves an uncomfortable development for many Australians especially when people are happy and enjoying the olympics in Australia.
5. Ever since there was negative treatment of these Aboriginal people, there have been many things the people have done in an attempt to reconcile the Aborogines with the people of Australia. In the year 2000, about 200,000 people marched across the bridge in Sydney in an attempt to reconcile the Aborogines with everyone else in Australia. This impacted the prime minister to make a wise decision.
6. The Prime Minister should apologize to these people because they are the natives of this country and deserve respect for how far they have come and what they have accomplished. They are a large part of the popluation of Australia and were treated bad for doing nothing wrong so they deserve a formal apology because they are native and were hurt, which is not fair.

Savor the Trip

The author of this essay is concerned with the fact that people tend to get too engaged in technology while on a trip which takes away from the trip. He wants the reader to think about how much technology we should actually be using while traveling. My purpose for going to Australia and New Zealand is to open myself up to different cultures and explore outside of my country and I also really enjoy traveling. I think that technology will only have a small role in my travels. I believe that I will only use it to take pictures and talk to my parents because I want to be able to share with them what I am experiencing in Australia and I am sure they want to know and also ensure that I am safe and want to check in on me. After reading this article I understand how technology could take away from a trip so I believe people should set their own personal boundaries on technology if they would like to. I agree with Elliot when he states, "The solution? Set boundaries on technology. If work requires you to check in, limit yourself to a half-hour in the morning and answer only the most urgent messages". I agree with him because if a person decides to limit them self they wouldn't feel as restricted as a person would be if someone did not allow them to use technology. This leads in to the next question, Should we set technology boundaries as a class? I believe we should be able to set our own boundaries which would cause us to question ourselves as to whether we should be using this technology or not. I believe if we were aloud to set our own boundaries many students would only bring items such as computers or cell phones in order to communicate with siblings or parents via skype, e-mail, or through talking on the phone.