Imagine this, a complete stranger invades your home and takes everything you own. They then massacred your family in front of you, destroyed everything you had, and had no remorse for their actions. Everything you knew and grew up with was gone in seconds. Now imagine being looked down upon simply because of the color of your skin. How would you feel if you regularly thought about someone who caused these atrocities to your people, to your family? You've tried to visualize this in your head, but can you really do it? Do you really understand? No, that's not the case; and that's the problem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe British settlement of Australia took place on January 26, 1788. The shameful history of Australia's colonial past has always been a difficult situation for most Australians, we are reluctant to resurrect the barbaric events that brought us to where we are today. However, to this day, we have continued to commemorate him through public statues across the country. Hmm, well, isn't that quite ironic? We have the Captain Cook statue in Hyde Park, Captain Cook in St Kilda, Captain Cook in Belmore Road, to name but a few. The first thing I would like to draw your attention to is that the celebration of these figures in the form of public statues is clearly offensive to Indigenous Australians. Many may say "move on", but I bet you didn't know that from that point on, 90% of the indigenous population was wiped out. That's 9 out of 10 people, if you had 10 children, only one of them would survive. You would lose 9 out of 10, how can you cope with such a loss? But for you, you probably didn't lose 9/10 children but for the natives, they lost 9/10 of their culture. Have you heard of the term terra nullius? It refers to a Latin expression for no one's land and is used to describe territory that can be acquired through occupation by a state. This is the law that “allowed” the British to invade the country. However, let's remember that this is WHITE men's law that was applied in a completely different society. A society where they had absolutely no knowledge of white customs before January 26, 1788. The natives cherish their land. Their connection with their land is complex. For them, no one owns the land, it cannot be bought or sold. Their land is spiritually and socially connected to their lives. It's their identity. The commemorations of these public statues are a stark reminder of the violent breakdown of Indigenous society and a legacy of pain and suffering that continues to this day. The Stolen Generation, Myall Creek Massacre, etc. are ideas that should not be celebrated. 200 years ago, 60,000 years of culture and way of life were destroyed. Colonial statues honor the lives of Cook and others, reinforcing the idea that Australia is an empty, wild land. Is it ethical for a prosperous nation known for its acceptance and multiculturalism to acknowledge the events of invasion and mass murder? This does not damage our reputation and anyone who thinks otherwise should question their humanity. In 2008, Kevin Rudd, on behalf of Australia, delivered a national apology speech to Indigenous people. He detailed that it was necessary to “write the wrongs of the past”. He said we must have “decency, human decency, universal decency.” Yet we live in!