Tony Barta, is an honorary research associate at La Trobe University Melbourne. His research interests include 20th Century German history; especially. relations between social life, culture and ideology; genocide in colonial societies; History media. (see: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/history/staff/barta.htm )..
Tony Barta on Aboriginal Genocide and “Sorry, and not sorry in Australia: how the apology to the Stolen Generations buried a history of genocide” (2008): “ The genocide Australia needs to recognize is the one that may have been envisioned in the removal policy, but the one the removal policy was intended to complete. The racist categories of “half castes”, “quadroons”, and “octoroons”, the inhuman calculus of “breeding out the colour” and the progression from biological “absorption” to societal “assimilation” were twentieth century outgrowths of a nineteenth century catastrophe. The apology for the harm done most recently should not aid in the forgetting of what earlier generations suffered. For the best human reasons, a national focus on the stolen generations diverted the agenda of conscience towards the present. For good historical and legal reasons the question of genocide was also foregrounded but, in consequence, it was also associated with events closer to the present. The larger relationship to genocide fundamental to Australia’s past was present only to those who had not been diverted by legalistic controvversy. . “. [1].
[1]. Tony Barta, “Sorry, and not sorry in Australia: how the apology to the Stolen Generations buried a history of genocide”, Journal of Genocide Research, vol.. 10 (2), pp201-214, 2008: http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/370129__794138219.pdf .