The voyage to the fledgling colony was lengthy and arduous on the ship Laurel with one daughter dying before arrival.

After disembarking in Sydney John Donnelly, like many before him, decided to try his luck in the bush.

SUCCESSFUL

As written in the Australian Men of Mark, “He took up land on the Yass river, near Gundaroo, and remained there on his Bywong Station for many years, proving very successful in agricultural and pastoral pursuits”.

Donnelly was so successful breeding sheep for wool to be sold in London his property had a forty mile frontage on the Murrumbidgee river and he was able to buy land on which the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary built their convent.

There is nothing unique in Donnelly’s story, but ignored – by those seeking to paint our past as oppressive and racist – is the fact, if not for the ambition, hard work and toil of the early pioneers and settlers, Australia would not be such a prosperous nation.

As detailed in Judith Wright’s poem Bullocky, current generations need to acknowledge those long past who struggled in such an inhospitable outback environment.

Wright writes, “O vine, grow close upon the bone and hold it with your rooted hand. The prophet Moses feeds the grape and fruitful is the promised land”.

At a time when Senator Lidia Thorpe and the radical Indigenous activist Thomas Mayo, champion a black armband view of history arguing the First Fleet was an invasion leading to genocide, it’s time for native-born Australians to stand proud and celebrate the nation’s history.

A nation, for all its faults and sins, that was one of the first to give women the vote and that introduced a conciliation and arbitration system plus the eight-hour day that protected workers’ rights and those doing it hard.

Instead of invading, the orders given to the colony’s first governor were to treat Aborigines with respect and kindness and to peacefully co-exist. Even though a number of convicts were killed, Phillip refused to retaliate unless absolutely necessary.

REPRISAL

As noted by Tim Flannery in Watkin Tench 1788, “Indeed, in all, the Aborigines were able to kill or severely wound seventeen Europeans (including Governor Phillip himself), with no loss to themselves, before a reprisal was ordered”.

Forget original sin where blacktivists argue every generation of non-Indigenous Australians are guilty of alleged crimes committed over 235 years ago when the penal colony was established in what is now Sydney.

Also forget the claim, epitomised by the obsequious “welcome to country” celebration where we are treated as strangers trespassing on our own land, that we don’t have the right to call Australia home.

To argue any who say No to the Voice being enshrined in the constitution are racist and that the needs of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are ignored is also a myth perpetuated by those committed to identity politics and victimhood.

Indigenous Australians have long since had the right to vote, to be treated equally before the law and every year receive more than $30b in government benefits.

Indigenous Australians also have land rights and interests in about 50 per cent of Australia’s land mass.

While there’s no doubt many Indigenous Australians suffer deprivation, ill health and poverty it’s also true there are countless others who have assimilated and are leading a prosperous life.