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   Andrew Finlayson February 26, 2021 Reply

   I heard a story that may be simply conjecture but I thought it captured the clash of cultures very poignantly.
   The first nation peoples had no concept of ownership in the European sense of material wealth. They observed the first Europeans struggling, as you describe it here to survive in an alien and harsh environment. Local Aboriginal people brought turtle meat to share with the settlers and enjoyed cordial relations initially, singing and dancing together . After some time the British figured out how to catch their own turtles. The local Aboriginal people sought to share the meat but were quickly informed that the turtles caught by the settlers were their property and not to be shared. Whilst this seems appallingly ungrateful of the British having been treated so well by the country’s inhabitants it does underscore the two very different concepts. Clearly the Aboriginal inhabitants simply could not understand the European obsession with ownership. Thus acceptance and hospitality were to be replaced by anger and resentment and their terrible consequences for the first nation people.

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