Found this old post FWIW:
As I’ve already said I’m over this debate. I’m sure people are getting sick of me saying it then I come back in.
Obviously nothing I say is going to change anyones mind. If people really want to believe that blacks get given too much, are hopeless and get just as much opportunity as anyone else, it seems they are gunna keep believing that regardless of any evidence to the contrary.
I’ll tell you a story though. You can look it up on google to check any wrong facts. It’s a good story, and a good illustration of what blacks have been up against until fairly recently.
Elly Bennett was born in Cherbourg south Qld in 1924, a pretty poor aboriginal community that was an old mission then, on the outskirts of Murgon. (Chris Sandow and Steve Renouf are from there for NRL fans). He started off as a labourer, cane cutting and other farm work, and used to box in the boxing tents when they came to town and bet on himself to make extra dough. He was good so one of the shows put him on, he was quickly identified as being too good for the tents and began to fight as a pro.
He became Aus bantamweight champ from 1948-51, then he moved to featherweight and held the Aus championship from 1951-1954. His pro record ended up being 59 fights for 40 knockout wins. His fights included Cecil Shoemaker of the US who was ranked No. 1 at the time, Elly knocked him out. Bennett tried to fight the Mexican Ortiz for the WC but he refused the fight.
Later, a fight was set up with Vic Trowell of South Africa who had beaten Ortiz and held the title. Trowell pulled out at the last minute after discovering Bennett was aboriginal. Bennett also fought Jimmy Carruthers but lost to the champ on points.
Elly Bennetts earning were estimated at 12,000 pounds, roughly $3-4 million in today’s money. He never saw a cent. Under Queensland law at the time, laws that weren’t repealed until the late 1960s, blacks were’nt entitled to receive any income they earned. Didn’t matter if you were a pro boxer, can cutter, nurse, whatever. It all went to the local ‘Aboriginal protector’, who was usually the police sergeant, and could pay a discretionary amount of 'pocket money' to the black worker. The rest of the money, in theory, was paid into the Aboriginal Welfare fund, This was a state government fund that was meant to benefit aborigines in general statewide. The reality of this policy was that corrupt protectors usually creamed some off the top, blacks often couldn’t read or write, then because blacks had no political power, the Queensland government just dipped into the Welfare fund whenever they were short of cash, to fix roads or whatever, eroding it to virtually nothing.
Elly Bennett died broke in Bundaberg in 1981.
You might ask ‘what has this got to do with us now, in this day and age?’ Well I’d say a lot. The way Australian culture, society and economics has evolved means that white people, our ancestors, have always been entitled to earn as much as we can, and keep that money and spend it how we see fit. Usually, in the case of my family at least, this means that people earn money, feed, clothe and educate their kids. Each generation gets it a bit better. For example my great grandparent were dirt poor, my grandparents were just poor, my parents were'nt poor. Each generation is better educated, more confident and has higher expectations.
These basic rights tha we take for granted were denied to black people. If fact the reverse is true. State governments’ policies, not just Queensland, actively put up obstacles to deny black people the opportunity to improve things for their families. Like paying them at lower rates, then not letting them keep the lower pay they did earn. So in basic economic terms, aboriginal people are 100 years behind us. Those discriminatory policies are now gone, but we’ve had a massive head start. I'll say it again, a massive head start.
To say history doesn’t matter and everyone has the same opportunities just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Does James Packer’s kids have the same opportunities as Elly Bennett’s grandchildren?
