"But we all drag around the ball and chain of original sin. Dr Karskens reminds us that, 'The city of Sydney is predicated on the dispossession of Aboriginal people - their loss underpins the city's foundation and growth as it expanded over more and more of the country.' The first people were sinners too, of course, but they possessed the resources on which this town was built.
In the earliest years of Sydney the Aboriginal presence was welcomed and visible. English and Aboriginal place names sit side by side in Sydney as did the people: Parramatta, Wilberforce, Woolloomooloo, Camperdown. But there is no hiding the truth. As Sydney grew and gained pretensions, it became a white town and Aboriginal people were marginalized and despised. Men began to ask whether they were really human and there began a shameful story which has not yet been resolved." (Presidential Address, 2010)