In April 2001 the then Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane, made a public speech declaring that Australians should make a formal apology to the Aboriginal people for the wrongs done to them. In our context here, it is the justification offered for his point of view that is most interesting. This immensely respected man who served Australia with such exemplary strength and dedication declared that, since the wrongs were done by the nation of which we are all part, we should apologise, as a nation, for those same injuries.

He was of course responding to a common argument (often voiced by Prime Minister Howard in an effort to win over the Hansonites) that the majority of people – city-dwellers most of them – who may not today feel any direct responsibility for those injuries should not have to apologise or to carry any blame for what was done by others. Sir William Deane was right on at least two counts. He was right in calling up the empirical observation that, in times of war always, and on other occasions such as when Cathy Freeman won the 400 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games, Australians recognise themselves as active subjects of a nation society.