After I arrived in Melbourne back in the 1980s, it wasn’t uncommon to hear crude Aboriginal jokes. Needless to say, these “jokes” were unbelievably offensive and racist. Thankfully, such jokes are now well beyond the pale, but there is still little to celebrate when it comes to the welfare of Australia’s long suffering Indigenous people.

President Michael D Higgins was absolutely correct to say during his recent visit to Australia that our Irish forebears inflicted injustices on Australia’s Indigenous people.