Guilt is unproductive, indeed harmful, but shame is another matter. We do share the shame. Whether our ancestors came on the First Fleet or we are new migrants who came on the last plane, we all share the shame. If blood should stain the wattle. The real truth should be reflected in our shame that the golden Australian wattle had already been drenched in blood.
Unacknowledged truth has a way of setting iron bands on the soul.
The paralysis chokes. And unacknowledged truth also has one of those perverse ways of imposing a sadness and a false guilt on the victim's heart. As a child can carry the hounding guilt of a father's abusive betrayal of trust, so many Aboriginal people can carry a false internalised image of themselves, one that the perpetrating coloniser has created for them. It is true that shame brings its own embarrassing confusion. But there is a single exit from that confusion.