Whose Australia Day?
January 28th, 2008
I’m aware that this makes me a hypocrite, having already joined in a synchroblog for “Australia Day”, but I think that this is an issue that rates a mention. I was spurred into posting this after getting hassled by little Paulie for having a reference to “Invasion Day” in my Instant Messaging status.
I think that it is a disgrace that our national holiday occurs on a day that commemorates white settlement in Australia. I am deeply proud to be an Australian, and I think it is a very important thing to have one day in our year that we can sit back and be thankful for the wonderful country that us good guys live in. But I think it stinks that our only real chance to do that is on the day that white people came to settle in Australia.
Reconciliation with our indigenous people in Australia, both on a practical as well as a symbolic level is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) and most important issues facing our country over the next couple of decades. But a mindset that says that we should celebrate the birth of our nation on the date of the arrival of the first fleet (because like it or not, that’s what Australia Day is saying), is a mindset that alienates and increases the psychological and idealogical gap between indigenous Australians and the rest of this nation.
It’s time for this nation to grow up, to recognise that not everything great that happened in Australia was brought about by European settlement, and to find a national day that can unite, rather than divide this beautiful and great nation of ours. I’m suggesting Federation Day, which given that it falls on January 1, should have the holiday landing on January 2. What’s more Australian than giving an extra day to recover from your New Years party with a national public holiday?
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January 29th, 2008 at 8:00 am
You should have come down with us at belgrave to ’survival day’, surviving 200+ years of European settlement. Dancing, basket weaving, singing and kangaroo snags etc, etc. I’m glad I went.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Interesting comments Geoff…I wonder if its possible that with true reconcilition, it could actually become a day we could all celebrate together….maybe it could be the day that our government chose to issue an apology in 2009, thus redeeming what is a bad annual reminder for the original people into a day all Australians can celebrate together?
January 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Mark picked up on part of where I was going with hassling you Geoff. There is something that just completely irks me about white Aussies jumping on that “invasion day” bandwagon. If the indigenous folks want to use it because it expresses something for them, then I’m only too willing to listen. Sometimes reconciliation is about listening to the impact of an injustice from those affected.
The thing I don’t like about the whole “invasion day” thing is that when it doesn’t come from someone who paid a price because of it, it does anything but foster an attitude of reconciliation. We could change the date of Australia Day but it’s hardly going to change history. I’m not celebrating an invasion.
Here I am in 2008, Mr White Middle-Class Aussie. I acknowledge that European settlers used what was essentially military superiority to colonise this continent. I recognise that, from that point onwards, there have been a lot of negative consequences (to put it lightly) for indigenous people. I don’t like that very much. I don’t like that part of my ancestry is tied to that. Equally, I don’t have to repeat those mistakes. So here I am, being only too happy for the federal government to formally apologise to the Aboriginal people on behalf of the nation. I like the idea of making sure that indigenous people who need our care from a social justice perspective, receive that care. I’ll even let that influence me at the ballot box, when on face value I have no personal interest in being an advocate for their cause.
So here we all are in 2008, finally making some progress. On January 26th each year when we gather together to celebrate our national holiday, we have a choice. We can say “Hey, this is Australia. We know where we are at, we know how we got here and we’re having a red hot go at fixing the mistakes made along the way. We want reconciliation.”
Or, we can call it Invasion Day.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:21 am
Why do we need to accept that the 26th of January should be our national holiday? Why shouldn’t I protest, albeit in a pitiful little way? I don’t understand why we have to accept that “this is our national holiday, deal with it” is the only way things can be. I think that it’s time we chose a national holiday that we can all get behind.
“it does anything but foster an attitude of reconciliation.”
Well, it’s started a conversation about reconciliation, and I think that’s the point. I think that one of the biggest barrier to reconciliation has to be the short attention span of the Australian electorate - unless it’s on the collective minds of Australians our politicians won’t do anything about it.
And this concept that I shouldn’t make a statement in disagreement with something because I’m not directly affected seems to me to be a little bit silly. The fact that I’m a white Australian doesn’t have to mean that I agree with the colonisation of Australia by Europeans. So I do think it’s a sad thing that the “invasion” happened. So I think we should celebrate a different national holiday. That’s all I’m saying.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:59 am
Interesting discussion - I wish I’d seen it earlier. I “remember” Australia Day, but I do not “celebrate it”, and Ms White Middle Class Australia, I’m perfectly happy remembering it as Invasion Day. I’m with you Geoff - and I chose to “remember” the day with some indigenous mates by going to a festival that celebrated indigenous cultures and survival.
Paul, I don’t really understand what you mean about “not being an advocate for their cause”. I don’t see this in terms of “me/us” (the whitefellas) and “them” - it’s about all of us being in this together. It’s about expressing solidarity with my indigenous brothers and sisters (and in saying “brothers and sisters”, I’m not being a wanker - I’m referring to my brothers and sisters in Christ, and to my mates who are like family to me)
February 21st, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Hey bec…
The advocacy reference was actually a subtle dig at Geoff regarding one of our previous blogfests over on amateurtheology.org
I agree with you entirely that it is most definitely about being “in it together”. That’s what I don’t like about people who have no claim to being invaded, calling the Australia Day holiday “Invasion Day”. It really just doesn’t inspire the best of attitudes in people who really do need to acknowledge some of the injustices in Australia’s past. “Invasion Day”, I think, probably does more to make them defensive. And that’s what I don’t want - I don’t want white Australians being defensive. I want them to be listening.
Sure, you could argue that it’s their problem. And maybe it is. In light of that, I will make a point of objecting to the use of the phrase on a case-by-case basis in future. In this case, the way Geoff used it got up my nose for reasons just described. But that’s OK… he has other redeeming features. Like… um…
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Paul - yes, I agree with you. Calling it “Invasion Day” and going on protest marches tends to be rather ineffective - it’s just divisive and alienates those that need to hear the message most. It’s not that I disagree with the message of those who protest - I just think there might be more effective ways to get the message across.
That said, when deciding how I’ll “remember” Jan 26, I tend to be guided by indigenous mates who’s views I respect, and who are infinitely wiser than me when it comes to these complex issues…
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Australia is aboriginies land and the deserve to have significance on australias flag