… being a migrant myself… this would be or should be the FLAG for our nation.

Good stuff on the FLAG… if you don’t mind can i use it as part of my Sticker for my bike ?

Cheers
Siva.

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…

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…

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)

“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.

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.