I won't be celebrating the 26th January as Australia Day and here is why. If Australia Day is about celebrating a Nation with fair services and opportunities and equal treatment of all people of Australia, regardless of the colour of their skin, then I am not celebrating the Anniversary of the day that colonialists first arrived at NSW, Australia, leading to mass slaughter and dis-possession of Australia's Aboriginal people, and treating them like animals, a legacy which of course, to any intelligent person, has had a huge negative impact upon the current generations of Aboriginal people.
I choose to celebrate every day knowing there are people who understand and care about Australia's "black history" and who take real action to bring about reparation, like Clinton's Walk for Justice.
Why not celebrate Australia Day on the 17th September when the Australian Citizenship Act 1973 received Assent, marking the end of the White Australia Policy? Some may say who cares what the date is, it's the purpose or point. Well, people celebrate the anniversary of the day they were born ( their birthdays ) for the reason that date in the past mattered and the same applies here.
What is really disturbing to me is the lack of ignorance around the ongoing ramifications of the Invasion Day. So many people say rubbish like "Aboriginals have got it easy now" or "They bring their troubles wholly upon themselves" and the list goes on .... even, astonishingly, things like "survival of the strongest" and "that's what happens". Well, if white people were not fearful of the original inhabitants of Australia, and were NOT greedy, arrogant and power mongering, they would have cultured a respectful two-way relationship between themselves and the Aboriginal custodians. Given that they didn't, it is way time that people of today take on responsibility for being part of a Collective, and supposed civilised and humane Society, to restore Aboriginal sense of place.
26th January is Invasion Day and Survival Day for Aboriginal Australia.
