As Australia Day approaches, some of us stock up on lamb, fire up the barbies and get ready for a celebratory BBQ. Others approach the 26th of January with feelings of loss, mourning and exclusion.
While controversy over the use of the 26th of January is a recent phenomenon, the day has always been marked with protests from indigenous rights to British sovereignty. The date marks the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet in Sydney cove in 1788, which many see as the birth of modern day Australia, however for many Indigenous people the date marks the beginning of the breakdown of their cultures and languages.
As the day that is supposed to unite us becomes more and more divisive, Le Courrier Australien breaks down the debate and controversy surrounding the 26th of January or, Australia Day.
History of the date
The day did not become a recognised public holiday until 1838, and is home to many milestones in our nation’s history. In 1824 the date marked the first marriage between an Indigenous woman and a European settler took place on January 26th. Although the date was not chosen intentionally it’s an interesting coincidence that what is now such a divisive date at one point marked a significant progression in European and Aboriginal relations.
In 1948 the day marked the official recognition of the idea of ‘Australian Citizenship’, an idea later made reality on the date in 1984, where previously all recognised members of Australia were seen as British Subjects. It is worth noting that this did not extend to Indigenous people, as they were not recognised as citizens until a referendum in 1967.
The day itself was not officially recognised nationally as a public holiday until 1994, when the day officially became the Australia Day we celebrate today.
History of Controversy
The date itself has been, and continues to be the subject of much debate and not exclusively surrounding Indigenous issues. From the time of Federation in 1901 there were calls to change the date. In 1905 many proposed that April the 29th, the anniversary of Captain Cooks landing, replace January the 26th. Later in 1911 the Roman Catholic Church celebrated Australia Day on the 24th of May in protest at what they saw as the ‘protestant’ or exclusively British nature of the day in a nation made up of many Irish convict descendants.
The date has more famously, however, been home to significant protests from Indigenous groups, marking a plethora of milestones in the treatment and recognition of Aboriginal history.
From 1938 many celebrations of Australia day included re-enactments of the landing at Sydney Cove, a tradition that was not discontinued until 1988. That year saw organisers bring in aboriginal men from western New South Wales to perform in the official Sydney re-enactment. According to archives from the Australian National Museum the men were forcibly held overnight in police barracks and made to participate despite footage showing they were clearly unwilling actors.
That year the first official Indigenous protest was held, calling for recognition and better treatment of Aboriginal people, and the day was dubbed a day of mourning by elders.
From there the day took on significance for Indigenous rights activists, and marks several key events in the still ongoing fight for recognition and land rights. In 1972 the ongoing Tent Embassy was established, and 16 years later the ‘Invasion Day’ protest was held on the bicentenary. This was the largest protest the country had seen since anti-Vietnam war protests in 1970. In 2013 the day marked the first time the Aboriginal flag was flown alongside the Australian Flag on the Harbour Bridge.
The debate has now progressed from basic land rights to whether the date signifies the rocky start to what many now consider a successful multicultural nation, or whether it marks the beginning of the systematic persecution and some would even argue genocide of the Indigenous people of the land.
Change the Date
This year in particular has been somewhat of a catalyst for the Change the Date movement, with support from cities like Freemantle, political parties and even public radio coming in thick and fast.
The argument mainly revolves around what the 26th of January 1788 means to Aboriginal Australians, and how the use of this date excludes the First People from what should be a national celebration.
Writing for the Guardian in 2013 Michael Mansell, an Indigenous activist and lawyer who refused the Australia Day award that same year, explained that the date marks a genocidal history that is not itself given a day of commemoration.
“Callously, Australia chooses to celebrate its national day in complete disregard to ethnic cleansing and genocide…Australia is the only country that relies on the arrival of Europeans on its shores as being so significant it should herald the official national day.”
Political songs from Indigenous artists have also recently gained a mainstream success that was previously elusive to Indigenous protest songs.
Last year Indigenous rap duo AB Original’s album ‘Reclaim Australia’, was voted the Album of the Year by Triple J. Their track ‘January 26th’ slams the use of the 26th as anything but a day of mourning with lyrics like,
“That’s that land-taking, flag-waving attitude…
How you want to raise a flag with a rifle To make us want to celebrate anything but survival?”
Recently, public response to the movement has intensified with the city of Freemantle last year changing their ‘One Day’ Australia day celebrations to the 28th of January, and public radio station Triple J changing the date of the ‘Hottest 100’ countdown from the 26th of January, after a listener poll showed 60% were in favour of no longer associating the countdown with Australia Day due to the issues surrounding the date.
The debate has now hit parliament, with The Greens calling for an official change of date. Leader Richard Di Natale said in a press conference that
“January 26 is a potent symbolic reminder of that history and continued efforts to airbrush it. To continue to celebrate Australia Day on January 26 is to participate in that cult of forgetfulness.”
While the tide appears to be turning, there are many who staunchly support the continued use of the 26th of January as Australia Day.
Keep the Date
Those against the proposed date change argue that the change would be divisive and that contrary to Di Natale’s statement changing the date would in itself amount to airbrushing history.
Warren Mundine, a former Labor party president and Aboriginal elder criticised what he saw as the Greens attempt to use the date change to further their own agenda, telling the Telegraph the party has not historically supported Indigenous Australians.
“There is not one economic plan they have developed for Aboriginal lands.”
He claimed that the real issues are education and culture, and that the date itself was actually an ‘insignificant’ strawman in a much larger debate.
Academic and Warlpiri woman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price reiterated Mundine’s point, telling the Telegraph that “(Changing it) is just an easy option for those who feel guilty, it just makes them feel better about who they are.”
She argues that the date is important to maintain saying it’s important to “emphasise those things that bring our country together… We need to take the good with the bad to move forward, if we change it, we ignore all that,”
With the date being a significant marker of gradually improving relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, Price’s point does hit home. In changing the date there is a possibility of forgetting what there is to celebrate in Indigenous protest and the change it has effected.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball also came out in opposition to the proposed date change, saying in a press conference that changing the date would further divide the nation.
“The history of European settlement in Australia has been complex and tragic… (changing the day) seeks to take a day that unites Australia and Australians and turn it into one that would divide us”
So… to change or to stay?
What remains clear to all in the debate is the significance of the 26th of January, but does the date commemorate the beginning of multicultural Australia and celebrate our differences as some argue, or does it turn a day of mourning into a crass celebration excluding the First People of the land from the only day set aside to celebrate the great Nation they started?
It seems clear the day is fraught with tension, and as history begins to slowly acknowledge the stain on our history that is the treatment of Indigenous people from the arrival of the First Fleet to modern day, there is an unease that darkens the day, an unease we must surely turn and face.
On what should be at the very least a day of remembrance for the Indigenous cultures that after surviving thousands of years were eradicated over the course of a century, we are still being told to grill our lamb chops, play backyard cricket and keep our blinkers on.
Whatever side of the debate you find yourself on, it would be wise to remember the words spoken by Premier Henry Parkes on Australia Day 200 years ago. When planning the centenary celebrations an advisor asked Parkes if he had any events planned for the Indigenous population, to which he responded “And remind them that we robbed them?”.
Happy Australia Day.
Follow us on Facebook or Instagram
Subscribe to our newsletter for free
Have your say ! Email you opinion pieces and ideas at [email protected]
Discussion about this post