THE LIE THAT IS AUSTRALIA DAY


It has always seemed quite odd that Australia Day is billed as a celebration that draws us all together and yet it commemorates an event that can only be described as a gross example of cultural imperialism and appropriation.
 
It's now over 25 years since the High Court's ruling on the 'Mabo v Queensland (Number 2)' case and yet we're still fucking around with this Australia Day thing.
 

Given the facts that the First Settlement occurred due to the a priori assumption that a terra nullius condition existed here in Oz in 1788, and that such a condition was found to be legally baseless in 1992, doesn't that wound the 26 January date mortally?
 

It really doesn’t matter how many boats are performing a beautiful ballet on Sydney harbour or who can ‘enjoy’ the biggest cut of ‘traditional’ lamb. Surely, the status of any national day is compromised when the ceremonial ousting of some two hundred nations’ original inhabitants is still recognised and celebrated.
 

Growing numbers of punters believe that Australia Day should be changed pronto. A celebration on the present date condones dispossession ('stealing' by another name) and marginalises the very peoples who first set foot on this great land.

Comments

  1. Call me Clepe28 January 2018 at 18:30

    I'm with the March 3 proposal:
    https://www.communityrun.org/petitions/changethedate-malcolm-turnbull-december-3-2017

    ReplyDelete

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