Always was, always will be: Aboriginal land

January 26, 2017 6:37 PM

The 26th of January is celebrated by many as Australia Day- by others as Invasion day or Survival day. Aboriginal people living at Lake Tyers reflect on the day (autoplaying video- which is worth watching.)

There are protests about celebrating this day on this date, including videos which are shared on social networks in the lead up to the day.
Invasion day compared to other dates (September 11 among them) with some controversy - in the style of the 2000's 'you wouldn't steal a car' anti-piracy ad. While some suggest marking the day with a minute's silence and also celebrating Australia later on, others insist it should be moved- perhaps to May 8? (Junkee facebook video, featuring Jordan Raskopoulos)
In an interview produced by activist organisation GetUp, friends Sally (family from the UK) and Nayuka (ancestors here 'since time immemorial') discuss the issues with the day. Nayuka says that "The 26th of January is Invasion day- but it could be any day." (facebook video)

On the day itself, there were protests, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets. In Sydney, in Melbourne, and other cities around Australia, you could hear chants of "Always was, always will be: Aboriginal land." (facebook video)

posted by freethefeet (21 comments total)

(Apologies for all the facebook videos- facebook is where a lot of these protest videos are shared, but I appreciate that not everyone wants to give facebook the clicks.)
posted by freethefeet at 6:39 PM on January 26, 2017

I was stunned by the estimate of 50,000 people at the Melbourne march - it apparently dwarfed the official Australia Day march nearby. The efforts of community organisers have been extraordinary. (I'm in particular awe of the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance who have successfully organised mass protests and sit-ins at some of Melbourne's busiest intersections, with disciplined and peaceful determination.)

I grew up in Gippsland, and my family have been in the area for generations. The area has a miserable history. I remember my mother (a librarian and keen amateur historian and geographer) explaining the massacres and clearances to me as a child, and those stories have stayed with me.

(And it's Lake Tyers, by the way!)
posted by prismatic7 at 7:44 PM on January 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

(damn. fallen to the old center/centre spelling typo. Apologies.)
posted by freethefeet at 7:46 PM on January 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

As always, I <3 First Dog On The Moon.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:16 PM on January 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

An idea whose time has come. Celebrating the date that a bunch of miserable convicts were dumped on other people's land essentially commemorates a British elite who wanted to solve an overcrowding problem in their prisons. January 26 is New South Wales Day if it's anything. If we need a national day, there's December 3 or April 25 (though that serves a different purpose) or, as First Dog on the Moon suggests, January 1. Or how about the date the Australian Federal Convention first met, March 2? You can still have a barbie in decent weather on March 2.
posted by rory at 1:35 AM on January 27, 2017

Or, as suggested by Jordan Raskopoulos, May 8. Mayyyyyyyte.
posted by crossoverman at 2:03 AM on January 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

"The most accurate telling of Australian history in 5 minutes!"
posted by rory at 3:10 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was proud to attend the Sydney march and the Yabun aboriginal festival afterwards. I don't want to comment on the rhetoric or arguments about the date, as it's not me that needs to be heard, I just went to stand in support of indigenous Australia.

Personally though, it was a lot more fulfilling of an Australian experience than shitty sausages, OK beer and a pop music chart on the radio (as much as I love triple J). The cultural cringe is real.

The ABC headline is provocative - there was all sorts of people at the rally including many kids and families. A couple of angry people is not really "violence erupting" it felt safer than many concerts I've been too. I'd bet a fair bit there was more "violence" in the bars on the Corso or in Bondi that night. The police statement is good to see. I have to say I thought the police, if not friendly, did a level-headed and reasonable job.
posted by other barry at 3:18 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

That "most accurate telling" comic rory linked is great.
posted by mediareport at 5:09 AM on January 27, 2017

Well done to all the people in Melbourne who made the Invasion Day rally larger than the Australia Day party around the corner. I wish I could say we'd do the same in Perth, but...

Speaking only for myself: I'm not particularly attached to Australia Day, and i don't see why it has to be held on the shittiest day of our history. Change it. There'll never be unanimous celebration of our nation (and thank goodness for that). But I bet we could find an inoffensive date if we tried.

I like that New Zealand celebrates their national day on the anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. I'd like to do the same here, but we don't yet have a treaty. Seems to me we should sort that out sooner rather than later.
posted by harriet vane at 5:42 AM on January 27, 2017

Waitangi day is not at all comparable to Australia day, though. It's not a day of patriotic celebration at all. It's a day off work, there are events at marae around the country but especially at Waitangi, and usually a news segment about the prime minister being a wanker.
posted by lollusc at 5:47 AM on January 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Its vibe is maybe more similar to Sorry Day (if that were a public holiday) than Australia Day
posted by lollusc at 5:49 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Fixed post typo.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 6:21 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Personally I favour the 16th of August, the anniversary of the day that immigrant Australia took its first symbolic step away from being fully up itself.

January 26th is played out.
posted by flabdablet at 8:54 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

I grew up in Gippsland, and my family have been in the area for generations. The area has a miserable history.

Indeed.

I live in East Gippsland, and my tiny town has a cairn in the main street erected to the memory of the Butcher of Gippsland.

Oddly enough, there's absolutely no mention of the way he earned that name on the brass plaque.
posted by flabdablet at 9:01 AM on January 27, 2017

I have been surprised and disappointed at how many of my friends and acquaintances were still celebrating this day - think it's fine to go to Australia Day events and post pics of their kids with Australian flags captioned "Happy Australia Day". People who should know better. I hope we are on the cusp of that becoming no longer a thing. Anyone?
posted by 8k at 12:08 PM on January 27, 2017

I hope we are on the cusp of that becoming no longer a thing.

I live in the wilds of western Sydney and it's definitely still a thing. I think every single Australian-inhabited house in our neighborhood had multiple flags up for Australia day. One place had five separate flags, full size and miniature, and that was just on the front garden. Many were having bbqs. I found it quite unsettling.
posted by lollusc at 4:26 PM on January 27, 2017

think it's fine to go to Australia Day events and post pics of their kids with Australian flags captioned "Happy Australia Day"

I can't see a thing wrong with any of that. I think coming together to celebrate our home is a fine thing.

But it shouldn't happen on January 26th.

Move it to August 16th. Given the weather that most of the populace experiences around that time of year, it would be a good time to bung on a bit of cheering up.
posted by flabdablet at 7:30 PM on January 27, 2017

I remember one of those Gruen ad challenges (where they would have two ad companies compete to sell something unsellable) where the justification for declaring War on NZ would be that we would get a public holiday during term 3. As a school teacher, my goodness, do we need a long weekend in T3.

However, I feel like parts of our populace will fight any change to a colder date (despite Jordan's fantastic line "not colder than ignoring genocide") will be fought - because of the loss of the chance to have a cold beer, a barbie, and some sort of contraption where you fling yourself around in circles on black plastic with water attached to a motorised hills hoist. Also because we're a fairly messed up, racist society (see treatment of refugees, the furore over the girls in hijabs on an Australia day billboard and the 'on-purpose forgetting' of the history of Indigenous people.) I was pretty horrified to see the video put out by the Australian newspaper, which featured 'things that make Australia great' - lots of surf culture, bush farming, flora and fauna- but no reference to indigenous culture at all. I shouldn't be surprised, really, but yeah.

I found this article: what would it take to change the date? via triple j's hack- worth reading.
posted by freethefeet at 9:33 PM on January 27, 2017

There's a dearth of Australian public holidays in the second half of the year, prior to December. Perhaps it could go there.
posted by nnethercote at 11:02 PM on January 27, 2017

Thanks for the details re Waitangi Day. It still sounds good to me even if it is more somber than celebratory. At any rate I'd be happy to go with any date acceptable to a majority of indigenous people. I feel like they should get to decide, although I have my fingers crossed for a spring date.
posted by harriet vane at 5:05 AM on January 29, 2017