On This 26th Day of January
As the dawn rises on this 26th day of January,’ to most in Australia it is a significant day.
A day officially called, by the Australian Government, Australia Day. However, some prefer to call it Mourning Day, to some, it’s Survival Day and to others it’s Invasion Day. Regardless of what it is called, it is a day that shines a bright light on the the political fight between the black arm band view and the white blindfold version of this countries history. It is this day that it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet in Port Jackson and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at that site by Governor Arthur Phillip. It is this day that I feel it is my obligation and responsibility to revisit our national history as well as the continued dispossession, marginalisation and genocidal practices that our nation always has, and still inflicts on First Nation Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This day is a day that I remember the declaration of Terra Nullius in 1835, and Captain Cook claiming possession of the whole east coast of Australia, raising the British flag at Possession Island off Cape York Peninsula in 1770. It is a day that I remember that in 1788 the First Fleet arrives and the violent clashes between white people and First Nations people began.
This day is a day I remember that in 1901, Australia became a federation and a constitution was developed that excluded First Nations people in the national census, and that the Commonwealth had the power to make any laws relating to any race of people in Australia with the exception of Indigenous Australians. The federated states therefore retained exclusive (abusive) power over Aboriginal affairs until the constitution was amended in 1967.
On this day, it’s important to remember the Myall Creek massacre in 1838 where settlers shot 28 Aboriginal people, mostly women and children, and the 11 Europeans charged with murder were later acquitted. I remember the Coniston Massacre of 1928 and that in 1937 ‘assimilation’ become national policy. I remember the White Australia policy and the stolen generation, and I recognise that The NT Intervention or, as it is more correctly known, Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 along with the suspension of the anti-discrimination act to enforce this intervention continues today and does irreparable harm.
On this day I remember the various ‘protection’ acts that were introduced between 1869 and 1883 that gave legal sanctions to the colonisers to manage and remove First Nations children from their land and families. It is a day that I reflect that in 1905 the Aborigines Act was passed granting the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under the age of 16 years and what that truly means. In the following years, the other states and territories enacted similar laws with devastating consequences. This is a day that I acknowledge that there has been a 69% increase in children getting taken into out of home care since the NT intervention started and suicide rates for the Indigenous communities in this area have increased by 500% while incarceration has increased 40% for Indigenous peoples.
The 26th of January is a day of national significance which brings to the surface the continued conflict of racial discrimination, not only in our history but the racial discrimination that happens today and all the days, and weeks of every year. It should not be and isn’t the only day that I reflect of the bloody terror that our national flag represents, while our heads of state and the general culture that we live in continues to participate in. But today, as the dawn rises over this ‘white Australia’, is a day that I put on a black arm band and join in solidarity with the Indigenous warriors and resistance fighters. It is a day that I pay respect to the elders past and present and tip my hat to some of many inspiring people of past such as Pearl Gibbs, Jack Pattern, Charles Perkins, and to such leaders of today as Gary Foley, Amy McQuire, Luke Pearson, Celeste Liddle, Nayuka Gorrie, Tarneen Onus Williams and the many many more.
Our right-wing leaders see this national holiday as a day to celebrate and unite as Australians. I can’t say that I will be celebrating, but I will see it as a day in which I as a citizen of this nation unite with Australia’s Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people to call out our government to stop the racism it inflicts and to stand in solidarity with our first nations people.
