Government approves Santos Barossa pipeline and sea dumping

The Australia Institute Media Release   Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Department has approved a…

If The Jackboots Actually Fit …

By Jane Salmon   If The Jackboots Actually Fit … Why Does Labor Keep…

Distinctions Without Difference: The Security Council on Gaza…

The UN Security Council presents one of the great contradictions of power…

How the supermarkets lost their way in Oz

By Callen Sorensen Karklis   Many Australians are heard saying that they’re feeling the…

Purgatorial Torments: Assange and the UK High Court

What is it about British justice that has a certain rankness to…

Why A Punch In The Face May Be…

Now I'm not one who believes in violence as a solution to…

Does God condone genocide?

By Bert Hetebry Stan Grant points out in his book The Queen is…

As Yemen enters tenth year of war, militarisation…

Oxfam Australia Media Release   As Yemen enters its tenth year of war, its…

«
»
Facebook

Australia Day 2020 … Boycott!

On Australia Day 2020 I intend to sit that one out, preferably out in the bush somewhere, as far away from the flag-waving and nationalistic hype as I can possibly get. I find the whole charade sickening.

It is not that I have anything against the existence of an Australia Day as such. A stipulated day where we celebrate who we are as a people, celebrate our national hero types, and celebrate our collective achievements in art, science, social progressiveness (there must be some), and industry. There is nothing wrong with that, it is a worthy enough pursuit. But that is not the sort of Australia Day we currently have.

Firstly, the chosen date has insensitivity written all over it, and secondly, it has become a day where the behaviour of Ugly Nationalistic Australia is given permission to reign free. Neither of the two are worth celebrating or being around.

It might help if we developed a greater understanding of the history of the months of January/February 1788 and got the actual date of so-called settlement right.

On 26th January 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip landed in Port Jackson, along with a small crew of marines and oarsmen, and apparently took possession of everything he could see in the name of King George III of England. Perhaps we will grow up as a nation one day and no longer do it, but 231 years later we are still tugging the convict forelock in the direction of those English Monarchs.

But back to Phillip … it all sounds such a stirring landing event but most flag-wavers forget, or have never even bothered to find out, that the actual proclamation ceremony for the formal establishment of the colony of New South Wales, and the investiture of Arthur Phillip as first Governor, did not occur until 7th February 1788.

Before 7th February 1788, Phillip was far too busy protecting the female convicts who had recently been disembarked off the ship Lady Penrhyn from the rum-sodden predations of the male marines and convicts to have any time to formally declare or grab anything in the name of anybody.

And what was it that he formally established on 7th February 1788? He established a penal colony. He established a prison. In some ways, depending on how you look at things, Phillip quite unknowingly to be absolutely fair to him, established the Australian prototype for Manus.

So … on Australia Day we celebrate the formal opening of a prison, and we can’t even get the date right.

Before any sensitive folk tell me to go back to where I came from, I’m a sixth-generation Australian whose ancestors were boat people who got a free ride to the prison of New South Wales because they stole from the wealthy in England in order not to starve. As a progeny of convicts, I’m not inclined to celebrate Australian Prison Day on either the 26th of January or the 7th of February … why on earth would I?

(You cannot make origin statements like that these days without scrutiny, whether you want to get into Parliament or not, so for fact-checker types see the notes after this article.)

Many conservative fear-mongers say that 26th January has always been the date for Australia Day and that it should remain unchanged otherwise the world as we know it will belly-up tomorrow. What a load of nonsense. Prior to 1935, each state celebrated the foundation of the Prison on a different day, and it was only in 1935 that they all agreed to crank up the BBQ on the same agreed date. There are hundreds of other days Australia Day can be celebrated on.

Meanwhile …
Meanwhile …
Meanwhile …
While all the drinks slide down and the nationalistic self-congratulation gushes forth …

Thrust into the background of the celebrations that we currently observe on the 26th of January is an entire culture of human beings, the Aboriginal custodians and owners of this land, who may have a thought or two about what they see paraded before their eyes. And what do they see each and every Australia Day?

They see, on the anniversary of the day Phillip stuck his foot on the shore of Port Jackson, the modern beneficiaries of that invasion of Australia, and that happens to be some of us, swilling beer and waving flags in memory of the day when the rapes, and the poisonings, and the massacres, and the stealing of land, and the dismemberment of a culture, began. They see the dark truth of our own history promoted up as a moment worthy of celebration.

The 26th of January is not a day of national celebration, it is a symbolic day of the memory of a national ugliness that started on that date.

To further compound the supremely insensitive error of judgement that the choosing of the date 26th January was, we still persist in refusing recognition and a voice to the very human beings whose culture and people were raped, poisoned, massacred and desiccated. We throw the hopes of Indigenous people back into their faces, and we walk all over our own much-touted Australian principles of egalitarianism, fairness, and humanity, as the drinks slide down and the self-congratulation gushes forth.

Many people say that oh you cannot say this, or you cannot say that. The problem with modern Australia is that the wrong sort of powerful voices are out there being heard in the political and media spheres, and that not enough of us are prepared to stand up and oppose them with courage.

I oppose the current iteration of Australia Day for a number of reasons given above. And here’s another one. I mention it to simply illustrate a point.

As a Survivor of child abuse, I can assure you that I do not get out there on a particular day and celebrate the anniversaries of those horrific deeds, and I am deadly bloody sure that you would understand why I would not want to do that.

My experiences inform my thinking. So I do find it beyond belief that we as a whole nation get out there on a particularly insensitive day and celebrate what was clearly the beginning of the attempted destruction of an entire Aboriginal people and their culture.

I’m not against the idea of an Australia Day. I’m against the date it is held on.

The date for celebrating Australia Day in 2020 should be changed. If not, I’m borrowing a line from a Jethro Tull song and sitting that one out, I’m boycotting it, and I’m heading for the bush.

Notes:
Mary Geer (1789-1851) arrived on the William Pitt in 1806. She was sentenced to hang for pilfering but the sentence was changed to transportation for life.

William Davis (1780 -). William was convicted of burglary and sentenced to death by hanging, but this was commuted to transportation for life. He arrived in Sydney Cove in 1800 on the Royal Admiral.

There seems to be a bit of a correlation between the treatment of the poor in England in the 1780s and the treatment of the poor and the disadvantaged in Australia in 2020. If both of my ancestors were alive in modern Australia I’m absolutely convinced that they’d be front line activists for the raising of Newstart.

 

Like what we do at The AIMN?

You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.

Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!

Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.

You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969

Donate Button

17 comments

Login here Register here
  1. Kerri

    And the chorus/title of that Jethro Tull tome describes the makers of all the pathetic excuses for keeping Jan 26.

  2. Florence

    What is wrong in us celebrating what really happened that day from the Indigenous aspect?

  3. corvusboreus

    On Sunday, 26th January (Gulag Day) I shall commemorate the establishment of an English empire penal colony on Australian soil by putting on a pair of made-in-China Aussie-flag-print thongs (footwear not underwear) before going out to feed the chooks.
    The 27th is offered as a public holiday but, being a casual worker subject to weather, I will go to work instead.

  4. New England Cocky

    Ah Keith Davis; Lest.We.Forget.Domestic.Violence.Victims.Newstart.Poverty.Aboriginal.Dispossession.Yassmin.Australian.Republic.Manus.Nauru.Detainees.Multinationals.Buying.Politicians.

  5. corvusboreus

    Lest we forget:
    26th January, 1838
    Dozens to hundreds of Gamillaroi people, men, and women and children, hunted down and murdered with impunity by squatters and troopers at a place later named Slaughterhouse Creek.

  6. johno

    Another day of aussie’s spending time around the barbi consuming a very large amount of animal flesh. No thanks, i’m with you Keith. Will probably work that day and tuck into a wholesome vegetarian dinner. Saw a show on sbs last night on meat consumption worldwide. The recommendation (to help combat climate change) is to get down to two portions of meat a week. Yes, I know, it sound very unaustralian, but hey, from little things, big things grow.

    Another great news report from abc, and one that Scotty and Albo could learn from.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-23/what-i-learnt-about-the-australian-bushfires-living-on-the-edge/11885000

  7. Sir Scotchmistery

    Johno, maaaaate, good on you for maintaining the faith, but, Scotty, Albi, et al have proven that they don’t learn, from invasion day, Gulag day or any other fcking day.

    I am thankful he has pushed that stupid bitch under the bus, it has to be said. It really does prove the “man”.

    How good is genocide.

  8. Terence Mills

    In true Monty Python fashion perhaps we should be boycotting 22 August !

    James Cook sailed northward along the east coast of Australia in the Endeavour after a mishap off what is now Cooktown. Later at Possession Island off Cape York, on 22 August 1770 he claimed possession of the east coast for Britain. In his journal, Cook wrote: “I now once more hoisted English Coulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third took possession of the whole Eastern Coast…by the name New South Wales, together with all the Bays, Harbours Rivers and Islands situate upon the said coast.”

    Or,alternatively as the first fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 24 January 1788 should we also boycott that date ?

    Vale Terry Jones

  9. Kerry Sattler

    I’m with you Keith. Change the date.

  10. ok then

    Bogan day. Despite the various already stated reasons why this day sucks, all I have is memories of people being drunk and being obnixious and intimidating. A fourth generation Aussie and sometimes I feel ashamed to be one. I really wish we could be a little bit more civilised and choose a day that is inclusive to everybody that belongs here and celebrate in a way that does not make us look like we are all auditioning for the next mad max movie.

  11. johno

    Terence, re 22nd Aug, now thats what you call a land grab.

  12. Matters Not

    Note that:

    The Centre for Independent Studies will host a Changing the Date panel with director of the CIS Indigenous Program Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Nyunggai Warren Mundine, Dr Anthony Dillon and moderator Chris Kenny.

    Not sure if tickets are going quickly, but word has it, Kenny will engage in some canine antics with passing strays to keep the crowd engaged. But it’s only a rumour.

  13. Lincoln Dunstan

    My ancestors in Corwall were invaded by the French!!! I was born in Autralia from second generation Pomie immigrants. Any body have any sugestions as to what I should rant about here? If we keep looking back, we’ll get a stiff neck or worse!!

  14. Trevor

    Survival day is a fitting moniker, for surviving anyday is worth recognition in this land of amnesic disinterest.

    The abject stupidity is crowned by MorriSCUM commemorating a voyage never done by one Captain Cook around the land of OZ.

    Anybody who is anybody knows Captain Cook chased a chook around Tasmania.

    The First Australian’s tell a story of finding Captain Cook lost.

    Extinction is forever.

    Trash the Planet, pay the price.

  15. king1394

    Most Australians only care that they get a long weekend at the end of January, before school goes back. It’s a nice time for a holiday. Change the name. Let it become the Queen’s (soon to be King’s) Birthday weekend, we all know it is not really her birthday in June).

  16. Zathras

    In the USA several States have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, Discoverer’s Day or Native American’s Day for the same reason that the Australia Day argument continues here.

    History shows that Columbus was not a benign discoverer but in fact a monster that ultimately kicked off the TransAtlantic slave trade and led to the deaths of millions.

    Are we mature enough to consider changing the name or the date or do we prefer brash displays of jingoism and flag-waving?

    Remember that wherever you stand in this country, an aborigine stood there first. Respect doesn’t cost anything.

  17. Jano

    Aussie day – Is Not an Inclusive day !

    Our original owners of this land have on going grievances ! ……………………………………………

    It cant be a fair go for all .If we cant address this ugly inconvient truth .!

    (Our first peoples were decimated and humiliated ! )

    Invasion day the 26th – Is very real and raw for our first peoples .!

    A first step- in the right direction – ( change the frigging date !) And ease the flames of tensions with our first people ! ( A No Brainer )

    We could kill 2 birds with 1 stone ..Celebrate New years and Australia day, all the on one day !

    ( An inclusive celebration for the whole nation -that heals the tensions of the past ! )

    As for Deadstart payments and Work for the mole ..Kill these 2 immoral , social Injustices!

    An investment into Job creation programmes ,massive investment is needed .A return to labour market programmes ,

    LIke -The Red scheme- on a permanent basis ! ………………………………………………………………….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 2 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

Return to home page