Australia Day – 26 January – commemorates the British first line of conflict at Sydney Cove in 1788, the morning of the agreement that settled European colonisation of the Australian mainland. “ We need to stop the lying, ” Prof Marcia Langton, a Yiman and Bidjara woman, said on Thursday, arguing that Australia’s public day shouldn’t be one that commemorates colonisation. “The biggest taradiddle, of course, is Australia Day. I suppose we can find an inclusive date and I suppose we can start to tell the variety about Australia’s history and show some respect for all the survivors of the frontier wars ”.
The protectors of Australia Day, similar as the conservative opposition leader, Peter Dutton, argue Australia should celebrate its unique mix of Indigenous, British and multilateral histories. Thousands of Australians rallied in solidarity with First Nations people, marching under the scorching sun in a shot to get the government to change the date. Protesters took to the thoroughfares with marches organised in every state and home on Thursday as numerous chose not to mark the public vacation and protested January 26 as Australia’s public day of festivity. Loud cheers broke out in the crowd when Uncle Robbie Thorpe called for a autonomous people’s assembly, as opposed to a Voice. During the rally they were asked by Gomeroi woman and Indigenous activist Gwenda Stanley to leave the area.
Police interposed and asked the group to disperse and said they would be issued with a direction, if they didn’t observe the request. Numerous protests are holding signs and wearing t- shirts saying “always was, always will be Aboriginal land”. Some Indigenous protesters are calling for a “no” vote on the Voice vote, demanding that Indigenous sovereignty not be granted by a vote from a substantially non-Indigenous population. Melbourne’s demurrers were held on Naarm land at Parliament House on Spring Street. Protester Kim Jacobs, who was holding up an Australian flag, justified his dissent as popular. Speakers made calls for Indigenous sovereignty and criticised the vote for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
