Invasion day? or Australia Day?
Good evening good people!
I want to start this rather sensitive topic off by saying, I don't tolerate racism or discrimination under any circumstances. Great way to start a post right? hear me out.
Australia day is fast approaching us. For those of you reading that might not be from Australia, its a public holiday that is intended to celebrate what you love about our country.
First a little history; January 26th 1788, The first fleet arrives & Admiral Arthur Phillip raises the British flag in Sydney Cove and forms the colony of New South Wales. Australia as we now know it was founded. The celebration of that day has been known by several different names; ‘First Landing’, ‘Anniversary Day’ or ‘Foundation Day’ and didn't always occur in each state on the same day. In 1994 all of the Australian states and territories agreed to celebrate it on the same day, the 26th.
That means that the aboriginal people who were settled here before us went through a significant change, where a more technologically advanced army 'invaded' their land. They (descendants of this generation) have a very different view of what Australia Day is. Understandably so. It's why some aboriginals & even some non aboriginals have chosen to refer to the 26th of January as invasion day. There is no shying away that Australia's treatment of aboriginal people in the past has been unacceptable. It doesn't mean we cant celebrate the 26th of January together.
In my opinion we should all be able to co-exist and celebrate what is ours. I say "ours" collectively. That means White man & that means the aboriginal people. But it also means the immigrants that have only just settled here in the last 12 months. It even the old Italian lady that lives next door, the one that after 60 years of living in Australia is still not a citizen.
The country we live in today is great because we've all (on the most part) contributed to making it is what it is. Why can't we celebrate the fact that on the 26th of January 1788, a new colony was settled. We should also be able to celebrate the lives of those who were lost in the events that followed the arrival of the first fleet. Easy to say that from my side of the fence, but it should be a day of celebration, not one of protests and violence like there was in 2017 and the many before that.
To answer the question, Australia Day or Invasion day? Its 100% Australia Day and to me is a celebration of what we have now, and what we're actually quite lucky to have. Last year I celebrated in an Italian way by making tomato sauce with my Nonno & Nonna to preserve for the year ahead. I probably wouldn't be here if Nonno didnt choose to get on a boat and travel half way around the world. He migrated to Australia in 1956 and is still an Italian Citizen, he's also the biggest Socceroos fan around. He will Celebrate his 62nd Australia Day this year.
Austalia Day is about Family, It's about Health, It's about Fun, It's about beer, It's about eating Lamb & about a bloody snag on the barby.
So even if you disagree with me, make sure you enjoy yourself and remember to celebrate not mourn our country.
Love it man, couldn’t agree more. Australia is about mateship and accepting others. Australia Day isn’t about what our ancestors did to aboriginals in the past. Australia Day is for everyone celebrating this great country try that we are privileged to be part of. AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!
Oi oi oi !
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Hey! I loved this post because it addresses both sides of the story!
But my favourite part was the way you speak about you Italian grandparents. My grandparents migrated from Italy in the early 50s too! And they are die hard st kilda fans!
That photo of you and Nonno tony made me so happy, it was is such a sweet moment captured !!
Thanks so much for sharing!!
@zombabejoy they were probably on the same boat! Crazy to think about how significant that decision was but the generations to come will be better for it. That photo is a pretty special moment for me. Thanks for reading :)
Haha how funny would that be!! Where in Italy are your grandparents from?
Definitely wouldnt have been an easy decision, but I am so grateful for it.
ugh St. Kilda... lol
Haha the bantz!
I don't think this conversation is going away any time soon.
Your right, but I’d love to see it more celebrating and a lot less protesting.
Great post and one that is definitely polarising around this great country. Because Australia Day causes so much hurt and angst for the indigenous population in our country, why shouldn’t we be open to listening to their concerns and looking at an alternate day to celebrate us becoming a nation.
I love celebrating Australia Day too and am a descendant of English free settlers and convicts that were brought here against their will, but i still believe that we need to look at being an open and harmonious country of people and hear the concerns of the culture that was decimated by European settlers and brought to the brink of extinction by the ‘white’population. If my ancestors had endured the brutality and depravation of liberties that the indigenous population did, then I too wouldn’t want to celebrate the day that Europeans came to these shores and changed the lives of the indigenous people and their culture forever.
Yes,it wasn’t us who committed these atrocities, but it is our responsibility to recognise and reconciliate and make amends for those Australians that came before us.
After all, it is just a day and I’d be happy to celebrate Australia Day on any other day if it helped repair the broken relationships across cultures in this great country.