Today was Australia Day, a day that many, including me, refer to as invasion day. For those who are not familiar with the day, it is a 24 hour celebration of the day that ‘the first fleet arrived in Australia’. But what it really marks is the start of a genocide, a day that was the first of many days filled with pain for the Aboriginal race. A culture full of integrity, and depth and so intricate, thousands and thousands of years culture, almost completely destroyed in a couple of centuries, starting from this day, 229 years ago. I am mortified by how people treat this day, celebrating a somewhat shallow culture that has taken the place of one that was so much more. Wearing the Australian Flag with what is thought to be pride, but is actually completely the opposite. People wearing our flag clumsily draped around their shoulders, or tied around their waist. Think about the people who fought and died under our flag. The people who fought for this country to be what it is today, and then for people today to wear it as an accessory, absentmindedly. Those people who fill up on beer and blur the line between patriotic and hateful. I was having a very interesting conversation with my friend, Sofia, and I decided to put her very words into this because I feel it somewhat describes how I am feeling.
“I think that it’s something that needs to be not only changed but spoken about more and taught to people from a young age and I guess it’s not really the younger people who are the problem, but it is the people who have been brought up to celebrate this occasion that make it how it is. Everyone doesn’t realise the pain and suffering that this day causes to the original land owners. There have been so many instances of inequality recently, and not necessarily in Australia, but elsewhere, and for us to completely ignore them, and to go on with the childish behaviour just isn’t fair!”
If people want to celebrate the birth of this country, they must stop and acknowledge the original owners of this land, to pay respects to them, past or present. That the genocide is part of Australian history, and there is no two ways to go around it. We mustn’t forget it, and we can’t forget it, so we must do all we can to mend the inequality that so many choose to ignore. Take a moment to realise the Aboriginal people weren’t taken off the flora and fauna list until the ’70s. That Aboriginal suicide rates and mortality is 3x higher than white Australians, and that so many are faced with drug + alcohol problems, homelessness, rape and we choose to ignore it. I am all for changing the date of Australia Day. To Wattle day, or Federation day. Just not today.
Phia
thestyleaffaiir.com 
I agree with you Phia. Being Australian, I know what it’s like.. when people say Captain Cook discovered Australia, I just cringe inside. He was the first Caucasian man, but all the Aboriginals that were already there, were who discovered Australia… although I don’t think there’s anything wrong with celebrating Australia Day if you’re not celebrating it for the fleets arriving, and just celebrating for the fun:)
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Yes yes I totally agree, but I don’t think we should celebrate it on this certain day! I’m all for changing the date!! X
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Hmm true…
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Agree! I have written a poem “Celebration?” that agrees with your view, thanks.
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Oo I’ll check it out right now! Xx
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For me it is and always will be Australia Day. Yes I understand how the indigenous people feel. I am sorry that the culture has been lost but today we are doing what we can to resurrect it and I believe we are the luckiest people in the world to have a the chance to study a culture whose history is so ancient, predating all other ancient peoples this world has any information on.
However, I need to talk about my Ancestors two of whom were on those boats. They were stollen from their families, just for trying to survive in a world where they were considered untouchable. They were lucky to have survived the horrendous conditions on the boats, they left the boats on arrival with clothes that barely covered their bodies, they were filthy, half starved, and some were very ill from mistreatment. The woman had been raped on the way over and 5 babies were born at sea. There were also many deaths on the trip over.
They had nothing they were as frightened as the indigenous people were. No they did not invade, they were bought against their will in chains. The soldiers could have killed every last Aborigine within days but they didn’t and you know why because Captain Arthur Phillip had orders from King George to treat the native with kindness and respect. This was done but the cultural divide was to wide; the language barrier to deep; the lack of understanding traversing both sides was immense.
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I understand and respect the point that you make, but in saying all those things about ancestors, I think that celebrating a day that represents the start of a wide division, cancels out all the work that is being done to narrow the division. I did not know about the orders from King George, but if that was so, the orders were certainly not followed. Within days, Aboriginal peoples were captured, disputes over land left them defenceless, and soon without safe access to food, water and other necessary elements for survival. Maybe the language and cultural barrier did play a part in this, but for most of it, the British treated them with disrespect and harshness. Until 1967, Aboriginal people had about the same legal rights as a kangaroo, and that all comes back to that day where they were pushed out of their home, and categorized into flora and fauna, something that a human should never be thought of as. They definitely could not have been completely wiped out within a couple of days as some tribes weren’t discovered until late 50s/ early 60s. Going back to your ancestors, I’m sure they were treated unfairly and I’m sorry for that but I do not understand why people would want to celebrate the day that marks officially what happened to both descendants from convicts or Aboriginal people.
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