Change the nation

Almost certainly there are more important issues effecting Indigenous people than the celebrations on January 26 but that is entirely not the point.

The 26th of January is indeed a historic day of significance for the Australian community. The events that took place on that day helped shape modern Australia and continue to have a profound impact of the lives of millions.

The onus is no longer on Indigenous Australia. We are awake, we are alive, we are still here.

We offer others a chance to learn from the wisdom we have developed over millennia and the lessons we have suffered through for over two centuries.

It is customary amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to introduce oneself by identifying their family and country.

Despite what our name suggests, the Wild Black Women welcome in the new year with the same optimism of Karen from HR extolling her ‘new year new me’ resolutions.

January 26 represents the day colonisation took root on Koori lands.

This country loves listening to the didgeridoo while we dance for them, it enjoys hanging our dot paintings down their hallways and in their boardrooms, and they feel so humbled to allow us the honour of Welcoming them to our Countries, but there is a quick and sudden line drawn in the sand of what will be tolerated when we decide to utilise a voice we have earned, and fought hard for, to question the country they believe we should be so grateful for.

We cannot mature as a country if we do not acknowledge this damage and the responsibility of the nation to implement reform that encompasses restitution.

An Aboriginal flag engulfs a large stone, twine securing it in place, that lays beneath a fishing pontoon, at the bottom of the sea.

When reflecting on my time working in Indigenous affairs, my good memories are often trumped with the bad.

We don’t need to change the date. We need to #changethenation.

You want a day to celebrate Australia. I want an Australia that’s worth celebrating.

Opponents to Australia Day are invariably criticised in two ways. The first is a favoured manoeuvre for establishment media pundits: claim the focus on 26 January is trivial while more pressing Indigenous issues are neglected.

On 26 January, 1788 the British Crown contravened its own law – and prevailing international law–  by laying claim to 7.692 million km² of land that was already inhabited and cared for by over 200 First Nations, each with a sophisticated and ecologically-focussed system of governance. And the trespass continues.

Aboriginal Peoples and Nations are subjects in international law: always was and always will be. We have held our relationship to country from time immemorial and we are still here today. We survive under the duress of an ongoing colonialism, but we continue to maintain our relationships with land and peoples to this day.

Hey ancestor, you talking to me? Country time everyday. I know, I know, but wouldn’t you know it, it’s the 26th of January again, old Whitefella Day. Party time for some, sad day for others.

We cannot seek an end to the oppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by cajoling the broad majority of Australians with soft entreaties of ‘change the date’. As rightly pointed out by many, changing the date of Australia Day – without the achievement of social justice or legal restitution in the form of Land Rights and Treaty – only moves the celebration of unfinished business to another date.