Invasion Day

Don’t be a dumb dawg and have a piss up on aus day, its old, its boring, its racist, it just sux.

Mililma May, Larrakia/Tiwi woman and co-founder of Uprising of the People writes about rest as resistance during a global pandemic and rise of white supremacists anti-vax groups.

This January 26th I challenge you to forego the usual beers and bbq, and instead start a new trend. 

We are still here, we have survived. I am a bookworm at heart, and keep track of all the books I read, I know when I was at an Invasion Day march on Gadigal Country two years ago, I was reading Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe at the time. Carrying it around in my backpack, next to my water bottle and my phone, switched off. Why would I need my phone when everything I need to feel connected to my people is right here?

Fifty years on, Canberra’s Tent Embassy is proudly adorned with symbols of an everlasting culture

Luke Pearson provides 7 more things you need to know about Invasion Day so that, you know, people can stop undermining our calls for change!

Taryn discussed the necessity of contending with the truth, in all its brutality, to be in a position to reckon with who we are as a nation, as peoples and whether we can truly come together in meaningful co-existence.

What is with politicians and their love affair with calling Indigenous people's aspirations 'divisive?'

The lead up to January 26 every year is one that is dreaded for a lot of mob because the same conversations and arguments are happening year on year.

In consideration of Invasion (Australia) Day in 2021, debate will again turn to a need to produce and recognise a more open and critical story…

Changing the nation requires us blackfellas to also do our bit, and in the prevention of suicide among our mob it’s an important bit. But we must be on the same page. This means no longer treating mob as if they are not worthy of clinical interventions that everybody else has access to. This means no longer excluding Indigenous clinical expertise from the conversation.

Patriotism that should be about a love of the land and people has become instead about a justification for bigotry and racism, about instilling hatred in the perceived ‘other’, and about providing a comfortable smokescreen for government looking after its own interests at the expense of the rest of us.

With the urgency we have now to not only represent our First Nations and peoples but for the Australian nation holistically, it’s time to #ChangeTheNation our way. If Australia is genuine about listening to Indigenous voices then the power imbalance has to shift urgently

In the absence of government leadership, our grieving families and communities are leading the way to change the nation.

I can’t help but find hope in the history of this land. It has seen destruction before. And survived. Over and over again. First Nations people have watched this land change, over tens of thousands of years. And they have adapted with it, both genetically and culturally.

It is evident that Australia has no shortage of black expertise and leaders. What Australia does lack is the ability to centre these voices and leaders where we need them the most; in our policies, education, health and legal systems. Changing the date will not achieve anything while the nation itself is what needs to change.

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.