Anyone with a functioning brain wants to see genuine reconciliation in this country.
As I reflect nearly two weeks on from Australia Day, a day which really should be a time to come together to celebrate who we are, has now become almost controversial.
It’s now almost controversial to have citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, even to say, “Happy Australia Day”.
I almost felt conflicted organising an Australia Day event on January 26th.
The ABC called January 26th, Australia Day/Invasion day
Cricket Australia no longer referred to any Big Bash matches on January 26th as ‘Australia Day’.
So where has this come from?
Uluru Statement carries the weight of justice smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Parsing Australia’s Insecurity Complex
As the annual debates over Australia Day show, Australians continue to grapple with their country’s place in the Asia-Pacific.
By
February 12, 2021
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“I come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder,” were lyrics made world-famous some 40 years ago by the Australian rock group Men at Work. For non-Australians, the word “chunder” is Australian slang meaning “to vomit,” usually as a result of drinking too much beer. Another iconic song was in the 1970s used to advertise GMH cars “down under”: “We love football, meat pies, kangaroos, and Holden cars.”
Tuesday, 2 February 2021, 4:16 pm
It’s the sort of stuff that should have been sorted
years ago in Australia: a murderous, frontier society ill
disposed to the indigenous populace; the creation of a
convict colony that was itself an act of invasion rather
than settlement; the theft of land and its rapacious
plunder.
Even some of the rough colonists were not
oblivious to such a crude record. Henry Parkes, in planning
the Centenary celebrations as New South Wales premier in
1888, was
asked by a fellow politician what he would be doing for
the poor and needy for the occasion. Wealthy landed citizens
Cowardly History: Australia Day and Invasion
Cowardly History: Australia Day and Invasion
It’s the sort of stuff that should have been sorted years ago in Australia: a murderous, frontier society ill disposed to the indigenous populace; the creation of a convict colony that was itself an act of invasion rather than settlement; the theft of land and its rapacious plunder.
Even some of the rough colonists were not oblivious to such a crude record. Henry Parkes, in planning the Centenary celebrations as New South Wales premier in 1888, was asked by a fellow politician what he would be doing for the poor and needy for the occasion. Wealthy landed citizens had been promised a banquet of much quaffing and gorging. As a gesture, Parkes considered the distribution of food parcels. “Then we ought to do something for the Aborigines,” came the response. The answer from the premier was coldly revealing: “And remind them that we have robbed them?”