Invasion Day

Australia Day: Change the date

When Fremantle councillors voted in August last year to end the Australia Day fireworks display that it had been running for the past eight years, I fully expected a conservative backlash. But even I was surprised to see the decision featured in news bulletins for months on end.

On one level the whole thing is bizarre. Local governments are not obliged to do anything special on January 26 and most of them don't.

What drove the conservative media and Coalition politicians into a frenzy was the council's reason for doing dropping the fireworks display.

Sam Watson: 鈥楻eady to continue the struggle鈥 in 2017

As Invasion Day approaches, Murri leader Sam Watson told 麻豆传媒 Weekly that January 26 was 鈥渙nly a date when a motley collection of boats made landfall on Gadigal country to establish the colony of NSW鈥.

鈥淚t is important to mobilise and march [on Invasion Day] to remind everyone that an illegal invasion took place on this soil," he said..

鈥淭hey came here to launch a war of genocide against the 500 sovereign nations of this land.

鈥淭hey came to invade as a fully-armed military force. They massacred and slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent people.

January 26 is Invasion Day

Early last year, an academic debate over Invasion Day erupted at the University of NSW. Apparently, some well credentialed people are offended that the term 鈥渋nvasion鈥 is used to describe January 26.

I would be quite happy not to have to use that term. Stop and think for a few minutes: that would mean altering history or going back in time and ensuring the invasion of this country, now called Australia, never happened.聽

PHOTOS: Invasion day rallies across the country

Photos from Invasion day rallies across the country where thousands of people marched for Aboriginal rights. Always Was! Always Will Be! Aboriginal Land! Sydney Photos by Zebedee Parkes

Sam Watson: 'Our mob are ready to struggle'

Captain Arthur Phillip took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales and raised the flag for the first time in Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788. In the early 1880s the day was known as 鈥淔irst Landing鈥, 鈥淎nniversary Day鈥 or 鈥淔oundation Day鈥. In 1946 the Commonwealth and state governments agreed to unify the celebrations on January 26 and call it 鈥淎ustralia Day鈥.

Celebrating genocide and conquest

Every year it becomes harder to ignore official Australia's celebrations of nationalism. For weeks, supermarket aisles have been given over to garish displays of things to buy for Australia Day on January 26: Australian flags and hats, stubby holders and thongs displaying Australian flags. None of it would look out of place at a Reclaim Australia rally. And then there is that ad for lamb featuring popular SBS broadcaster Lee Lin Chin. It is tongue-in-cheek, for sure, showing a military operation to enforce Australians worldwide to barbecue lamb for Australia Day.

Welcome to 2016

Happy New Year for a few weeks ago or coming up in a couple of weeks, depending on whether you rely on a calendar or the moon for such things. I hope you had some time off and got to spend it relaxing with people you love, or if you were working, that you got plenty of time and a ... WATCH OUT FOR YOUR PENALTY RATES!!! Yes, that's right, while most of us were working or preparing for the strange rituals of the season, those busy little elves at the Productivity Commission had been slavishly working, day and night, to deliver a lovely big present to business and the government.

Canberra march to Aboriginal tent embassy

Chanting "Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land," more than 500 members of Aboriginal communities from across the country and their supporters marched from Civic in the centre of Canberra to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in front of Old Parliament House on January 26, also known as Invasion Day. The embassy was also the site of the second meeting of the Indigenous National Freedom Summit, following its founding in Alice Springs in November 2014.

Rally mourns invasion, calls to change the date

Several hundred Aboriginal community members and their supporters gathered on Hobart parliament house lawns to mark Invasion Day on January 26. There was a one minute silence observed whilst a wreath was slowly walked down two rows of those who gathered and placed on the steps to parliament house. People were welcomed to country and reminded that the Aboriginal people do not recognise today as Australia Day, that they do not celebrate this day, and that their land was stolen, that they will never give up and will never go away.

National protests mark Invasion Day

"Today was the best Invasion Day protest that I have ever been to," Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton told 麻豆传媒 Weekly on January 26. "There was a real feeling of Aboriginal pride and resistance. The crowd was bigger today too." In Melbourne, the protest began with a smoking ceremony near Parliament House followed by a rally on the parliament steps. The rally then marched to the official "Australia Day" parade, moved the barricades and marched along the official parade route.

Aboriginal activists plan national convergence for freedom

Aboriginal people and their supporters are converging in Canberra from all over Australia for the Invasion Day weekend. The weekend will feature a "sit-in" that is expected to release an historic Declaration of Independence reaffirming Aboriginal sovereignty in this country.

Graffiti marks genocide on Australia Day

Sydney鈥檚 Botany Bay was named by Captain James Cook while he was investigating this 鈥済reat Southern continent鈥 for the British empire in 1770. His exploration led to the First Fleet鈥檚 settlement in the area on January 26, 1788, and the beginning of 226 years of massacres, dispossession and abuse of the land鈥檚 first people. So the graffiti discovered along the western shoreline of the bay reading 鈥淔uck Australia Day, no pride in genocide鈥 and on the front of Captain Cook鈥檚 heritage cottage in Melbourne labelling January 26 鈥淎ustralia鈥檚 shame鈥 had a symbolic point to their messages.