Australia Day no cause for celebration
OVER-EXPOSED
By Northern Exposure Editor HEATHER SMITH
THE four-year-old grandson was visiting on Australia Day so I decided to tell him what the day commemorated.
“It’s the day the British invaded and killed many of the Aboriginals who were the original inhabitants of this land,” I explained.
“So why is it a celebration?” he asked innocently.
Indeed.
It’s surprising more Aboriginals don’t stage protests on the day their home was taken from them. Because they were hunters and gatherers, and didn’t grow crops or keep livestock, the British with their guns and English law declared the land Terra Nullius – meaning no one owned it as it hadn’t been farmed.
So the custodians of this vast land were disinherited and continue to suffer the consequences of white man’s law – and disease. If they weren’t shot, they died in their thousands of illnesses previously unknown to them. Then, of course, came the fire water which is now synonymous with a once-proud race.
Their language and culture have suffered similar fates – slowly dying as fewer elders are around to pass on the traditions. The only time you see an Aboriginal playing a didgeridoo these days is at Circular Quay with a donations box in front of him.
So why don’t we recognise these errors and stop throwing our thongs in their faces on a day that should really be about repentance? Why don’t we make January 26 National Unity Day and recognise more of our Aboriginal peoples in the honours list? Plenty of doctors and academics made the grade but for a race that starts from behind the eight ball, all achievements should be celebrated.
A much better day to mark Australia Day would be January 1, the date of federation when all the states and territories joined together to form a nation.
But, of course, we already have a public holiday on that date …
Did you wish anyone 'Happy Australia Day' on January 26? Did you reflect on the irony? Tell us what you think.
