Good evening @homeedders I hope that you're having a wonderful night. Tonight is a little bit different as it's about history. My wife was elected to local government, she is amongst the first Aboriginal Australians to do so.
Today is Australia day, which is an odd date in my opinion because it is not celebrated on our Independence day but rather when Britain arrived. I won't bore you with my words but let you read my wifes.
Today is Australia day and as a proud Wiradjuri woman I am pleased to welcome our newest Australian Citizens to our country, wishing them all the very best in success and life in our magnificent nation.
I would like to formally congratulate:
Annette Butterworth, Citizen of the Year
Lauchie Wright, Young Citizen of the Year
Prabha Shrestha, Gender Equity Leader of the Year
Zoe Attard, Access & Inclusion Leader of the Year
Ehab Hadaya, Intercultural Leader of the Year
I also want to acknowledge and pay my respects to all Indigenous people on this day. For many, today marks the raising of the English flag by Arthur Phillip who in 1788 arrived in Port Jackson, New South Wales and declared New South Wales a colony of Britain.
For Indigenous people, it marks a date of mourning as without a formal treaty Traditional Owners were marched off their lands in breach of the law and wrongful application of Terra Nullius.
It was not for another 113 years later, in 1901 when Australia became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formally established.
Through this process Indigenous people continued to be displaced, murdered, raped and black birded. Events that saw my family impacted by colonial laws and taken. These events continued to happen well into the 60’s and 70’s with my mother taken off her mother and placed in the Ballarat orphanage with other Indigenous kids. Resulting in what people refer to as "Cultural Genocide" and the “Stolen Generation”.
I am amongst the first Indigenous people to be elected to office as Indigenous Australian's were not permitted to engage in nominations or voting until the 1967 referendum which saw the entire nation stand united, together to right past wrongs. I thank you.
As an Aboriginal woman, I feel pain each year on this day. However, I do not want this day to be marked or remembered with pain. For many it marks a day of celebration and unity which I honestly believe in. As an Aboriginal woman, elected to Local Government by her community it is evident that Australia has moved on from the past and continues to unite together. After all, Australian culture and heritage belong to all Australians.
But I must ask and seek your support one last time, so that my children and the children that come after do not have to feel this pain. Can we please change the date?
Thank you for your support
Cr Vandenberg
That’s a great speech she did! The office stuff sucks but it’s great she’s an aboriginal who is in office!
Thank you, unfortunately you need to he in office to make change. We have spend our lives fighting for others. Through sharing stories and walking together hopefully change can be made.
This is a topic that resurfaces every year now. I feel like they will eventually change it, (has it not already a couple of times before the commonwealth formed?)
but it's interesting as more of an outside observer to see both side's viewpoints.
Personally I'm not attached to the date or the concept, both because I've grown up with a shift worker and worked public holidays myself and perhaps also because I'm an immigrant.
The significance we place on a date is personal to every one of us and cannot be forced by anyone else. Because it's a concept that is our own, it should be able to move fluidly with us. I think all of us have been at school or work on our birthdays, so we've had to choose a different day to properly celebrate it if that's what we want to do. I've had to do that with Christmas Day as well and it doesn't detract from it if you choose that it shouldn't. We often celebrate multiple days around Christmas, anyway, with different family members.
Moving on with this concept that the significance of a date is what we choose to make of it, I also don't see an issue with how each and every one chooses to observe that date. I know some aboriginals see it as a day of mourning or grief, but they could and maybe do, also choose to see it as a day of overcoming adversity, because that is what they have done for their descendants who are here to this day and have managed to come so far in levelling the playing field with those who were once the invaders.
So whatever happens with the date, I think that everyone has the opportunity to make it their own for their own needs. We can't control what government decides, ultimately, but we can each make of that day what we want and rise from the ashes of past atrocities.
Those are interesting points, I would raise that it would be akin to Jewish people celebrating the date Hitler rose to power. What happened in Australia is a global atrocity that outweighs everything that has happened.
Indigenous people were put onto reserves and if they left were shot and killed. They had the reserves raided for women and children and used as sex slaves.
When we became old and useless Marched off cliffs, if it were not for people such as Banjo Patterson, the man from snowy River. Many would not be alive today.
Much of Australian history is not told. Australians sailed to near by Islands to steal children as they waded in the shore to be slaves on sugar cain farms. At this stage, America had freed slaves.
Apartheid in South Africa was created by the means of how we were treated here in Australia. South African government officials visited Australia to see how they "dealt with the blacks" and implemented Australian policies.
Aparthied ended in South Africa, but not in Australia.
Furthermore, Jan 26 1788 represents when a foreign country raised their flag claiming a small parcel for the Queen.
1 Jan 1901 is Australia day, when Australia became a Federation
The day Australia became a federation actuality makes more sense for a day to be called Australia day, in my opinion. I wonder who decided, "Nah, the day the first official colonies landed would be a better day." Maybe they wanted it to be a day with BBQ weather. 🤔
Aren't humans great! They've been doing all those things since recorded history began and probably longer, likely in every nation across the world. Whole villages used to disappear to slave traders, even English ones at one time. Makes you wonder if we have a natural instinct to subjugate each other or whether nations learnt it forum one another.
Which is why I say that no-one should feel pressured into celebrating it, but rather should be free to observe it in their own way. If the date were changed, would the original people continue to remember this day as a day of mourning, do you think? I understand that an incredible amount of their history survives through ritual, even back to times long lost for most Europeans.
As an abuse survivor, I've learnt it does no good to hold onto the past and no good to hold onto our ancestors' pasts. Naturally, the experiences should not be buried and should be acknowledged and even shared for us to learn from. However, to move on we need to make peace with our past and ourselves.
I actually saw a few documentaries on the history of some of the atrocities here, back in the UK. Imagine my surprise when we arrived here and very few Aussies we met even knew of it. I believe it came into the limelight with the British children who were stolen after the war in order to populate Australia with more whites. That took people down the rabbit hole. Shortly after we arrived in Australia the apologies for all the stolen generations were finally made. Then Australians seemed to actually start to seeing more coming to light.
I think that's the issue, people perceive it to have occurred back when things "were like that" that is not the case. We're talking about the 1960s and 70s.
If someone is raped in a government institution such as a hospital there would be uproar. That is what was happening up until the 1960s. Also, Terra Nullius was the Maritime Law of the time. All other nations received a treaty. Australia did not.
In 1788 you could not invade a country and conquer it, it would be like doing it today. You can not. It is a war crime.
John Howard made it a public Holiday in 1994 prior to that Australia day was a phrase coined up to increase military enlistment and build patriotism.
Were talking about 230 years ago, and the continuation of it. Much of which racial inequalities reside today.
People flee their countries to escape prosecution, yet it occurs today in Australia to first nations people to an extent.
Only 1994!? You'd have thought by them that they would have had more consideration than to select that date!
Yes, this is still very fresh and there are still people alive today who had to experience this. It takes generations for attitudes to change and I realise that there is still an awful lot of disdain towards the original people which would have been passed down. It will take time to put distance there.
I admire the approach of so many of the indigenous leaders, like your wife, in that they don't attack and instead approach it with a continued respect for all people. It's in contrast to the current social media climate where everyone is starting to feel under attack and it's actually making things worse and regressing. Instead of respect for each other we are once again separating ourselves with differences. Australia has come too far to fall to where America is in this regard.
Totally agree with you. Her piece made it to the Herald sun yesterday. Today's responses from people have been enormous. She was scared she would be attacked but alot have rallied behind her. It's great.
She was crying with happiness this morning.
That's fantastic! So pleased for her.
I've featured your post in the @HomeEdders weekly curation and selected you as beneficiary for this week.
Curated by @minismallholding on behalf of @HomeEdders.
Supporting home education and educational content. If you're a home educator, home educated or are thinking about home education, find out what we're about HERE.
You can join the community by clicking the subscribe button on Hive or Peakd.
please feel free to join us on discord.