BY KENJI SATO
Thousands of protesters marched from Redfern to the CBD on Australia Day, declaring the national holiday “Invasion Day” and a “day of mourning”, rather than a day of celebration.
The participants urged Australians not to celebrate Australia Day, because it marks the date the First Fleet of colonising ships entered Australia and raised the British flag in Sydney in 1788.
It was a peaceful march down the CBD roads, with local indigenous leaders, activists, and Greens politicians chanting “Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.”
For the first time in 78 years, Redfern aboriginal activists gathered at Australia Hall on 150 Elizabeth Street where, in 1938, aboriginal leaders declared 26 February to be a day of mourning for the country.
Nathan Moran, the CEO of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, told the gathered protesters that all Australia Day celebrations should be stopped.
“I ask you all to continue the battle, to never stand around and tolerate anyone celebrating the invasion,” he said.
“Today is the celebration of the seizure of our lands and the declaration of war by the British on the first nations of this land. I ask you all to continue that battle 365 days of the year until we end the status as the last penal colony on the planet earth.”
The marchers first gathered at The Block in Redfern, a site which is considered a symbol of victory by Redfern aboriginal activists who had been engaged in a two-year long land dispute with the Aboriginal Housing Company.
“This land that we’re standing on here at the Block is the site of many ongoing struggles,” said Newtown Greens MP Jenny Leong.
She told the protesters that Australia Day was an opportunity to draw attention to the injustice and inequality faced by aboriginal people.
“Today is not a day we should celebrate. Today is a day we should remember, but today is a day we should strengthen our resolve to continue the struggle,” she said.
“The struggle for self-determination for aboriginal people in this country, the struggle for justice the struggle for land rights, and the struggle for a treaty, needs to continue and it is days like this that we must take as a way to strengthen our resolve.”
“We must keep working and struggling until they’re horrible ancient stories of the past, not current stories we hear in the news.”
“It is because of the determination of many people in this community and many people across this country that soon we will see Aboriginal housing on the Block returned and we will see that this site will continue to be protected as a special sacred site, not just for the aboriginal people in this community, but for Sydney as a whole, recognising our connection to our past that isn’t a connection to do with invasion and white colonisation but is a connection to do with a long proud black history.”
“It always was, and always will be Aboriginal land.”
Ken Canning, from the Indigenous Social Justice Association, told the protesters that opposing Australia Day was an important part of preserving aboriginal cultural identity.
“We haven’t ceded this land, therefore we haven’t ceded our law. We haven’t ceded who we are as a culture, and our way of life has never been ceded.”
“Our spirituality has never been ceded. We are sovereign not only in our land but also in our own self, and that’s an important fact that we carry with us.”
Mr Canning said that he opposed the Recognise campaign to include aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people in the Australian constitution on the grounds that it was only symbolic, without achieving any concrete goals.
Prominent aboriginal activist, Jenny Munroe, said that she was pushing for a treaty, instead.
“We’ve worked on a treaty for unity for the last few years at the freedom summit at Alice Springs,” she said.
“On the path to unity it is the right of each family, clan, and first nation to light the fires and renew the serious conversation about how we see our place in the life of our country.”
“We seek unity amongst first nations as the foundation of a new relationship with the rest of Australia, set down in treaties that honour these clear principles. This land is defined by lines as clear to us as the southern cross and the dreaming trails.”
Ex-councillor Danny Lim told City Hub that Australia Day amounted to “Bloody discrimination”.
“They’ve been treated like shit for 228 years. It’s about respect. This is 2016, how many Prime Ministers promised they would do something? That’s what it is about: human rights. This country belongs to them. They never signed a treaty, never signed anything. They just came over say ‘no one owns this bloody place’ and they took over.”
