Writing to the Sydney Morning Herald Letters Editor, John Carmody discusses how we haven’t chosen the right day to celebrate the colonisation of Australia. So much for not changing our history.
It seems highly likely – and understandably so – that any “National Day” in Australia will be difficult for Indigenous citizens to accept. Its association with the arrival of the Europeans, from whatever country, will always evoke traumatic emotions.
The precise date, which should never have been 26 January, is a separate issue. It could, logically be 26 February, in commemoration of the landing of the crew from the Dutch vessel, the Duyfken, on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula, the first such white landing here in 1606.
Or it might be 4 January, when William Dampier landed on the west coast of the continent (in 1688) and spent several days there, recording, in the process, the earliest European account of the native “Indians”.
It might justifiably be on 21 August, the date (in 1770) when, with exceedingly dubious morality or legality, James Cook “hoisted the English colours and in the name of His Majesty King George III, took possession”, in Manning Clark’s chilling words, “of the whole eastern coast … and fired three volleys of small arms which were answered by a like number from the ship.”
Yet another date might be Christmas Day, because it was about then that Phillip’s fleet rounded Van Diemen’s Land but it should not be 26 January because his entourage had arrived at Botany Bay from 19 January in 1788.
I grant that, seven days later, Phillip had decided on Port Jackson, hoisted a flag there and drunk the King’s health in porter. Nevertheless, it was not until 7 February that, with the public reading of the monarch’s Commission to the Governor, the establishment of the rule of English Law, and the typically British humbug of the King’s injunction that (at the risk of severe punishment) the “natives” be treated well, that the colony was officially inaugurated. Perhaps that day, with its salutary reminder that our sordid subsequent history violated that Royal Decree, should become our national day with its associated mourning?
John Carmody was a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of NSW for 40 years. He writes regularly for the “Australian Dictionary of Biography”.
Comments
5 responses to “Invasion Day: we didn’t get the day or date right”
Why do we need a national day at all?
But I do think we ought to have an “Invasion Day” (or some better name) to remember the arrival of Old World settlers (not just Europeans) on Antipodean shores, and recall how this momentous event affected the indigenous peoples of Australia.
I suppose we could still call it Australia Day. But we should use this occasion to remember impact of Old World settlement of the Antipodes. And in addition to the usual Australia Day honours, a council of Aboriginal Australians could (if they think appropriate) give an annual award to honour those who have contributed to Reconciliation and Addressing the Injustices Suffered by Indigenous Australians (something to that effect).
Federal Parliament first met on 9 May 1901 in Melbourne. Would such a date be acceptable to most Australians, both indigenous, and later arrivals?
If you believe most news papers and other media outlets you would have most of the stories around Australia Day (25 January) wrong.
Australia Day is in fact the day that the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 was enacted and Australians became….well Australians, with their own passports and they were no longer British. That is why new citizenships are awarded on that day.
The Nationality Act 1920 made all Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders British subjects and following the Nationality and Citizenship Act became they became Australians.
The 26th of January has very little to do with Captain Cook, in spite what the government might want us to believe. Those dates merely represent a vulgar occupation by a foreign, flea ridden force.
To our eternal shame the White Australia policy was not ended until the 1960’s and in 1967 the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders counted in the census. They obtained voting rights on 21 May 1062. They were finally considered people of Australia!
The current unseemly lack of haste by the government to come to a properly negotiated agreement with the original people of Australia shows the general attitude to a solution. Accepting the Uluru statement would be a good start and proper recognition in the constitution. Unfortunately, successive governments (even the one by the relatively enlightened Malcolm Turnbull) have been keen to spread nonsense arguments (such as allowing Aborigines having an inordinate voice in parliament and more of such things), rather than getting on with the job.
All this is showing an strong ongoing racism and sense of superiority in our government and parliamentarians versus Aborigines.
One would have thought that by now even Australians would have outgrown such myopic and infantile views of our oldest citizens.
Rum Rebellion day 26 January 1808?
“will be difficult to accept… traumatic emotions…” white man asserting how First Nations peoples shall be… Further, your proposal refers solely to the day of Anglo European nations, what of the day of First Nations? The genocide continues…