Should Australia Day Be changed?

Most Aussies proudly celebrate Australia Day because it is a symbol for unity, pride In our feats, way of life and overall love and value of our freedom as a relatively free and peaceful society! It is extremely important to celebrate a national day, however, it is a thorn in the side of our indigenous people due to the actual date, which is the arrival of the first fleet and the beginning of the end for their way of life, including values, social structure and culture! Well not completely the end but close enough!

I've had the opportunity to speak with a number of indigenous people of late but previously about this day, to gain a sense of the sentiment! On the whole Aboriginal people would love nothing more than to celebrate a national with the rest of the nation, but obviously can't get beyond holding it on the 26th January! For them to celebrate on this day is like celebrating the death of a murdered family member, or the perpetrators birthday! It is extremely hard to do, which I have come to understand over the years!

The first fleet has significance in Australian society, but it a symbol of heartache for those that travelled the wild seas against their wills to be placed here as punishment and then you have the issue of Indigenous people! To me it is not the best date to hold our celebration because of the pain inflicted all round!

Is there another date that we could celebrate that has significance and fully includes all people including our Indigenous? What about governor Phillips birthday, he was a pretty significant individual that carried little baggage( I think). Surely there is something of significance that embraces a positive sentiment! How about our official nationhood! It in itself may not be controversial!

IMO it is time to find an appropriate date that doesn't represent misery and pain!

 

NO NO NO NO! Australia is my favorite country in the world and I think you should celebrate Australia day. The aboriginals can celebrate it the same as a British man can celebrate the 4th of July if in the US At the same time.

 

Such people are reading too much into it. They're like Atheists refusing to celebrate Christmas - come on, nobody's like "yeah! invasion day!". They celebrate the country, the culture, the people.

Late January is the ideal time - it's the last hoorah of the holiday period. Those opposed can read whatever they like into the date.

 

Oooohh puleease gimme a break from your whining about the indigenous and their misery and pain...
blah blah blah.........................

 

The 26th of January has nothing to do with Australia. It's the day New South Wales was formed during an invasion. Yes, it was an invasion. We like to mince words about it but it was an invasion.

Australia was formed on the 1st of January. Oh, that's already a holiday. No one would stand for the actual day being celebrated. To get around that we could change it to July the 9th which was when the constitution as given Royal Assent.

I do think the 26th of January is the wrong day. I'm pretty sure if the Germans had the Poles celebrating Deutschland Tag on the 1st of September people would have thought them evil for doing so.

 

Tough nuts. There's nothing wrong with Jan 26th being Australia Day - the day has lost all meaning - literally nobody cares about this.

 

You literally don't know what literally means.

 

How was it an invasion when the Brits could go home while convicts who had no say in it got dumped? Its not like we could just set sail for mother England, so instead we built Australia. But the date clearly ticks off lefties so theres a great reason to keep it, i could almost hear the teeth grinding going on while watching patriotic Aussies celebrate. National colours everywhere today, best Aussie day yet.

 

How was the invasion an invasion if the German soldiers had no choice?

Do you even know what words mean?

 

Well we agree on most things but I'd be interested in why you would consider it invasion though. I simply see it as a time of misery for our indigenous people and first settlers (convicts) who were dragged from their home land to settle in a strange land and all the the things that come with it! It just doesn't seem logical.

Steady Pie,
I agree that most Aussies don't really see the fuss because it is simply a day to celebrate and fits in well with the end of the festive season! Surely we could come up with something better! I could be wrong but I think most aborigines call it survival day as opposed to invasion day!

Magoo,

I start to see in all of your posts nothing but hot air and whinging and whining! Starting to see a picture of an old fuddy duddy without ability to reason just bigotry and vile! Grow up old man and contribute something rather than silly prejudices!

 

Hmmm,
as I said often enough, move the date 6 months on, to the 26 of July or there around.

Both parts of our society could proudly celebrate, and not only one part.

It just looks like that those who don't want this change, have also absolutely nothing in common with the *other* Australia.

And even more so, no interest at all in their world.

Sad that is, very sad.....

regards

 

They came in with guns, declared the land theirs and then shot any Aboriginal People who disagreed. Sounds like an invasion to me.

 

I've generally swiped the idea of it being an invasion based on there not being ship loads of soldiers disembarking their boats to take over by immediate force. Since you brought it up I can see the subtleties in the early english endeavour and the actions of deceit early reports from Cook to mother England and how it could technically be considered an invasion! Interesting topic actually and not one I've really considered reading into too much! I'd be interested in reading some good solid links that support these findings further.

Dictionary meaning of invasion also means:

n.
1. The act of invading, especially the entrance of an armed force into a territory to conquer.
2. A large-scale onset of something injurious or harmful, such as a disease.
3. An intrusion or encroachment.

Yes, based on this definition it could be considered invasion I suppose.

 

If there was an invasion then it was an invasion of the land of the people around Sydney. The rest of the landmass wasn't aware and nor was there any concept of a country held by the inhabitants. Sure enough the colonisation spread, that could satisfy some people's needs for an "invasion" I suppose.

But change the day? Yes. It's New South Wales Day, not Australia Day. As panzer pointed out, 1 January 1901 was when Australia was created. Too bad it's occupied by New Year's Day. We could find another significant date though, I'm sure. Perhaps the repatriation of the constitution day?

 

Only the armed people could go home the ones in chains could not. Either way doesnt really matter, lots of invasions have happened over history, if a country/ tribe/ warlord could they did.

 

Australia wasn't invaded, it was discovered....to invade you need intent to invade...
The invasion bull(*)(*)(*)(*) is just a story invented by the indigenous...
But what would I know...Im just a bigoted old fuddy duddy who knows jack (*)(*)(*)(*).
Blind Freddie can see that it wasn't an invasion....but blind freddie would be a non-indigenous
blind Freddie....

 

Yes, it was discovered, about 70k years ago. Then in 1788 the Kingdom of Great Britain turned up and decided to take it off the people already there. That's an invasion.

 

They should hold the referendum for Aboriginal Constitutional recognition, whenever they get around to having it, on Australia day. Then the day might actually have a point to it, other than to watch cricket (obviously). But hey, in Victoria we have a public holiday for a horse race. But who cares right? It's a day off, thankyou very much, I'll take it.

Yes Australia was invaded, Mabo proved terra nullius was complete BS. If Britain had properly followed their own laws at the time they would have signed a treaty with the Aboriginal nations as they did eventually with the Maoris in NZ.

 

I couldn't care less what a bunch of Oxford Dictionary peeps think - language is utilitarian, man. The term "literally" has clearly taken on a colloquial meaning - it provides emphasis.

Merriam-Webster recognizes this: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

 

Thanks guys for a little bit more insight on the notion of invasion, especially in context to the colony of NSW! I always thought it was a bit distasteful to hold it on the 26th January, but probably a little more so now! At the end of the day I don't think Aussies would give a rats if it was changed to the 19th of January as long as we had an occasion to celebrate our nationhood and our people and got a day off to get on the p!ss with an extended weekend!

 

I don't see why only 'white' people can be invaders. Surely Aboriginals invaded the continent too, pushing out previous invaders no different to what the British did.

 

They did, and the people they invaded to take over Australia were called: Mungo Man, who pre-dated the Aborigines by tens of thousnads of yeras, and had no DNA connection to them. Do the Aborigines consider themselves invaders, or is that term only used for white settlers? The Aborigines invaded Australia bearing baskets of fruits and bunches of flowers in a peaceful gesture.

 

I think this is an invasion....300 ships and 15000 men all armed to the teeth....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England

By the way, I did state that I would have still objected if Gary Ablett got the award...
a non-indigenous footballer....but still another footballer...

 

Who said only white people can be invaders? Australians spent half the 20th century terrified of the Yellow Peril.

 

So the main thrust of the argument is two fold.

1: What is the definition of invasion.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/invasion

1: an instance of invading a country or region with an armed force:
2: an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity:
3: an unwelcome intrusion into another’s domain:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invade
INVADE
1: to enter (a place, such as a foreign country) in order to take control by military force:
2: to enter (a place) in large numbers:
3: to enter or be in (a place where you are not wanted);
INVADING
1: to enter for conquest or plunder:
2: to encroach upon:

The second part is whether the Aboriginals were here first or did they actually invade Australia. What does it matter.

Poland was invaded by the Celts, Germanic and Baltic tribes around 400 BC to 450-500 AD. So in 1939 Hitler was just getting Poland back. Good on you Hitler, you would be a hero in Australia, well on this forum you would be, apparently.