SYDNEY: On Friday, thousands participated in “Invasion Day” demonstrations in favor of Australia’s Indigenous population, many of whom want to postpone or cancel the country’s national holiday.
Australia Day marks the day that Britain founded the penal colony of New South Wales, transporting convicts and colonists to Sydney, the state capital, via the “First Fleet.”
The holiday is often observed with barbecues and beach outings, and it’s a well-liked day for immigrants to become citizens of Australia.
Though they comprise 3.8% of the 26 million people living in Australia, many Indigenous Australians reject the celebration, viewing it as the beginning of the injustices that have been experienced since European colonization.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Sydney, many of them waving Indigenous flags.
The purpose of Adrian Burragubba’s gathering, according to the elder Aboriginal man, was to “tell people that Australia Day doesn’t mean anything to us.”
Burragubba declared, “It’s the day of Aboriginal sovereignty.”
According to Sydney-based protester James Cummings, it was “not the right day to be celebrating a national day”.
“One of the strong themes that we are marching in support of today is just find a more appropriate day to celebrate the nation,” Cummings stated.
Other state capitals, such as Melbourne in Victoria, Brisbane in Queensland, and Hobart in Tasmania, saw similar protests.
Indigenous Australians, who have lived on the land for at least 65,000 years, are among the most marginalized groups in the nation. They deal with problems like high rates of incarceration, low health and educational outcomes, and poor access to resources.
The governing Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has ruled out changing the date of Australia Day from January 26.
At a citizenship ceremony on Friday in Canberra, Albanese stated that the day was “our chance to pause and reflect on everything that we have achieved as a nation”.
In Melbourne, two colonial-era statues were vandalized earlier this week in front of the divisive national holiday.
