On 26 January 1788 the first fleet came ashore in Sydney Cove, Port Jackson. Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack and declared sovereignty over half of Australia.
That day marked the beginning of the interruption, capture and subsequent colonisation of a continuous culture that had existed for 65,000 years. A culture that predates the modern human settlement of Europe and the Americas.
On 26 January we celebrate 236 years. It’s like celebrating a single grain of sand instead of the entire beach. If we are going to celebrate colonisation we need to face up to the ugly stories of what our ancestors did. Not just about what was stolen, but how. Because some of us are the beneficiaries of what was stolen while others inherit generational trauma.
We need to know the story of what white colonials did. Not just the places they ‘discovered’, stole, and settled. But the murders. The poisonings. The massacres. The hard, brutal truth. There is blood on our flag, and generations on, there is still blood on our hands. It does not wash away with beer.
It is hard to give an exact figure for the number of Indigenous people who were massacred by settlers. A massacre, by definition is the deliberate and unlawful killing of six or more undefended people in one operation. As of 2022, the number of documented massacres of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People is over 412. There are at least 26 recorded instances of mass poisonings. The problem is that for the most part the colonisers recorded the history. There are many gaps that need filling.
It’s estimated that well over 60,000 Aboriginal people were killed over the course of settlement. Pre-colonisation there were over 750 different language groups, only around 150 survive today. Indigenous people were removed from their native lands, massacred, assimilation policies were introduced, and children were stolen from their families. We have been living through or adjacent to genocide. Our history, the one we celebrate on 26 January includes genocide. It makes the dinky-di Aussie in a flag cape obscene.
Genocide is defined as ‘the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim to destroying that group.’ As defined by international law, Australia has engaged in genocide. There are countless stories and photographs of white Australia’s history. There are so many massacres. Australia’s history is not the one I learnt at school. We have been lied to. And until we tell the truth, this nation’s story is a lie.
26 January is painful. Indigenous people talk about 26 January as ‘our Anzac Day’. And it wasn’t just that flag at Sydney Cove. This date is also a day of mourning for Gamilaroi people for another massacre.
On 26 January 1838 over 200 Aboriginal people camping at Waterloo Creek were murdered. Just before June that same year, over 30 of the Wirraayaraay people were murdered at Myall Creek by a group of convicts and a former settler. The final death toll was never confirmed. While these perpetrators were captured and hanged, most were rarely punished.
The death toll continues. There have been 558 Indigenous deaths in custody since the Royal Commission.
Until we engage in truth-telling, nothing changes.
I didn’t know these stories growing up. I wish I did. We don’t tell these stories because they are shocking and shameful. But they are the truth. I love this country. I don’t want to celebrate the brutality and the violence. But I do want to acknowledge it. I want to listen. I want to learn. And most of all, I want us to find another date to celebrate our nationhood. To own up to our foundation story.
And to be better. That’s the Australia I want to live in. That’s the Australia I want to celebrate.
Even Woolies gets it. Aldi gets it. Kmart gets it. Most of this country gets it. There’s a reason the merch isn’t selling.
Because we can’t sell the lies anymore. We want truth.
– Mandy Nolan
Show up in solidarity with First Nations communities committed to truth-telling. Main Beach, Byron Bay. 11am–3pm, 26 January.
The “our ANZAC day” comment is just silly. Unsophisticated behaviour like this only gives racists ammunition.
Now watch all the usual suspects fake outrage & take umbrage
I predict at least four regular blinkered arch-conservatives from the Western Downs, Ocean Shores, Lennox & Ballina will all lodge their amusing (albeit unintended) & vociferous bizarre protests.
Actually, I didn’t know where to start. She’s at flat-earth level of denial.
Im sure there’d be a YouTube video for the occasion.
See. I tried to point you to books written by a uni professor and got censored.
“William D Rubinstein is an adjunct professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He was previously Professor of History at the University of Wales- Aberystwyth. He has written Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain since the Industrial Revolution; Britain’s Century: Political and Social History 1815–1995; and many other works. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences, and of the Royal Historical Society.”
Drops his name into a search engine with the word “Aboriginal” next to it.
You do know historians disagree amongst themselves don’t you Christian. This one at least understands the difference between “aboriginal” and “aborigine” and uses the terms appropriately.
N.See those are my opinions..if you don’t like those i have others ! I may disagree with what you say..
However i will defend you with my life for your views to be heard .. that’s democracy Mr See
and may i suggest to you if you take exception to other’s opinions or views that you may otherwise
Not agree with ..first class ticket for you mate
Will happily put into your bank account..bon voyage !
Maaate!
The date needs to change and I nominate 29th February.
You just noticed it is a leap year. If you were funny, you would have thought of April 1st without the need of any prompting. Leave it to the dissident right to be the funny ones. We won the meme wars.
Joachim no date will Satisfy…
Barrow, how do you know.
If ‘we’ asked’ First Nations People, then we might just get that date.
Their handlers would. May I suggest March 15. Seems apt.
Joachim the original Australia day was in July 1917
In SA as a fundraiser the the war injured…!
So if the date is changed so all good ?
No more invasion day protests ?
Nothing will stop the Invasion Day BS
Very true. It’s not about a day. It’s not about Aboriginals. It’s the same as the attack on Christmas, and every other White thing.
If only we’d managed to get an indigenous Voice to Parliament we might have had an ideal structure for constructive dialogue on possibilities for reconciliation.
Why not change the name to the historically correct “NSW Day”?
btw: the blood was on the Pommie flag.
But who cares about Aussie history anymore?
The Australian Natives Association
Oh Mandy, seen the latest polls?, the overwhelmingly large majority support Jan. 26th as Australia Day. The date could be changed however since when has the green lefty rabble been able to agree on anything?. And N. See, anyone is entitled to express their views, your woke lefty disinformation, misinformation abomination will not work thank goodness. Your hypocrisy is astounding, is your comment not vociferous and bizarre?. Pot calling the kettle black butt I suggest.
In the under 35 cohort, a majority favoured a change of date. It makes me chuckle to think about an older cohort, who most likely grew up hardly knowing what their public holiday was for (so little attention was paid to it) suddenly seeing it as a sacred tradition and the last bastion of the dinky di Aussie.
Not waving predominantly British flags, wearing it on your thongs and undies and getting pissed at a barbie is unAstrayan! Being asked to think about the perspective of the people upon whom war was declared that day, is all about trying to make me ashamed I love my country!
It wasn’t a national holiday until 1994 and most of Australians probably think it was the day Captain Cook “discovered” “Australia”.
It was the day Arthur Phillip, after seeking more suitable anchorage, returned with the convict ships, planted a flag and claimed the land in the name of King George 111. It was not called Australia but New South Wales and should more honestly be called Terra Nullius Day.
And then there was (ex-PM ) Captain Scotty at the helm, who wanted to spend $’smillions on a re-enactment of ‘Cookie’s circumnavigation of Australia’ ( which Cookie never in fact did ) and of the course there were plenty of punters lapping up celebrating the announcement to mark a ‘historic occasion in Australia’s history’. ROFL!
Cook also built old Sydney town single-handedly. You have Pascoe, so it only seems fair that we get to do it too
hahaha, right on time. Couldn’t resist eh? Thanks Greggy xx
Thankyou Mandy. I would also like to add the points that once we had eased off on the genocide, official government policies included, ‘Protectionism’ – the forced removal of people off country to missions and reserves, followed by ‘Assimilation’ – you can’t be aboriginal, you have to assimilate to being like the colonisers, followed by ‘Integration’ – you can be aboriginal, but you must integrate into the colonial way of life. It wasn’t until Gough Whitlam that the policy of ‘Self-Determination’ was introduced; ie, you “should” be free to live as you choose (within the structures of the colonial society). Fortunately kids are now just starting to learn this at school, so as the people in denial of the truth start to die off, things will slowly change.
So if my town excludes blacks, and we don’t follow any of the LGBTQIP laws derived from woke culture, you will join the picket line when the army is sent in, right?
So we are cool with Muslims slitting the throats of living goats, and Jews slitting the throats of chickens to swing them around their heads, and Africans circumcising 8-year-old girls, then marrying them? How about all the other astounding diversity of the planet? Are we bigot for expecting them not to do those things in Australia? Should they not learn English, even though the majority of White People shipped to the colonies did speak English when they arrived?
If you read the uncensored version of Aboriginal cultural history, you would question why anyone would want to live like that. How many modern Aboriginals would if they were told the truth?
Very difficult to ‘read’, a version of history when all learning, history etc. is passed down orally. Anything written about Aboriginal history is primarily written from a colonial viewpoint. History is written by the victors. Ever heard of the term ethnocentricity? Look it up. Clearly you do not see the value of research or believe in it. Opinion is the lowest form of human intelligence, as it requires no proof, no research, no critical thinking, no informed understanding. It’s just opinion, an idea, belief that passed in the wind. But hey, ignorance is bliss as they say.
Moderators, could you tell me what’s wrong with the rather enlightened musings of James Cook.
No? Just that you’re happy to censor James Cook?
Did not make through to the keeper either
Lizardbreath.. ! My comments were neither
Disrespectful or racist..just a few home truths
That our dear Echo may have just gone ..
Uh Na !
Keith, Barrow, and myself, have been getting it heavy over the last few days.
Well I don’t think it’s because of your views. I’ve been censored twice here for attempting to present a contrary view. .
‘ethnocentricity’? Never heard of it.
So you are arguing that I am not valuing research into verbally transmitted myths, because that is hard science? Am I to take Tiddalik more seriously than Noah?
Are you referring to the likes of Pascoe, who has been proven to have no aboriginal ancestry, and whose theories have been debunked by anthropologists the world over?
I am more than happy to have this conversation if the moderators allow it
Hi ironic Christian that in the last 22 months
Over 150 thousand people have declared themselves of Aboriginal ancestry..
No Questions asked ..that would be racist
Would it not…! Elders from all corners
Of Australia would not be amused …
All self loathers like mandy need to leave australia if they feel that way and stop reaping the benefits of our democracy!!.
Those who say “If you disagree with me you should leave the country” are not really displaying the sort of thinking that enhances healthy debate. Self reflection is not the same as self loathing. Both types of thinking pose a threat to the democracy we value in this country and we’d be better off without it.