Changing the date of Australia Day from January 26 is a possum-skin problem:a performativebusyness,a distraction,a symbolic act with little material impact. All bark and no bite.
This year marks 30 years since prime minister Paul Keating declared January 26 Australia’s national public holiday. For many Australians,it is spent with loved ones celebrating being Australian and ideals of the “fair go”,a country that many people have fought and died for. There has been growing momentum over the past years to change the date,from local councils moving citizenship ceremonies to Triple J moving the date of its annual Hottest 100 countdown.
January 26 is,after all,a day that commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet to Sydney Cove in 1788 – the start of colonisation by the British.
It has long been a day of protest for Indigenous Australians,recognising the date as Invasion Day or Survival Day. Indigenous Australians remember land stolen,cultures and languages lost,the Frontier Wars,Stolen Generations,mass incarceration. The ongoing effects of colonisation result in gaps in most measurable socioeconomic and wellness indicators below that of non-Indigenous Australians. It’s a date we’ve been angry about since 1788 andmourning since 1938.
Just three months ago,the majority of Australians said “no” to a constitutionally enshrined Voice to parliament. A Voice so that Indigenous Australians could have more say over the policies that affect us,recognising the abysmal failures of successive governments in closing the gap. Off the back of a television screen filled with “no” on October 14,I’ve come to realise changing the date of Australia Day,despite growing public discomfort,does nothing substantive to change anything for Indigenous Australians.
The truth is Australia has an identity crisis. We as a country don’t yet know who we are,where we’ve come from,or where we’re going. There is,however,growing public consciousness about our history,manifesting as growing discomfort on January 26. There is power in discomfort. Let’s continue the hard conversations.