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Worthy of a national day of commemoration? The January 6 Capitol riots.Credit:AP

To be clear,I’m not wading into theannual squabble about the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet with its heaving cargo of misery on the shores of Port Jackson,forevermore to displace the Indigenous inhabitants.

I’m actually talking about the assault on our government by a demonstrably corrupt and armed rabble of men in a battle for power that happened on January 26 exactly 20 years later – theRum Rebellion. It was our own day of shame,but instead it’s treated as something of a fun landmark in a colourfully boisterous history.

For people like opposition leader Peter Dutton,who seems to be channelling Trump sometimes,battling to create division in Australia at every opportunity – the national apology,the Voice,Australia Day,Woolworths – that should be just one more reason to abandon January 26.

We recoil in horror at scenes from the US Capitol after Trump gave his speechabout the need to “fight like hell”,and the fact that,within 36 hours of the attack,five people lay dead. But we totally gloss over our own disgrace.

That’s the day on January 26 in 1808,when 300 scarlet-uniformed soldiers,with fixed bayonets and loaded firelocks marched on Government House,with one soldier bellowing that this would be the most glorious day in the New South Wales Corps’ history.

Back then,they were determined to overthrow governor William Bligh,who’d been trying to limit their abuse of power in the new colony,their control of the trade in rum which had become its only currency and the way they held the population to ransom by buying supplies that arrived by ship,to sell them back at vastly inflated prices.

And just as US Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman became the hero of the assault by diverting the insurrectionists away from the Senate chamber,so it could be evacuated in time,we had the governor’s daughter Mary Bligh as the only person to confront our rioters and delay them long enough for her father to hide.

There were later deaths as a result of that event too. But the major difference was that the coup in Australia actually succeeded,until reinforcements,and a new governor,Lachlan Macquarie,was shipped in to take over.

The arrest of Governor Bligh. (Artist unknown.)Credit:State Library of NSW

You would imagine a Liberal leader wouldn’t be so keen to celebrate on a day that saw the overthrow of a legitimately appointed government,but then Dutton confounds at almost every turn. After Trump’s speech,bellicose right-wing reactionaries took the law into their own hands;just witness theattack on a Woolworths in Brisbane after Dutton lambasted the company for its decision to no longer stock Australia Day paraphernalia.

Dutton characterised that,in very Trumpian style,as an attack,somehow,on our nationhood and undermining of our national identity. That’s despite Woolworths pointing out that it was merely a commercial decision based on a lack of demand.

The debate over whether January 26 is a date that should be rightfully celebrated as Australia Day flares every single year and has been running a long,long time. It started when the Macquaries – those who profited the most from our coup – first had 30 cannons fire and Elizabeth Macquarie hosted a ball to mark the 30th anniversary of Captain Arthur Phillip’s arrival at Port Jackson. She then suggested it could be an annual day.

But even back then,many of the convicts,quite apart from the First Nations peoples,felt it should be more a day of mourning rather than of merriment. Shipping around 548 male convicts,188 female convicts and 17 of their children over to these shores,in some of the worst conditions imaginable,after committing “crimes” as minor as stealing bread and petticoats,is hardly a political move we need to remember fondly.

So quite apart from the protests of many First Nations peoples about the date of Australia Day,the argument for shifting it becomes even more potent when you take a long hard look at white history,as well as black.

For if Trump does actually triumph,and January 6 becomes another Fourth of July,then who are we,really,to criticise?

Sue Williams is a journalist and author ofThat Bligh Girl.

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