Australia Day comes at a ‘difficult time’ for NSW: Gladys Berejiklian
NRL players Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker have joined tens of thousands of Sydneysiders in a rally against Australia Day being held on January 26 as the NSW Premier used a harbourside speech to reflect on the “catastrophic” bushfire season.
NSW
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The NSW Premier says Australia Day comes at a “difficult time” for NSW amid the state’s bushfire catastrophe while Indigenous Australians have highlighted land management problems at a Sydney Invasion Day protest.
Tens of thousands of people, including Indigenous NRL players Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker marched from Sydney’s CBD to Camperdown chanting “change the date” and “always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
The group rallied to continue the almost 80-year-long debate of changing Australia Day from January 26.
Murrawarri Budjiti man Bruce Shillingsworth, 52, told The Daily Telegraph the government’s mismanagement of the Darling River was a problem affecting Australians.
“What we really want is a better future for all. This protest is for every Australian and that is one of the great things about today is spending time with all these people,” he said.
“These injustices are not just what you normally hear about. We need water back in our rivers, our communities won’t survive if there is no freshwater. The government has been selling it off.”
“What we need to do on a day like today, is celebrate our culture and tradition and pass the information and knowledge we have of the country down.”
The Australia Day protests, which have gone under the name of Invasion Day, Survival Day or Day of Mourning took place across the country today.
Dozens of Aboriginal flags were waved and there were loud cheers when a smoking ceremony began just before 11am.
Ngarigo Djiringanj man John Dixon said the gathering was an opportunity to highlight the mismanagement of the state’s land during an unprecedented bushfire season.
“My country is the Snowy Monaro country, but there’s not much there now. It has all been burnt out,” he said.
“This stuff was going to happen, it had been poorly managed for years and no one would listen to us about the amount of litter on the ground.
“I had to leave my country, the place my ancestors had been for thousands of years, because things had gotten so bad. I just couldn’t be there anymore.”
In her Australia Day address at Barangaroo this morning, NSW Governor Margaret Beazley reflected on the “catastrophic” blazes across the state.
“Sadly overshadowing everything at the moment, particularly on the eastern seaboard, is the catastrophic impact of the bushfires on the land and those who do walk on the land,” she said on Sunday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Australia Day this year comes during a “difficult time” as the state comes to terms with the impact of the devastating fires, the lives lost and the impact on wildlife and the land. The premier called for renewed public discussion about how the ancient knowledge of Aboriginal people can be used to better protect the environment and communities.
“These devastating bushfires encourage us as a community to reflect on Aboriginal practices that sustained this land for millennia,” she said.
Australia Day marks the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships into Port Jackson in 1788.
– with AAP