Thousands join Respecting Country Parade, Voice to Parliament debated as thousands attend SA’s 2023 Survival Day rally
There were very different scenes on display in Adelaide on January 26, depending on which events you chose.
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Thousands of South Australian’s gathered on Adelaide’s CBD streets to cheer on a colourful and diverse parade on Australia Day, just hours after thousands of others protested the holiday nearby.
Public holiday celebrators lined up to watch people representing more than 60 communities walk down King William Rd and Elder Park during the “Respecting Country Parade” for the first time since Covid.
Many wore culturally significant items, wore uniforms or carried banners.
Reza Ahmadi and his six-year-old daughter Nadia, who migrated from Afghanistan seven years ago to Adelaide, said they were watching the Australia Day parade for the first time.
Marty Wells, 55, brought his five-year-old daughter Tasman to the event from Prospect, saying it was “fantastic” to see the melting pot of cultures.
“I actually helped set up the Rotunda projections and the art space for the kids, so its really cool seeing it in action,” Mr Wells said.
Meanwhile, revellers across the state flocked to the beach for a dip to enjoy the sunshine.
Jay Lowen took his family all the way from St Agnes to spend the day paddle boarding and drinking beer at Sellicks Beach.
“The weather has been great and I’ve been cooking on the barbecue all day, steaks and chops for everybody,” he said.
“I go to the beach every year on Australia Day, but this is the first time at Sellicks Beach in four years.”
Earlier, thousands of South Australians gathered at Tarntanyangga (Victoria Square) for this year’s Survival Day march, with the proposed Voice to Parliament taking centre stage.
Beginning at midday, the event recognises January 26 as a day of mourning for many First Nations people.
Protesters marched up King William St behind a banner calling for Treaty before Voice, alongside signs calling to change the date of Australia Day.
While marching, the crowd chanted, “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
Activist, actress and march organiser Natasha Wanganeen opened the ceremony by declaring “we have survived”, followed by cries of “black lives matter.”
A minute’s silence was held to mourn the Aboriginal lives lost since the arrival of colonists in 1788.
Following the march, protesters returned to Tarntanyangga for a panel discussion from grassroots Indigenous community members about whether a treaty was needed before a Voice.
Ms Wanganeen said that she hadn’t made a final decision about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, but said she supported a treaty before a Voice to Parliament was implemented.
“What is the point of a voice if we don’t have land to use that voice on?” she said.
Ms Wanganeen also called out performative activists by saying, “ if anyone isn’t here to listen and be educated, you can leave.”
Local poet Celestine Rowe shared poems she wrote about connection to country and issues such as black deaths in police custody.
Ms Rowe also made posters featuring the names and ages of Aboriginal people that have died in police custody, such as Tanya Day, 55, and Kumanjayi Walker, 19.
“Hearing stories about the struggles of Aboriginal people in the country inspires my poetry,” she said.
“I felt proud to share my poems with everyone and get our stories out there.”
Other speakers at the march called for dedicated action to support First Nations people and First Nations leadership.
Homeless services worker Mai Nguyen attended the march to support the “Aboriginal people caught in the prison system unfairly and unjustly.”
“Aboriginal people have been fighting for their lives for 200 years and the blood (on my poster) symbolises the lives lost in police custody in this country,” she said.
“The Australian government needs to tell the truth and Aboriginal people need their right to self determination.”
The afternoon was a celebration of Aboriginal culture, with a series of musical performances from different First Nations groups held in the square.
There was also a free sausage sizzle provided by the United Workers Union and stalls from Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia, Tandanya and the First Nations Workers Association.
South Australia’s commissioner for Aboriginal children and young people, April Lawrie, told a crowd earlier in the day that rates of incarceration of Aboriginal children was “appalling”.
Ms Lawrie called for the legal age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 to 14.
Unlike other Indigenous leaders, she “wholeheartedly supported” the move to introduce a voice to parliament.
“To become a true nation, we need to recognise and embrace the international human rights of Aboriginal people to self-determination and the human rights of Aboriginal children to remain connected with their families, community and culture and to know their country,” she said.
“This is what it means to come to terms with ourselves as a nation. And the key to self-determination lies in the recognition of authority of First Nations native title holders.”
In a show of inclusivity for First Nations people, one of South Australia’s largest January 26 events began 12 hours early this year with Wednesday evening’s Tindo Utpurndee, Sunset Ceremony, led by senior man of Mullawirra Meyunna (Dry Forest People) Karl Winda Telfer.
The Australia Day Council of SA’s 2023 commemorations are incorporating key themes of Belonging to Country and Connecting to Nature, which have been interwoven with events – including the annual Mourning in the Morning Smoking Ceremony, led by Kaurna Elder Rosemary Kudnarto Wanganeen.
Marches have been organised in every state and territory on Thursday, as many choose not to mark the national holiday and protest January 26 as the country’s national day of celebration.
Across the border, dramatic scenes erupted as Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, the star of Melbourne’s treaty movement, declared “this is a war” to rapturous cheers.
“A war that was declared on our people more than 200 years ago,” Senator Thorpe said to a heaving crowd in Melbourne’s CBD.
Loud shouts of “shame” met Ms Thorpe’s consecutive declarations, given with red-painted hands symbolising violence and in which she held a “war stick”.
“That war has never ended in our country against our people. They are still killing us. They are still stealing our babies. They are killing our men. They are still raping our women,” she told the crowd.
“What do we have to celebrate in this country? Do we want to become an advisory body to the colonial system?
“We deserve better. We have to be rid of racism and heal this country and bring everyone together through a sovereign treaty.”
In Sydney, it wasn’t long before a fight broke out in the crowd, with a small group of people holding up an Australian flag and signs which read: “Always was always will be Australian land”.
During the rally they were asked by Gomeroi woman and Indigenous activist Gwenda Stanley to leave the area.
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Originally published as Thousands join Respecting Country Parade, Voice to Parliament debated as thousands attend SA’s 2023 Survival Day rally
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