Darebin Council considering moving Australia Day citizenship ceremony

A MELBOURNE council is weighing up whether to move its Australia Day citizenship ceremony from January 26 out of respect to indigenous Australians.

Darebin Council is considering moving its Australia Day citizenship ceremonies from January 26.

DAREBIN Council could move its Australia Day citizenship ceremony from January 26 out of respect to indigenous Australians.

The council is also considering renaming its Australia Day Awards, according to an internal survey seen by Preston Leader.

It comes less than a month after another Melbourne council — Moreland — failed to pass a similar motion to move its citizenship ceremonies to another date.

RELATED: Batman Park in Northcote to be renamed Gumbri Park

The citizenship ceremony could be replaced by an event acknowledging indigenous Australian suffering on January 26.

The survey, distributed to a council advisory committee, asks a range of questions in order “to broaden council’s perspective and understanding of this important issue”.

“What does January 26 (also known as Australia Day, Survival Day, and Invasion Day) mean to you?” the survey asks.

Respondents are asked whether the Australia Day Awards should be renamed.

The awards recognise outstanding contributions to the Darebin community.

Respondents are asked whether the council should support the #changethedate campaign, which seeks to move Australia Day from January 26, which signifies the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.

The date represents violent colonisation for many Australians, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Mayor Kim Le Cerf said the council has been talking to the Wurundjeri Council about a possible date change.

“We are also gathering local views through our Council’s 27 advisory committees to ensure we reach a diverse range of people,” she said.

“It’s a date that has a big history, a complicated history, a history that we grapple with. Right across Australia there is a national debate taking place about how we can make Australia Day an inclusive one to bring all the peoples of our country together in the spirit of respect and recognition.

“Maybe it will mean shifting the date on which we celebrate the nation – to a date that can be owned by our First Nations people just as much as the rest of us.”

The news comes a week before the council will officially begin the statutory process to rename Batman Park, Northcote to Gumbri Park.

Gumbri, also known as Jessie Hunter, was a respected Wurundjeri elder.

John Batman is known as one of the founders of Melbourne, but has been accused of dispossessing and massacring indigenous Australians.

Members of the public can register their opinions to the process up to August 24.

The Wurundjeri Land Council has been approached for comment.

@edjgardiner