‘Our truth matters’: Invasion Day Rally marches in Cairns
“Our truth matters” was the theme as Indigenous Australians and their supporters gathered at Fogarty Park and marched on the Cairns Esplanade in peaceful protest, marking January 26 as Invasion Day.
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“Our truth matters” was the theme as Indigenous Australians and their supporters marched on the Cairns Esplanade in peaceful protest on Sunday, marking January 26 as Invasion Day.
For many Indigenous Australians, the date signifies the beginning of land theft, cultural oppression, and massacres that decimated entire communities.
Around 200 people gathered at Fogarty Park to share their stories and bring their community together for a day, that for many, marks mourning, survival, and a destructive colonial past.
Ty and Sharna Nakata attended the event with their two children Kaito, 2, and Mavrick, 7.
“We wanted to bring our kids down to show them the pride in our community,” Ms Nakata said.
“It’s important for our kids to be a part of this community and to see that after 200 years of oppression we still fight everyday.
“We want to be able to share that pride with everyone else when they are able to celebrate as well.”
Event organiser Manny Williams said the rain didn’t scare anyone way, with a good turnout for the march.
“We though the rain was going to wash it out for us but rain, hail, or shine we are here representing for our mob,” he said.
“We really wanted to focus on our theme of ‘Our truth matters’ as we know how important it is for us to tell the history of what has happened in this country and to our people and what continues to be done today.
“However you see this day whether it is Invasion Day, survival day, a day of morning, we can all agree it is the day that marks the beginning of the harm caused to not only the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people but also to our ecosystems, waterways, animals.
“Our languages, our dances, our practices, our sacred sites all damaged and some lost forever.
“We have not only survived frontier wars across the continent but we have adapted to this colonial environment and have sustained our culture and stories in many different ways.
“When we talk about truth telling this is what we are talking about.”
Speaker Nerelle Nicol said Indigenous people still feel the effects of history every day since colonisation.
“History is not just in the past, we are still living it today,” she said.
“Our people are being incarcerated in our own country at unacceptable rates, our young people.
“You only have to go to the hospital just up the road to see the number of our people laying in those wards, think of how many kids will not finish high school, of the people who are homeless.
“This all matters, it matters a lot.”
It is the second year that the Blaktivation group has held the event with plans to grow stronger in the years to come.
“We are excited to keep up the momentum for next year,” Mr Williams said.
Originally published as ‘Our truth matters’: Invasion Day Rally marches in Cairns
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