Think Australia Day is distressing to Aboriginal Australians? Consider this advice

I belong to two great families, and that’s worth celebrating, writes Anthony Dillon. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Australia Day is approaching, along with the controversies that typically go with that day. While the day is labelled divisive by some, the date of January 26 or the celebrations on that day, much like last year’s voice referendum, is not divisive. Let me repeat that: Australia Day is not divisive. Heated discussions arise for sure, but it’s people who are divisive, not the date.

Divisiveness occurs because people hold different opinions, and that’s fine, as people are allowed to disagree. It’s how we disagree about our personal views, and the motivations for those views that are sometimes questionable, that leads to divisiveness. We must allow others their say, even if we disagree with them, as to not allow them is very un-Australian.

Generally, the Australia Day controversies start with the claim that Aboriginal Australians suffer on that day, or that Aussies are celebrating past sufferings of Aboriginal people. Both these claims are easily dismissed. First, many, many Aboriginal people celebrate Australia Day. So there would seem to be some choice in how a person feels about the day.

If it were the day that caused suffering or emotional distress, then most Aboriginal people would be suffering. Many may claim they suffer on that day because of historical events, but this is simply a charade. It’s a way to gain attention and pity or to have a convenient excuse for when life does not go as smoothly as one would like.

Let’s not disempower Aboriginal Australians by telling them their emotional wellbeing is under the control of a national day of celebration. If individuals don’t wish to partake in celebrations, that’s fine, but they don’t have to suffer; the choice is theirs. Nobody is in denial of our country’s history; like all countries, there is the good, the bad, and the ugly, and there would also seem to be the fabricated. Regarding our history and its impact today, I agree with Stan Grant, who wrote in his 2016 Quarterly essay: “But history – the history of dispossession and ensuing suffering – can be an all-too-convenient explanation for what ails us.” History is not to be ignored; it is to be understood and not made fiercer than what it is.

Second, I have not met anyone who, on Australia Day or any other day, celebrates invasion, genocide, theft, murder, etc. Those are highly emotive words intended to inject some meaning into the sad lives of those who tell these lies. While the origins of our Australia Day celebration may be tied to colonisation, our reasons for celebrating on January 26 in the 21st century are far different to the events of colonisation. We celebrate that we are a great country, our mateship, have a day off work, and enjoy the music, food and drink.

This Australia Day, I’ll do what I usually do: reflect on what a great country we live in, socialise with friends and family, and reflect briefly upon the arrival of the British. As a part-Aboriginal Australian with significant English ancestry (thanks, mum), I cannot ignore what impact the British invasion had, if for no other reason than that I would not be here if there had been no invasion.

I belong to two great families, and that’s worth celebrating. In this regard, I am like many other people identifying as Aboriginal, and that includes those who oppose Australia Day each year – we are the product of both Aboriginal and other ancestries. For those who claim to oppose Australia Day on the basis that it is somehow distressing to Aboriginal Australians, I have some advice. Try sparing a thought for those many Aboriginal people genuinely suffering because they are hungry, live in unclean environments, share a mattress with three others and two dogs, and are so used to violence they no longer notice it.

I won’t oppose those who choose to bring attention to the plight too many Aboriginal Australians endure today. I would encourage them to give a message that inspires us to focus on practical strategies that will close the gap. Let’s test ideas, disagree with others respectfully, challenge ourselves and others, but never lose sight of the target: enabling all Aboriginal Australians to have the sorts of lives most of us take for granted.

Finally, for the woke corporates – you know who you are – wake up to yourselves. Put your profits where your mouths are and do something practical to help Aboriginal Australians.

Anthony Dillon, is an honorary fellow at the Australian Catholic University.