Australia Day: Rain greeted as ancestors’ pride

As the Invasion Day rally kicked off in Brisbane on Wednesday, the downpour began.

People take part in an Invasion Day protest in Brisbane on Wednesday. Picture: Dan Peled

As the Invasion Day rally kicked off in Brisbane on Wednesday, the downpour began.

“This is from our ancestors,” said Derek Roam Sandy, of the Yerongpan people, as the rain tumbled down, drenching 1000-odd marchers. “They are proud of us and have sent the rain to keep us cool.”

For the second year running, Covid-19 dampened the numbers turning out across the country to protest against marking Australia Day on January 26, the day the First Fleet arrived in 1788.

This year’s marches had added meaning, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy’s establishment on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra, a launching pad for the modern day activism by and on behalf of First Nations peoples.

The issue of the moment – whether to move Australia Day to another date – was not the only subject of chants that echoed through one closed CBD after another.

Land rights for Aboriginal people and deaths in custody were also on the demonstrators’ agenda.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Sydney’s Town Hall to march to Camperdown’s Victoria Park – the historic site of the first Day of Mourning in 1938. The silent protest came to an incredible head as protesters sat on the ground down Elizabeth Street in defiance.

“We feel proud today yet sad in knowing why we have to stand here,” said the master of ceremonies Elizabeth Jarrett, a Dunghutti-Bundjalug activist. “Why do we have to promote our invasion to make sure Australia sees us?”

The lawns of parliament in Canberra were turned into a festival of Indigenous culture as a crowd of 2500 people came together to celebrate the world’s longest Indigenous protest at the Tent Embassy started by four men – Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Coorey – who were angered by then-prime minister William McMahon’s opposition to land rights in the Northern Territory.

Following the march from Garema Place through Canberra Central to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, people gathered to sing, dance and tell stories.

It was much the same in Brisbane, despite the dreary weather, which had caused crowd numbers to dip to the lowest level in years. Still, this did little to quell the voices as the long line snaked from Queens Garden in the CBD to Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.

Melbourne’s rally did not go ahead for the first time since 2015, with organisers citing health advice. A statue of Captain Cook at St Kilda again became a target and was smeared with red paint. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre moved a planned rally online.

Police were out in force in both Sydney and Brisbane but noted the crowds were largely well behaved.