Huge crowd in Hobart calls to change the date of Australia Day
Tasmania’s largest Invasion Day commemoration in memory has sent an unequivocal message to Prime Minister Scott Morrison: “change the date”.
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TASMANIA’S largest Invasion Day commemoration in memory has sent an unequivocal message to Prime Minister Scott Morrison: “change the date”.
Though COVID-19 precautions saw the cancellation of the traditional march, thousands of people packed Hobart’s Parliament Lawns to overflowing.
The moment’s silence at the outset was punctuated by the distant sound of guns being fired as part of official Australia Day celebrations.
“Hearing those cannons cut deep,” event organiser Nala Mansell told the crowd, “It was a reminder of the brutal treatment of my people, the sound represents the beginning of the frontier war here – literally representing nothing but death and invasion.
“We will not celebrate invasion of our country, we will not celebrate the many lives of women, men and children that were lost.”
The commemoration was attended by a large number of Tasmania’s Aboriginal community and their supporters including Labor leader Rebecca White and Labor MPs, Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, Senator Nick McKim, MLCs Meg Webb and Rob Valentine, local councillors, environmental and union leaders and Anglican archbishop Richard Condie.
Ms White said Australia Day divided the community rather than uniting it, and changing to a date that did not celebrate colonisation was now an unstoppable movement.
“Aboriginal people had their land stolen. They had their language suppressed. Their had their identity and culture denied. They had their families torn apart. They were denied recognition as people,” she said.
“Aboriginal Australians continue to live with the impact of this.
“Without treaty, without justice, without reparation, we as a nation will continue to deny equality to Aboriginal Australians.
“The Tasmanian Labor Party supports treaty, we support land handbacks and we support changing the date.”
Archbishop Conde said mature nations were not blind to their past.
“While our national celebration is on January 26, we should at the very least begin the day with lament and sorrow, with honest reflection on our history, to cry out about the pain and the injustice and call the nation to turn,” he said.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said a national ignorance of ignoring the slaughter and rape and dispossession of Aboriginal people could not be countenanced.
“This is a truth we must all be prepared to hear, to take in to share and it must motivate us to seek justice for First Nations Australians,” she said.
“We have to see those who insist on this time being the day we mark who we are as a people But it’s not just racism, it’s white supremacy, we should name it. We should acknowledge it for what it is.”
Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds council also supported changing the date of our national day.
“It celebrates the day when invasion began and for this reason, it’s a day that even though we love this place, we cannot be proud of,” she said.
The crowd reserved its largest cheer for former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, who said Australia continued to routinely disrespect Aboriginal heritage.
He said the forthcoming development of seven luxury lodges along the 45,000-year-old South Coast Track in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was a perfect example.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre CEO Heather Sculthorpe said she was moved by the public show of support, which is growing year after year.
“It is so emotional to see how people are prepared to turn out, so many people lining up are prepared to give up their day and put their bodies forward to say ‘yeah we are with you and we know that you can win this one’,’” she said.
“With sadness comes hope and joy as well.”
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