On the march ... The Invasion Day walk by Tasmanian Aboriginals. Picture: RAOUL KOCHANOWSKI
Aboriginals condemn 'Invasion'
SUE NEALES
January 26, 2009 02:59pm
AUSTRALIA Day was marked this morning by an angry march through the near-deserted streets of Hobart.
Carrying three coffins, about 200 people from the Tasmanian Aboriginal community called for an end to the celebration of Australia’s national day on January 26th; a date the Aboriginal community recalls as Invasion Day.
The crowd, accompanied by three police motorbikes and a police car with siren wailing, repeatedly chanted that white Australians had stolen Aboriginal land and rights.
"Blackfellas will fight, fight, fight," the rally cried, vowing never to stop, go away or celebrate Invasion Day.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre state secretary Nala Mansell-McKenna said Aboriginal Australians only remembered January 26 –- the day the British established the first white settlement on Australian soil in Sydney in 1788 -- as the beginning of the destruction of Aboriginal culture.
She said it only brought back memories of rape, murder, theft, invasion, poisoning and land dispossession.
"We find it offensive; it’s about celebrating the power of one race over another," Ms Mansell-McKenna said.
"I think most Australians just don’t realise how racist today is and think it is just a celebration, but that when it is pointed out to them they usually see how inappropriate it is."
She called for Australia’s national day to be moved so that all Australians could share a day to celebrate the good things about being Australian.
Ms Mansell-McKenna suggested February 13 might be a better date, marking the day in 2008 when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Australian parliament said sorry to indigenous children stolen from their families.
The three coffins -- symbolising the death of Aboriginal land, life and culture in Tasmania -- and a wreath were laid on the steps of Hobart’s Parliament House at midday, followed by the observation of a minute’s silence. |
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