Change the date movement grows

TANYA MURPHY

AROUND Australia many people are joining the call to #changethedate of Australia Day. It’s not hard to do. It’s been changed before numerous times. It’s only been celebrated on January 26 since 1994.

Since 2017, the iconic Triple J Radio annual ‘Hottest 100’ Countdown has been moved to take place on a different day in January, (this year it was on Saturday January 23) and many of the younger generation are following suit and celebrating on that day instead.

Since 2013, eight City Councils around Australia have already chosen to change the date of their Australia Day celebrations including Flinders Island and Launceston in Tasmania, Yarra City, Darebin and Moreland in Victoria, Inne West and Byron Bay in New South Wales, and Fremantle in Western Australia.

Research undertaken by The Australia Institute recently reported that 56 per cent of Australians don’t mind when we celebrate Australia Day as long as we have a day to celebrate being a nation, and 49 per cent of Australians believe that Australia Day should not be on a date that offends Indigenous Australians.

In 2017, market research organization McNair yellowSquares found that 54 per cent of Indigenous Australians polled were in favour of changing the date and only 23 per cent felt positively about Australia Day.

Jiritju said he would support a date change.

“I think it should be on another day, just because of what it symbolises for Indigenous people. For us it’s a day of mourning, it’s a day of reflection for our ancestors and our people,” he said.

“Of course I have friends

that celebrate Australia Day on January 26. It’s their right, they can celebrate it if they want, but as for myself, I have the right to sit back and reflect, and celebrate how I want to celebrate it.”

Although he acknowledged that there are many deeper issues facing Indigenous people in Australia which ought to be prioritised, he said he and many others would feel more included in Australia Day celebrations if they were held on a different day.

“I think it’s better if we can all come together and unite, rather than having differences, and celebrate as all Australians,” he said.

“I’d love to see the Cairns Regional Council get behind changing the date. We have a high population of Indigenous people in Far North Queensland, whether that be Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal, and it affects us all.”

He said acknowledgement of the day’s true significance would go a long way towards reconciliation.

“Every day should just be a learning day – whether that be Australia Day or a normal day of the week.

“That might mean contacting and getting in touch with local Indigenous people, in the local communities wherever you live. There are multiple Indigenous communities around the far north that anyone can get in contact with, have a sit down, have a yarn.

“We should be able to accept each other’s differences and have a conversation and mutual understanding.”

This year on January 26, more than 10,000 people attended an “Invasion Day Rally and March” in Brisbane, while in the Cairns area, Yarrabah Community had activities for locals to reflect on “Invasion Day” together.