Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The near genocide in Van Diemen's Land, the massacres to the south of Sydney, the massacre of the Wiradjuri in 1824, the massacre at Fremantle in 1830, the massacre at Pinjarra in 1834, massacres along the Darling River from 1835 to 1865, Major Nunn's campaign in 1838, the massacre at Durragee Hill, the Myall Creek massacre of 1838, the massacre at Towel Creek, the massacre at Bluff Rock, the massacre at Clarence River, the massacre in the New England Range, the Mount Mackensie massacre, massacres in the Gippsland region from 1840 to 1851, the massacre at Lake Minimup in 1841, the massacre at Kilcoy, the massacre of the Yeeman people in 1857, the massacre and reprisal at Cullen-la-ringo in 1861, the massacre at Pigeon Creek in 1862, the Flying Foam Massacre at Burrup Peninsula in 1868, the massacre at the Dampier Archipelago in 1868, the massacre at King Sound in 1890, the massacre at Mowla Bluff in 1916, the massacre at Bentnick Island in 1918, the Forest River massacre in 1926, the Coniston massacre of 1928, the massacre at Hodgson Downs, the massacre around Lake Eyre and the Simpson Desert region, the massacre of the Wardamba people near Poeppel Corner in the east Simpson Desert and the massacre near Clifton Hills—these are just some of the massacres that have occurred around Australia as part of the colonisation process that kicked off on 26 January in 1788.

I urge the members in this place and the other place to look at the reference material that is available about our history of dispossession and colonisation in Australia that led to the massacres and maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians. That is referenced in Bruce Elder's book Blood On The Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788, which outlines massacres and maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians, and in other reference material. Have a proper look at our hurtful history that so often is washed over in this country. Blood on the Wattle gives a detailed account of a lot of the massacres that I have just listed that have occurred since the First Fleet arrived on 26 January in 1788. There are also maps that detail massacres that have occurred that I also urge people in this place and around Australia to have a look at. One is by the University of Queensland and another by Aboriginal artist Judith Watson. Some of the Western Australian massacres that I have just listed are included in the community map by Ms Watson. In fact, the Burrup massacre resulted in the complete wiping out of the community of the Burrup, to the point where now there are custodians managing that area, because the people of the Burrup were completely wiped out.

I don't have time to list all of the other impacts of colonisation and dispossession, but for decades and decades our first peoples have outlined the intense pain of celebrating this nation, the nation that we all love, on 26 January. They have explained that on that date in 1788 the First Fleet arrived and the dispossession of Aboriginal peoples around Australia began. It signals the start of ongoing and treacherous massacring of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It signals a day of grieving and pain for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They have been asked that on that day we celebrate this great nation. That should be a day of celebration that is Australia Day. January 26 should be a day of reflection on and remembrance of all that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples suffered and lost, including marking those massacres.

I find it ridiculous that some people—and, in particular, those on the far right of politics—stubbornly refuse to change the date for the sake of so-called tradition because they say that that is the day on which we should be marking Australia. But Australia Day has not always been on 26 January. The first-ever Australia Day is reported to have occurred on 30 July 1915 as a fundraising effort for World War I. It was reported to have been the idea of Ellen Wharton-Kirke from Manly, New South Wales, who suggested it to the then Premier, Sir Charles Wade, because her three sons had been enlisted to war. There are posters from that era of a soldier standing valiantly and asking, 'What are you doing for Australia Day, 30 July 1915?'

According to the official Australia website, 1988 was when the states and territories joined Sydney in celebrating Australia Day on 26 January, and it wasn't until 1994 that 26 January officially became the day of nationally celebrating Australia Day. One of the reasons this is so important for our first peoples is that it is about truth telling and healing.

Lidia Thorpe, the first Aboriginal woman in the Victorian parliament, who represents the seat of Northcote as a Greens MP, spoke earlier this year of the pain surrounding 26 January. Lidia spoke of her great-great-great-grandfather Billie, who hid in a hollow log with his brother and witnessed one of the last massacres in Gippsland, where his father and grandfather were murdered. She said:

Each year I think about him and I think about what that would have been like for a young boy to be hiding in a log watching atrocities happen right in front of his eyes, the trauma that he experienced at the time and transferred to his children and to their children and to his grandchildren. You know it is very real today that hurt.

It saddens me that we have to do this. It brings so much anxiety and worry about what is going to happen on 26 January. We are sick of going through the same thing every year—sorry; that is a point that I think has been very well made by a number of Aboriginal people. For far too long we have brushed over our history in this country and refused to practise truth telling so that healing can occur. We have brushed over the fact that colonisation resulted in the theft of land, the decimation of Aboriginal culture and ongoing genocide of our first peoples. It is hugely insensitive to celebrate Australia Day on a date where all this began. As we can see, celebrating on 26 January is not really a long-term tradition. It's been changed before and it should be changed again.

The National Congress of Australia's First Peoples recently surveyed their members and found that, overwhelmingly, changing the date was supported—83 per cent of those surveyed supported changing the date. As Rod Little, a Yamatji and Wajuk man and co-chair of the national congress, said:

We can't undo history but the naming and the celebrating of us as a unified nation … the 26th isn't that day.

Support is also growing from the broader community. A recent survey showed that this year alone support for changing the date moved from one in six to one in five. Most interestingly, when the respondents were presented with the rationale for changing the date, support increased—in other words, when they learn about the pain and grief of celebrating this country on a day that is a day of mourning and grief for Aboriginal people, when they learn more about our history, they actually do want to change the date. This of course is not going to solve the issues caused by colonisation and dispossession. It alone will not solve them, but it is a step in the process of truth telling and of addressing the ongoing issues of colonisation and dispossession. It is a step in addressing the issues around sovereignty and treaty and in addressing our unfinished business.

I urge you all to really look at the information that is available. Read Blood on the Wattle, read that other reference material and understand why 26 January causes so much pain to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.