http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/call-to-move-australia-day/story-e6frg12c-1111118660285
RON Barassi has called for Australia Day to be moved to May to commemorate the day Aborigines were given equal citizenship rights.
He said it was wrong to celebrate the day of the European invasion of Australia when "we took" this land from Aborigines.
The 10-time premiership player and coach said Australia Day should be May 27 - the day in 1967 that clauses in the Constitution that discriminated against indigenous people were removed.
In the 1967 Referendum, 90.77 per cent of Australians - the biggest majority in a national referendum - voted to enable Aboriginal people to be counted in the Census and to be subject to Commonwealth laws, rather than just state laws.
- Perth Now, 26th Jan 2012
To be fair I think that Ron Barassi has a valid point. I suppose eventually if/when Australia does become a republic that this will become the new date for national patriotism but until then, I think that the idea that the 26th of January should be a national holiday is a both misplaced and a little disgusting.
It's not the date of the Federation of the country which was January 1st 1901; it would be pointless to appoint that as a national holiday because it's already New Years' Day. The only other truly national holiday is the 25th of April, and again that isn't exactly a celebration either.
Actually in all honesty, January 26 isn't even the inception of the colony of New South Wales. The eleven ships of the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay between the 18th and 20th of January 1788. All that the 26th of January commemorates is the day in 1788 when the British flag was first hoisted one Australian soil.
Officially the inception of the colony of New South Wales ahppened on 7 February 1788. Governor Phillip's adress reads:
"What Frobisher, Raleigh, Delaware, and Gates did for America, that, we are this day met to do for Australia, but under happier auspices. Our enterprise was wisely conceived, deliberately devised, and efficiently organised, the Sovereign, the Parliament, and the people united to give it their authority, sanction, and encouragement. We are here to take possession of this fifth division of the globe on behalf of the British people, and to found a State which, we hope, will not only occupy and rule this great country, but will also be the beneficent patroness of the entire southern hemisphere. How grand is the prospect which lies before this youthful nation !"
Contained in Phillip's address is an explicit statement of intent to "take possession" and to "occupy and rule", so it's little wonder that to Aboriginal communities it marks the day on which the British arrived unannounced and simply stole their land.
Legally under the doctrine of terra nullius the land was declared "empty" and therefore it wasn't an invasion. I note that today the 26th of January 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Since it is an embassy, I think that it would be quite worthwhile to treat it as such and for terms perhaps similar to New Zealand's Treaty of Waitangi to be drawn up.
Quite unlike the Maori in New Zealand, Aboriginal peoples weren't even considered worthy enough to sign a peace treaty with. Also unlike the Maori, there has never been a permanent commission set up to suggest any means of redress either. In fact it wasn't until 1967 that Aboriginal people were even given the right to vote and in that respect Ron's suggestion that May 27 be suggested for a replacement national holiday, I think is quite reasonable.
I don't really like the reasons for this specific date to be held up as a day of national celebration. If people really want to talk about the nation "growing up" then the replacement of this day, I think is a worthy cause.
Dare I suggest that Australia Day itself is Un-Australian?
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