Don’t Celebrate January 26 petition launched

An electronic petition ( here ) has been launched in support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s commemoration of “Invasion Day” (January 26).

The “Don’t celebrate January 26” petition is calling on the Federal Government to stop national celebrations on this day.

Spokesperson Kaylene Allan explains, “while the Australian government promotes Australia Day as being about “inclusion, unity and feeling good about being Australian”, for Aboriginal people it marks the onset of their dispossession from their ancestral lands.

Hence it is a date that divides the First People of Australia and all those who came after.

“To celebrate on this day diminishes all of us.

“Eventually change will occur. No other country celebrates their national day on the day when the First Peoples of that land were invaded.

“And increasingly countries and states in the Americas are formally replacing “Columbus Day” with recognition of the First Nation Peoples, their cultures and their resistance to the arrival of Europeans.

“Ending celebrations on January 26 is such a fundamental step in reconciliation and in creating a respectful and inclusive Australia.

“Countries like New Zealand where the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) is commemorated each year shine a brilliant light on just what is possible.

“While finding a new meaning or alternative date for a national day will take time. In the meantime Australia must stop celebrating on January 26.”
Kaylene Allan