Cathy WilcoxCredit:Cathy Wilcox
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Tomorrow must come
In most other nations, the national day marks independence (often from the British) or foundation. But, as it stands, Australia Day marks the anniversary of invasion and the beginning of an era of mourning, survival and resilience for Australia’s First Nations peoples.
Not only do we need to change the date, we need to change the nation. We need to establish a ″tomorrow Australia″.
Every year January 26 causes division and identity confusion. We are a nation suffering from arrested development. Our national symbols clash around us – a flag with the invader’s flag inserted at the left corner, an anthem that lies about our age (and used to forget its women) and a day that marks a land violently taken without consent or treaty.
Perhaps this confusion – for now – is good for us because it forces us to question who we are and where we are going. Are we a colonial outpost or are we a nation that is guided by and builds upon the rich heritage of its First Nations peoples?
Are we a nation that glazes over its past or are we a nation that can face the truth of the past with all its imperfections?
Once that truth is faced, healing can start and systemic injustice be addressed in earnest.
There are green shoots – truth telling and treaty talking, particularly in Victoria through the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria, is spreading. Truth telling, voice and treaties are the pathway to nation building; the pathway to us all growing roots in these lands and waters, a pathway to a ″tomorrow Australia″. And perhaps we set aside the date until the work is done.
Professor Richard Frankland,
Dr Peter Lewis Co-chairs,
ANTaR Victoria
Time for change
I’m 87 years old. My ancestors came to Australia in 1825 and I am proud of my British heritage. But I can finally accept that it is time to change the Australian flag. First, I would be happy to see the Union Jack replaced by the Southern Cross, which is surely a symbol of the dreams we all share and the values we aspire to in this great country. It also keeps alive whatever faith one has in the teachings and moral standards of the great religions. In addition, I would like to see the flag incorporate the representation of this wide brown land as depicted in the present Aboriginal flag. How this merger might be achieved has to be left to the artistic talents of designers; but surely now is the time for a change.
Ken Barnes, Glen Iris
Honour all the truth
What does Australia Day really mean to Australians in the 21st century?
Each year I watch with dismay at the increasing array of disposable paraphernalia, things like Aussie flags, masks, togs, hats, undies and thongs for sale in supermarkets and shops. Around me each year my neighbours put in flag poles and display the flag.
It seems a day of barbecues and beer but what else, a celebration of what?
My great uncle died in WWI. I often wonder what my great grandma would make of the latter-day reverence for a flag that wasn’t in existence then. Her son never returned to this land. Like all countries, Australia has a difficult history, a bit like all families, but it is our history. Until we can create a day that respects and honours the truth of all our histories, Indigenous, penal, migrant, colonial then we are honouring nothing while burning snags and togged out in Aussie-flag bikinis or budgie-smugglers.
Tricia O’Brien, Ventnor
Wattle be the day
The media is strongly encouraging all Australians to be part of Australia Day but nothing feels quite right. First Nations peoples are not recognised in our flag and this is a huge and unacceptable gap. What we need is a joyful symbol of unity flying from our flag poles. Picture a flag featuring our national symbol, a bright golden sprig of wattle set against a deep blue background, as distinctive as Canada’s maple leaf or Lebanon’s cedar tree. Instead of Australia Day, with its sadness for Indigenous people, let’s celebrate Australia’s Day, not Australia Day, and call it Wattle Day to be held on September 1, the first day of spring, a true symbol of renewal.
Dawn Waterhouse, Deakin, ACT
Who are we?
Discussion is again underway about a republic, and with Australia Day, we again discuss what the day represents to both First Nations peoples and the rest of us. Tied with Australia Day we also resurrect whether to have a treaty with First Nations people and whether they should have a voice in or to Parliament. These cyclic deliberations suggest, we still do not agree on who we are historically as a nation and how we should be represented or governed. Discussion around becoming a republic is merely a diversion from the vastly more fundamental issues about respect for First Nations people, whose land was stolen, whose culture was destroyed and identity lessened.
Roger East, Balwyn North
History is the teacher
Australia Day means so many different things to many Australians. To my family, it is a celebration of the day, 60 years ago, that my parents were fortuitously allowed to emigrate here from postwar Europe, with hopes of giving their growing family a better life than they would have had in their home country. Their expectations were surpassed, especially as they were able to give their children, among so many other things, a world class free education as well as universal health care.
To me, as the child of migrants, with a constitutional law background, and with a love of that first piece of Australian legislation, I am aware of its many flaws. Although its purpose was to unite the colonies into a federation, I am mindful that it failed to mention that the traditional owners had inhabited this continent for at least 60,000 years when that legislation was passed in January, 1901. That fact is also not mentioned in the official statement provided for the celebration of Australia Day, that it signifies the arrival of the First Fleet on January 26, 1788 at Sydney Cove, NSW and the raising of the Union Jack by Arthur Phillips.
However, to know history is to understand the grave injustices perpetrated on the traditional owners of this land, especially as pertaining to their unrecognised place both within the constitutional and actual history of this country.
I pray for a better education system that prioritises the teaching of history to our young ones, so that in future, at least in relation to Australia Day, when asked what Australia Day means to them, many more will be able to search for greater meaning behind the day, than the mere first arrival of European settlers onto our shores. Only then, can we begin to redress some of the wrongs forced upon on the traditional owners of this land. And ditto for an understanding of the history of our constitution.
Jessie Mackenzie, Brunswick
Our national amnesia
I wonder did Scott Morrison carefully think through either word when ″one″ replaced ″young″ in the national anthem. Just how much untruth can be jammed into what seems to be a simple adjustment to a patriotic song? Australia cannot be made to advance or be one – or be fair by any definition of the word – by a glib verbal amendment while Indigenous Australians are marginalised in this country. Today we know better and that awareness is embedded in our school curricula.
There have been nine or 10 generations since terra nullius was used to justify planting a Union Jack in the ground at Sydney Cove. Before 1788 there were perhaps 2500 generations of human existence on this continent. Do we blithely roll forward and continue to ratify our national amnesia or do we create a unifying national day?
Ian McKail,
Cheltenham
The long weekend
Thanks are due to Linda Burney (Comment, 23/1). I’m sure I am not the only one who doubts, with Burney, that January 26 would be chosen to celebrate our nation today. I am also old enough to know that the states and the Commonwealth agreed in 1935 to nominate for our national day not a fixed date but instead a fixed day, namely Monday, presumably in a nod to our national predeliction for the long weekend. Why we had to change this in 1994 I do not know, but I am glad to see that Noel Pearson has revived the idea of the long weekend.
In his book Mission Pearson writes: ″I believe we will reconcile a new Australia Day long weekend when we have leadership and we all do the necessary work of building trust and common ground.” As to the right day, he reminds us that in 1788 ″on the eve of 26 January, the entire east coast was held under the ancient sovereignty of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes, the First Nations of Australia. This sovereignty existed over the entire continent and its islands.”
If the British newcomers then could be excused for not appreciating this truth, our ever-growing knowledge in more recent times is another cause for great celebration. And how better to celebrate than over a long weekend?
John Gare, Kew East
Festival of unity
The debate over Australia Day needs to clarify its purpose. It is now time to establish our need for a symbol of unity. I advocate we do this with a new three day ″Australian Festival of Unity″ at the end of January. A long weekend, with the Friday as First Nations Day, the Saturday as Federation Day and the Sunday as Multicultural Day. A unity festival would pave the way to finally erode the lingering racism. Politicians regularly claim we are the greatest multicultural country in the world. Easy to say, but let’s do it.
Geoff Cheong, Aspendale Gardens
Alert to the girt
″Girt by sea.″ Sadly, the only fully truthful line in our national anthem.
Lindsay Donahoo, Wattle Glen
FORUM
The astonishing gaffe by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce on Radio National that “people are not dying” from COVID-19 was not his only blunder. The other, less obvious but just as damning, was: “But what we are doing is making sure we deal with issues as they come along. That is what a competent government does.” Really?
I would have thought a competent government’s capacity to govern effectively is a readiness to anticipate issues and to think through policy challenges before they evolve into a crisis. The Morrison government’s staggering failure with the vaccine rollout and the rapid antigen tests and supply chain debacles attests to a government allowing issues to become crises before bungling them. Perhaps we should ask the Prime Minister what risk management is in place for the next variant?
Neil Hudson, East Melbourne
Let’s support the elderly staying at home
The article ″Aged care at home rises as many wait″ (The Age, 25/1) raises an alarming problem in aged care that is not well understood. It has been widely reported that many thousands cannot access home care packages, but the article shows that there are 50,000 ″trapped″ in residential aged care while waiting. Where is the sense in this? The government spends much more per bed for residents in residential aged care, so why not ensure that money is used to provide a greater number of care packages so that older people can live longer at home?
If you have a home, that is. The article also reports that there has been a decline in public housing over the past year and many older renters are forced to live in residential care because they don’t have a decent home to live in. To age well, we must be housed well.
Jeff Fiedler, Preston
The obstacles in returning to teach
As a former teacher, I thought I would throw my hat into the ring. Mistake, big time.
I have an undergraduate degree and two post-graduates, one a Dip Ed. I am secondary- and TAFE-registered, plus 16 years in special ed. I have spent the past 25 years training in the commercial sector with four commercial sector training qualifications.
What do I get? If you train without Victorian Institute of Teaching registration, we will prosecute you. To be re-registered, you will have to undergo retraining, 20 hours’ classroom experience (how you get that I don’t know), 20 hours minimum in service, plus supervised training.
At that point I gave up, I’m assuming another bureaucratic nightmare. You either want us to return or you don’t.
David Kitchen, Violet Town
What’s wrong with sleepy country towns?
The article about ″caravan king″ Gerry Ryan and Nagambie (The Age, 22/1) worries me. New housing means more farmland and natural environment destroyed, and an increased need for water and infrastructure. As the article said, ″transforming the fertile paddocks of West Gippsland into suburbs such as Pakenham″, housing developments take our farmland. Can we afford to do this? What’s wrong with sleepy country towns? Nagambie has that large body of water that attracts holidaymakers and those passing through. Increasing the population permanently would be detrimental in so many ways.
Chris Hooper, Castlemaine
A voice for genuine reform
Grace Tame speaks directly and from the heart, with an earnest passion that can’t help exposing how hollow politics has become. We have been crying out for genuine, authentic, intelligent leadership for decades. Tame in politics would usher in sorely needed reform and she might even attract more people like her.
Marina Dobbyn, Glen Waverley
AND ANOTHER THING
Flags
Now the Aboriginal flag has become the people’s flag it will be an ideal replacement for the current colonial flag if we ever become a republic.
Brian Sanaghan, West Preston
Keep the Union Jack on our flag. It represents our British origins. Just reduce its size to reflect Britain’s significance to us. The size of a postage stamp should be about right.
Donald Hirst, Prahran East
Is waving an Australian flag at the tennis not a political statement? Yet it is allowed.
Russell Brims, Bentleigh East
Tennis
De Minaur was doomed: no good could ever come from a match between the Demon and a Sinner.
Jenifer Nicholls, Armadale
I see a lot of condemnation of Nick Kyrgios and his doubles partner for providing entertainment and having fun – anyone would think that it’s a game!
David Mitchell, Moe
Furthermore
Grace Tame, you will be remembered as an outstanding Australian of the Year.
Pat Agostino, St Kilda West
It’s hot! Please don’t walk your dog in the heat of the day. If it’s too hot to go barefoot on the footpath and road, it’s too hot for your dog.
Belinda Burke, Hawthorn
Every Australia Day is a big boost for China. Australia Day merchandise is made there.
Greg Cyster, Bairnsdale
RAT hoarding. Blind Freddy could see that would happen. Try a voucher system. Or is that too simple?
Rosemary Lithgow, Maryborough
Wee Chat to me is old guys sharing their prostate concerns.
Charles Laycock, Castlemaine
Barnaby Joyce rips into businesses and individuals for buying too many RATs in order to make a profit. Surely this is what “the market” is supposed to do.
Glenn Murphy, Hampton Park
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