Colonization for six year olds
Conversations about Australia Day
She is six. One evening, she picks at the thread of Australia Day. Soon it is all in front of her. We cushion the violence and child kidnapping, but we give her the facts.
She is sad for two reasons.
First, so many people could feel sad and angry on Australia Day. Without prompting, she suggested that the day be moved so everyone could enjoy it.
Second - the most hurtful - she feels a connection with nature. She’s never known any other home than Australia. And she is confused by the idea that she somehow isn’t from the place of her birth. She is jealous that others claim this place is somehow more theirs than hers. What other home can she have?
This is the heart of everything - simple, two-headed grief. She is now a full citizen of Australia - forced to reconcile, for herself, how her pride and sadness can sit at the same table, look each other in the eye, and embrace.
Some facts.
January 26th has nothing to do with Captain Cook. It DOES denote the landing of the First Fleet of British Ships in Port Jackson and the raising of the British flag. (Cook had been dead for many years by this point.) The raising of the flag triggered a legal state of 'terra nullius', thereby claiming the land as empty. It wasn't. Several hundred thousand Indigenous people occupied the land. In the eyes of British law, they DID NOT EXIST. This was not properly overturned until 1992.
By 1901, half a million Aboriginal men, women and children had been killed in attempted genocide across Australia. But the killers received no consequences for their actions, as the victims of their violence did not exist in the eyes of a justice system. These massacres and civil wars aren't widely taught in our schools or recognised in mainstream ideas of Australian history. Our celebrated war memorials do not commemorate those who died in the Frontier Wars.
You can find a map of massacre sites here.
The 26th of January, Australia Day, was only made a public holiday in 1994.
These things are all older than the Australian Day Public Holiday: Friends, Mrs Doubtfire, and Meatloaf’s smash hit I’d Do Anything For Love.
The 'tradition' of Australia Day is younger than most of us. But the mythos of Australia Day isn't. In our psyche, Australia is the country of egalitarianism. We want everyone to have a fair go. Everyone's equal. That's a deep-rooted cultural reaction to our British forebears.
The idea that others deserve ‘special treatment’ goes against Aussie egalitarianism. It’s offensive to many.
But of course, as a result of historical oppression (evidenced in thousands of scientific, medical and educational reports), First Nations Australians face unfair disadvantage. Incarceration, suicide rates and child-removal rates are still incredibly high.
This is our greatest cultural stalemate and our country's deepest spiritual wound. To acknowledge the need for proper First Nations reforms (or a Voice, for example) is to acknowledge a history that white Australians fear somehow attacks our birthright.
This is our home. I was born here. And so were my parents.
They were here first. It's as simple as that. And history ignored that fact for centuries. They've been oppressed, ripped apart, and treated with suspicion. If you're reading this and you're white, you don't know what systematic oppression is like. Your people aren't at increased risk of early death. If you're arrested, you are unlikely to be killed in custody.
I don’t know what I think anymore. Changing the date is a symbol I used to believe in, but it would be a superficial token for an uglier problem.
This is how I will spend Australia Day.
I will rise late with my daughters. I will make them pancakes. We will put our feet in bare grass. We will watch the family of magpies that attend to our lawn every day.
We won’t do anything special or un-special. If the children ask, we will talk about our country and express our gratitude and our pain.
Countries are never perfect, and patriotism is the last refuge of the fool. Countries are complex ideas, only as good as the people who hold them. I hope we find the courage to hold our country’s complexity together.
Great read, yet again.
A 6 year olds unclouded view, retold for all ....
Do you give permission for sharing on socials?