Thousands gather at Invasion Day rallies, calling for rethink of Australia Day

 

Thousands of people are gathering at Invasion Day rallies across the country, backing Indigenous calls for a change or abolishment of Australia Day on 25.01.2024. The Australia Day holiday, held on the same date that Arthur Phillip hoisted the British flag at Sydney Cove in 1788, is referred to by many Indigenous communities as Invasion Day or Survival Day. Debate over the national holiday intensifies each year, with Australian cricketer Pat Cummins the latest high-profile individual to voice support for changing the date.

-  35,000 people gathered on Wurundjeri land at State Parliament in Melbourne, calling for a day of mourning to be officially declared across Australia. Melbourne rally organiser Tarneen Onus Browne is a Gunditjmara, Bindal, Yorta Yorta person and Torres Strait Islander from Mer and Erub islands. They represent the Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance which wants to not just change January 26, but abolish Australia Day altogether. "We believe that there is no day in the calendar that massacres and violence didn't happen," they said. "That's what we've been coming out every year to say and we also want to dispel the myth of this colony and the discovery of it."

In the state's north-west, about 150 people attended a Survival Day rally in Mildura.

Protesters walked along Langtree Mall in the centre of town to Jaycee Park on the Murray River chanting "change the date" and "pay the rent".

In Sydney, thousands were not deterred by soaring temperatures when they met at Belmore Park on Gadigal land, before marching through the city.

The crowd listened to emotional speeches from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who shared their negative experiences of the health and justice systems.

unghutti man Paul Silva — whose uncle David Dungay Jr died in custody — said it was important for white Australia to understand "why blackfellas want this day gone".

He cited the long history of state-sanctioned massacres of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since 1788.

Thousands of people have gathered on Yuggera and Turrbal land in Brisbane to support the annual Invasion Day rally.

Protesters met at Queens Garden in the CBD and marched to Musgrave Park in West End, calling for the date of Australia Day to change.

In South Australia, hundreds of people packed Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga in the heart of Adelaide's CBD for a Survival Day rally.

One the leaders of the rally, Noongar and Wiradjuri man Clinton Bennell, said the event was intended to highlight resilience, but that it "transcends Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".

"There's a lot of allies out here today, so it's really a great sort of cup-filling moment," he said.

In Perth, more than a thousand people gathered for an Invasion Day rally at Forrest Place, with attendees marching to the Stirling Gardens.

Rally organiser, Noongar man Fabian Yarran, said changing the date was only a small part of the wider issue of addressing systemic disadvantage for First Nations Australians.

He said that changing the date would be beneficial if it had an impact on policy and legislation. 

"If we change the date so we can come together and unify the whole community … we're all Australians, we can be together, celebrating the day," he said.