‘Resisting terrorism since 1788’

Thousands of Aboriginal rights activists took to the streets across the country on 26 January to protest the ongoing assaults against First Nations people.

The largest demonstrations were in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, which collectively drew more than 10,000 people. Hundreds more protested in Canberra, Hobart, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin.

Charging the spirit of the rallies was growing resistance to the celebration of Australia Day on the date of the landing of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788. This has long been known as the “settlement” date. But increasingly, due to the determined work of Aboriginal activists and historians, more people are recognising that 26 January can only be described as an invasion.

That the day is called a “celebration that inspires the nation” and a national holiday is a deep insult to people still subject to ethnic cleansing and assimilation policies, whose languages and cultures have been suppressed and whose children are removed and locked up at staggering rates.

This year, Australian flags, adorned with the original Union Jack of the colonising Fleet, saturated shops and were held in the hands of people lining footpaths to watch the official parades. But through the jingoism and outpouring of national pride came the defiance of the black, red and yellow – the largest organised display of Aboriginal flags on city streets in years.

Placards and banners took aim at the forced closure of homeland communities, the removal of children from families, the ongoing genocide and intolerable incarceration rates, among other things:

“Resisting terrorism since 1788”

“No pride in genocide”

“We won’t stop. We won’t go away. We won’t celebrate Invasion Day”

“Stop the forced closure of Aboriginal land”

“1788: lest we forget”

“You stole our past. Don’t steal our future”

“Australia: stolen wages, deaths in custody, stolen children”

“Black power”

“No justice on stolen land”

Above all, they sent a message that the attempts to whitewash Australian history will continue to be challenged – and that attempts to celebrate 26 January will continue to be disrupted.