policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
Well, for Aboriginal people it’s been a very
important issue for a long time. I think
the recent debate has been prompted by
a backlash against Aboriginal [appeals] to
be heard that represent a wider resistance
to a whole series of changes that
Aboriginal people are demanding.
So I’d see that as, perhaps, those who
just want to cling to the date and don’t want
to listen to Aboriginal people, I’d say they’re
probably running for cover. I think it signifies
that they’re afraid they may have to change
the date before too long.
Do you have any idea of where the debate
might head from here?
Well, I don’t think it’s going away. As long
as we keep it on a day that symbolises
what to Aboriginal people is invasion, this
issue won’t be going away.
It’s hard to predict how fast these things
change, but Aboriginal people will continue
to protest and call it a day of mourning,
and if we want reconciliation with our
First Nations people, I think we’ll have
to start to listen and think about a more
appropriate date.
When you’re talking to academics, what
does the discussion involve?
Why has it been changed in the past?
Well, like all traditions, it’s very fluid. It’s not
something that’s fixed, but every generation
reinvents these sorts of symbolic events
and traditions to suit themselves.
For example, in World War I they created
an Australia Day in July to rally support
for soldiers fighting overseas, and to raise
money as well.
Before then, different colonies adopted
various Foundation Days. For example, in
Western Australia, Foundation Day was
celebrated on the 1st of June to mark the
arrival of white settlers in 1829.
Then, in 1935, all states adopted a
common name and date: Australia Day,
26th of January. In other words, the day the
British arrived and declared possession.
But it was really only in 1994 that we
officially chose to mark January 26 as a
[national public holiday].
As an academic issue, this has been
discussed for a while. Why do you think it’s
recently become mainstream?
I think historians, usually, are very
familiar with the sequence of events.
They’re not, perhaps, quite so attached
to particular days.
Historians are often more interested in
the larger scale processes, so many of my
colleagues who work in Aboriginal history
and Australian history are more interested in
examining the range of processes and how
they affected Aboriginal people.
Issues like frontier violence in the past, for
example. We’re now starting to explore that
in a lot of forensic detail, but also to explore
the symbolic and moral consequences of
those processes.
Some of my colleagues are interested
in the way that local and national
events here in Australia are actually
part of broader global processes. So
they’re seeking to bring what we