Amid growing debate about whether it is right to mark Australia Day on January 26, at least one central Victorian community is taking steps to ensure the Aboriginal community plays a prominent role in celebrations.
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This year, Mount Alexander Shire Council is working with the Aboriginal group Nalderun to plan the Australia Day activities in Castlemaine, which will include a ‘Survival Day’ component.
“It means a great deal to include the community, to have the support of the shire,” Jaara elder Uncle Rick Nelson said, adding that the Aboriginal community was lucky to enjoy strong support from the wider community.
Mr Nelson, and his father Uncle Brien Nelson, have played a role in the event for several years.
This year it will again include a Welcome to Country delivered by Mr Nelson, as well as individual welcomes for the new Australian citizens.
There will also be an area where people can see a map of Indigenous nations of Australia and learn about the traditional owners of where they hail from, as well as artwork.
Mr Nelson said the atrocities that had occurred in the wake of European arrival had to be recognised, but the multicultural nature of Australian society today also needed to be acknowledged.
For many Aboriginal people, he said, the day was Invasion Day or Survival Day, a time to mark the survival of Aboriginal people since the arrival of Europeans.
Mr Nelson said the Aboriginal community had considered a couple of years ago having a separate event for Australia Day, but had decided to continue with a single, unified community event.
When people were able to celebrate as one country, he said, “we’ll all be better off”.
Mount Alexander Shire mayor Bronwen Machin said the Australia Day event was about bringing different people together to celebrate “who we are”.
“We’re on a continent that’s been occupied for 40,000 years, so it’s about celebrating that, in all its richness,” Cr Machin said.
She said it would not be the first time the Aboriginal community would play a role in the event, but there would be a greater focus.
She said the council worked very closely with the Aboriginal community, with initiatives such as a regular reconciliation roundtable.
She understood why other councils had decided not to celebrate Australia Day as it was, Cr Machin said, but the community had made the decision to continue marking the day.
Three Melbourne councils are among those in Australia that have decided to abandon official events on January 26.
For many Aboriginal people, that date marks the violence and oppression the country’s First Peoples faced after the British arrived in Australia.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
