The celebration of Australia Day on 26 January has always been marked by controversy. That was inevitable once it was decided to hold it on the day that the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove.
This marked the beginning both of British settlement and of Indigenous dispossession. So, on the face of it, not a suitable date for a celebration that unites Australians. It is rather a sign of division between winners and losers from the landing.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
But we are free to make of celebrations what we will, and perhaps precisely because the date of the holiday is so ambiguous, it may actually be very appropriate. Its awkwardness reminds us that there is unfinished business. It says that we are not a perfect people, that our prosperity is not equitably shared, that our good fortune is built on the unmerited aggrandisement of some and the undeserved dispossession of others, that our history carries much to be proud of and much to be ashamed of, and that our future must be built on reconciliation and not moving on from an unhealed past.
Australia Day reminds us that our nation is not exceptional, does not have a unique destiny, but is the result of what we human beings, at once precious and sinful, have built, of the quality of our relationships with one another and with our environment, and of the justice and the equity of the institutions we have shaped.
NATION BUILDING REQUIRES WORK
Australia Day is not an occasion to praise ourselves that we are different from other nations who are less wise, courageous and industrious than we are, but a time to note the differences between Australians, to recognise the ways in which power has triumphed over justice in relationships between us, to celebrate the moments of reconciliation, and to resolve to address wisely, courageously and industriously the consequences of dispossession in order to shape a nation we can be proud of.
Australia Day, of course, is a day free from work, a time to put snags on the barbie and to rest. It is a time to be thankful for the relatively peaceful and prosperous society that we have. But it is also a time to remember the history of conflict that has advantaged some of us and disadvantaged others, and to respect the people on whose dispossession our prosperity rests.
TIME TO BE SERIOUS
The close association with the Day to remember the victims of the Holocaust (27 January) does highlight the serious side of Australia Day. Of course, it is not right to compare the events of the Holocaust and those of the settlement of Australia. But the mention of the Holocaust does remind us of the danger when any society marginalises and scorns a minority of its citizens. Such unresolved prejudice can have murderous consequences.
Australia Day is a holiday from work. But it is not a holiday from history and its consequences.
This article was first published in January 2019.