Dr Tristan Ewins
Around about this time of year the nation
usually pursues a debate on Australia Day.
What is the Australian identity?
What do we have to celebate? Is
there anything we should regret or mourn?
Is January 26th really the best date for our national day, or
should we reject the idea that Australia’s history only began with
colonisation? After all, January 26th
is the date that the First Fleet arrived in 1788, but indigenous history goes
back for some tens of thousands of years.
As such debate on Australia Day also spurs discussion around the
formation of an Australian Republic ; on the flag ; on a Treaty and the need
for a Voice to Parliament ; and the reality of modern multicultural Australia.
That said, there are things to celebrate
in our history which we can construct a national identity around. Australia played an important role in the
defeat of Fascism in World War Two. The
egalitarian spirit of mateship helped the men to persevere during the conflict
and sometimes as POWs in Changi and the Thai-Burma railway. The question of the flag is complicated by the fact tens
of thousands died fighting under that flag to defeat fascism. And there are aspects of our working class
historical culture which resonate with egalitarianism ; though the
Conservatives have worked to minimise the significance of this in our National
Identity.
By shifting our national day to the date
of Federation we would at least avoid the notion that history began with
colonisation. Though there needs to be
simultaneous recognition that indigenous history goes back some tens of
thousands of years before that. Since
January 1st is already a public holiday an additional public holiday
would need to be established. Perhaps
this could even be rethemed as ‘reconciliation day’ where we strive to grasp
our past and heal for the future. Such a
day could provide focus for discussion on a Treaty ; and once a Treaty is
achieved could provide an opportunity to commemorate that achievement. And to focus on whatever work remains to be
done. If a Treaty were established ‘reconciliation day’ could become an annual
event.
Australia Day is a time to contest ‘what
it means to be Australian’. The Left has
a mission to embed progressive values in our ‘national psyche’. Today is a good
day to pursue that mission. To discuss the Republic and perhaps the flag. And to pursue far-reaching reconciliation.
