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icyfroth · ‎25-11-2016

Australia Day next year will come two days late for one West Australian council.

The City of Fremantle has decided to move its traditional January 26 events to January 28 because of cultural sensitivities.

The council will celebrate One Day in Fremantle on January 28, with musicians such as John Butler, Dan Sultan and Mama Kin.

The council describes the event as "an opportunity for all Australians to come together and celebrate the multicultural diversity of our country".

Mayor Brad Pettitt said the council was not opposed to celebrations on January 26, but was offering an opportunity for all Australians to come together on another day.

Dr Pettitt said the council had heard "loud and clear" from local Aboriginal elders that it was not a day to celebrate.

Australia Day marks the arrival of the First Fleet of ships from Britain in NSW on January 26, 1788.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told 3AW radio in Melbourne there was obviously some controversy about the date, as there was about most things, and to "stick with Australia Day on the 26th".

Former West Australian of the Year and former head of the Australia Day Council WA Robert Isaacs said it was divisive and concerning that a council was behaving contrary to what reconciliation was all about.

"Everyone around Australia has the opportunity to bring this nation together. Forget about the past and look at the good things," he told 6PR radio.

Local Fremantle business owner Jean Carlos Bello told AAP the move was "absolutely" sensitive to indigenous people.

There will still be a fireworks display on January 26 in Fremantle, but it will be funded by the Fishing Boat Harbour Traders Group and the Fremantle Business Improvement District.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/wa-council-moves-australia-day-to-jan-28/news-story/b...

Well there ya go. I could understand if it was Sydney, or Botany Bay, where the actual First Fleet actually landed.

But Fremantle WA?

Admittedly WA was the last state to admit convicts, but it was never a place that the 26th of January 1788 would have any significance to.

davidc4430 · ‎25-11-2016

what difference does the date make, we still celebrate the same thing.

surely the indigenous people would see it as celebrating the start of the masacre of their people even if it was held on the 29th of febuary every 4 years.

first white arrivals = killing of aboriginals

ether they forgive the past or they dont, i dont think we will ever stop celebrating australia day

icyfroth · ‎25-11-2016

Exactly.

What difference is it going to make to celebrate it 2 days later?

Either do away with it altogether or just keep the Jan 26 date.

womblewa · ‎25-11-2016

Hats off to Mr Isaacs for saying either we celebrate Australia Day on 26th January or we dont, not a two days later event. I guess it depends on whether you are focused on the awful, unjust and simply shameful way indigenous people were treated in the past (and they were, there is no dispute about that surely).... or you are trying to move forward together to the future in this wonderful country (my adopted country I might add, I am from New Zealand).

Personally, I would love to go to an Australia Day event where all immigrants who can celebrate their heritage, to share it with their fellow Australians.

And I would also love to be part of any indigenous display (to recognise the original, ancient culture that was Australia before immigration) that honours the past, and ancestors fallen, but also the future - together, from wherever you come from and even if you were here first.

I live near to Fremantle. Along with other things about Freo these days, I think it has lost its way with this one. Lots of vacant shops, lots of homeless people, people with mental health needs. But also very expensive housing, because somehow people have bought into the myth that is a very desirable place to live. Mmmmm... case of emperors new clothes methinks. Noone is really saying it how it is.

Well I am, but I anything I ever post kills threads stone dead, so this probably does count.

womblewa · ‎25-11-2016

That should read NOT count.

the_great_she_elephant · ‎25-11-2016

In view of Peter Dutton'svery public scolding of Malcolm Frazer for allowing all those undesirable migrants into or country, does anyone find it ironic that our National Day celebrates the arrival of a boatload of convicts?

davidc4430 · ‎25-11-2016

@the_great_she_elephant wrote:
In view of Peter Dutton'svery public scolding of Malcolm Frazer for allowing all those undesirable migrants into or country, does anyone find it ironic that our National Day celebrates the arrival of a boatload of convicts?

oh, but they were BRITISH convicts not MUSLIM Que Jumpers.

myoclon1cjerk · ‎25-11-2016

Peter Dutton makes Donald Trump look like a bleeding heart liberal.

icyfroth · ‎02-12-2016

The federal government has intervened to prevent the Fremantle council from holding citizenship ceremonies on its “culturally-inclusive alternative” celebration to be held in place of Australia Day next year.

Liberal MP Ben Morton has sought ministerial intervention to stop the council “politicising” the annual citizenship ceremony which the council plans to hold on January 28, its new “One Day” celebration, being held in place of Australia Day.

Assistant Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke has written to the council, warning that it will have its ability to preside over citizenship ceremonies revoked if it is found to be in breach of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code and asking it to restore the ceremony to January 26.

Mr Morton said he was concerned that the City of Fremantle, which agreed to the new “culturally-inclusive alternative” celebration last month, would deny new Australian citizens the “honour and privilege” of having their citizenship ceremony held on Australia Day.

“This is politically correct, backward looking approach from the council actually divides Australians and takes us further away from reconciliation,” Mr Morton said.

“Having your citizenship conferred to you on Australia Day is very special. The actions of Freo Council will deny that very special occasion to our new citizens, it’s a disgrace.”

Mr Hawke, who is writing to the council today, said citizenship ceremonies should be “non commercial, apolitical, bipartisan and secular”.

village_person · ‎03-12-2016

It is interesting that aborigines aren't keen to celebrate their 'invasion day' all those years ago.

ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS ARE descendents of the first people to leave Africa up to 75,000 years ago, a genetic study has found, confirming they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet.

Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen, who led the study, says Aboriginal Australians were the first modern humans to traverse unknown territory in Asia and Australia. "It was a truly amazing journey that must have demanded exceptional survival skills and bravery," he says.

A century-old lock of hair, given by a West Australian indigenous man to an anthropologist, has led to the discovery that ancestors of Aboriginal Australians reached Asia at least 24,000 years before another wave of migration that populated Europe and Asia.

Experts from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and Murdoch University were part of an international team that analysed DNA from the hair, and found no hereditary material from European immigrants to Australia. This made the man's DNA a perfect candidate for looking at the history of Aboriginal migration.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/09/dna-confirms-aboriginal-culture-one-of-earths-ol...