Read on Twitter
Funny how these things can escalate from a small piece in The Australian, to a govt. backbench threatening the ABC's entire funding, plus a 'please explain' letter from the minister to the ABC board. 1/10 https://twitter.com/SenatorMcGrath/status/1353237656403025922
Here's four things to bear in mind whenever commentators and politicians are triggered by the term 'Invasion Day'.
Firstly, there is no dispute that 26 January 1788 began with a monstrous lie. Arthur Phillip took land at Sydney Cove which he assumed had no prior owner. 2/10
Firstly, there is no dispute that 26 January 1788 began with a monstrous lie. Arthur Phillip took land at Sydney Cove which he assumed had no prior owner. 2/10
You didn't need to wait for the High Court's Mabo judgement to say this out aloud. John Batman, of all people, belled the cat in 1835 when he signed a 'treaty' for lands that cover most of what is now Melbourne and Geelong. A treaty assumes prior Endogenous ownership. 3/10
Batman's treaty wasn't worth the paper it was written on because he did not have the Crown's authority to settle (although, as was the way with these thing, he did get to keep some of the land he stole). See @jamesboycebooks excellent 1835 https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/1835 4/10
Secondly, however enlightened Arthur Phillip was for his time, there is also no dispute that the expansion of the settlement after 1788 involved a fair degree of state-sponsored and/or state-condoned massacres ... https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php 5/10
Thirdly, our federation was based on a lie even more monstrous than terra nullias - that Indigenous Australians were dying out. This lie was used to deny First Australians the vote, basic welfare such as the baby bonus and the right to be counted in the census. 6/10
Alfred Deakin made this calculation plain during the White Australia parliamentary debates of 1901:
“Little more than 100 years ago Australia was a Dark Continent in every sense of the term. There was not a white man within its borders.
7/10
“Little more than 100 years ago Australia was a Dark Continent in every sense of the term. There was not a white man within its borders.
7/10
"In another century the probability is that Australia will be a white continent with not a black or even dark skin among its inhabitants. The Aboriginal race has died out in the south and is dying fast in the north and west even where most gently treated.
8/10
8/10
"Other races are to be excluded by legislation if they are tinted to any degree."
Pro tip for commentators and politicians defending the 26th: Please don't repeat Deakin's foundational mistake of trying to define this great nation by whom you exclude. 9/10
Pro tip for commentators and politicians defending the 26th: Please don't repeat Deakin's foundational mistake of trying to define this great nation by whom you exclude. 9/10
Finally, never forgot the Australians who have been here all along, whose ancestors were here on 25 January 1788.
Do yourselves a favour and listen to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in your own language (yes, English is included). https://www.sbs.com.au/language/ulurustatement#mod-block_module-2-target 10/10
Do yourselves a favour and listen to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in your own language (yes, English is included). https://www.sbs.com.au/language/ulurustatement#mod-block_module-2-target 10/10
