Saturday, January 21, 2023

WERE BRITISH EMPIRE'S LANDLESS/JOBLESS WHITE SLAVES, DUMPED HERE ON 26 JAN 1788 OR THEIR SMALLPOX - THE REAL "INVADER"?

OUR "QUICK QUIZ" ON WHAT OZ DAY REALLY MEANS    (MODIFIED AFTER BLOCKING)

·       WHO STARTED “AUSTRALIA DAY” & WHEN ?

In 1908 Catholic cardinal Moran proposed a Catholic run “Australia Day” – to counter the conservative Protestants’ new “Empire Day”. This Irish republican type national day became Catholic policy in 1911 – after a vote at their first Educational Conference in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. They made it as 24 May, just for kids in Catholic Schools – as Empire Day was already “discredited” in public schools, where THAT was run, said the Cardinal.

·       HOW WAS IT THAT ANZACS THEN GOT RID OF “EMPIRE DAY” (AND CRACKER NIGHT)

“Empire Day” was brought to Australia (from Britain) by the militant Protestant - British Empire League, teaching children to love England instead of Australia! Empire Day wasn’t a public holiday in NSW, (except in 1915) and was mostly aimed at schools. It finally became Commonwealth Day by the 1960’s -as Empire was by then, no longer respected as a reason for an Australian day for celebration. It was children who then just made it just “Cracker Night” – but ironically, kids were later banned from lighting fireworks for it!

Later in the 1960’s – after Commonwealth Day had come “cracker night” – 24 May was moved to being instead, just a fake “Queen’s Birthday” and the national day idea finally moved to the foundation day of 26 Janurary. Do we now face that travesty of 24 May now becoming a fake King’s Birthday holiday weekend, or can it be the new Australia Day – instead of on April 26, with a holiday weekend? The idea of conservative Protestants originally running an Empire Day on 24 May -was actually a tactic to counter nationalist republicanism, but that was later taken over by the Australian patriotism of the Anzac myth after WW1.

Anzac Day then became the defacto “national day” – which then swept away both allegiance to the British empire - monarchy and to local calls for a Republic. Australian blood spilt on foreign shores – such as during the disastrous Gallipoli invasion of Turkey, (up a steep beach hill)- was pushed by Rupert Murdock’s journalist dad- as some kind of antipodean birth-of-a-nation.

 ·       NEW “AUSTRALIA DAY”- ON A KING’S, FAKE BIRTHDAY WEEKEND OR ANZAC DAY  

We have advocated for years in our Media Releases – that 25 April, marking the Gallipoli beach invasion as Anzac Day, could be made the new Australia Day. It would include a morning Veteran’s march – that already includes school marching bands. One such band in recent years – played “We Are Australian”, which was quite stirring, especially without the over- sung words (not being heard with it)! Likewise, Waltzing Matilda, works as a patriotic song – if its C19th tale of a Depression-era sheep-thief drowning himself, to avoid capture (and hanging),  being not heard.

“Invasion Day” on 26 January, ironically can be seen as a fitting date for an “Australia Day” – as initiated by the Catholic Church in Sydney. After-all, 26 Jan is  really about the landless-poor being dumped on the other side of the earth from Ireland, where most of those “convicts” were brutally pushed off their family farms by the British invaders. The War of Independence, in its American colonies, stopped them being sent there -as white slaves for the squatter farmers. Therefore, should the present Australia Day on 26 January-  one day become Australia’s Independence Day ?   

·       SHOULD 26 JANUARY MARK RESTORATION OF ABORIGINAL NATIONS SOVREIGHTY ?

Should the First Fleet officers and army be blamed for the British empire “invasion”, but their prisoners exempted – as they came not of their free will (as landless slaves to build the infrastructure for the invasion’s colonisation). Certainly Capt/Gov Phillip made no attempt to negotiate with the local “natives”,  by using the usual trinkets  and promises of a Treaty. Instead,  the British used army tactics of kidnapping and torture- to coerce some young natives to become  “informants”. Bennelong and the other young captive – were later unfairly branded as collaborators, while kidnapper, Gov Phillip was finally given grudging respect! Army rebels later set up Rum as a currency and overthrew the Empires\’s Govt!

Is the Uluru “Voice” statement being used to finally entrench some kind of Aboriginal representative body – into the Constitution? That could make it easier to incorporate such a notion, in a Republican Constitution – that our lazy political Parties will not want to be changing much from the present one. The real test of how badly Britain treated Aboriginal people here – should be how they treated American and New Zealand indigenous people, who had some equivalent means (modern weapons, military tactics) to resist invasion of their lands.

That, at least - got then got them some Treaties and Reservations – not just Native Title, that depends too much on continuous land occupation and ongoing cultural connections. True reconciliation seems the only way forward for ongoing recognition of First Nations people here – but not just for notions of separate development. They already show leadership on natural environment matters – why not acknowledge more on their discoveries on medical and technology, having being using natural  penicillin and the flying airwing design (boomerang) for tens and thousands of years (plus star navigation -that us many of our "modern" trunk roads)

Written by "Robert Bull" (c) Janurary2023 unemployedpeoplesembassy Australia

REFERENCE:     Australian Popular Culture - edited by peter Spearritt and David Walker
first published 1979 - by George Allen & Unwin Australia Pty Ltd- North Sydney

NOTE: Saturday Paper claimed it would look at this article - but email blocked. The Australian and SMH didn't acknowledge receipt of this. 

"Australian is the only country in the world where Democracy is enforced with a Fine" for not voting. DONALD HORNE - author The Lucky Country

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