Land Back
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Man this is so overblown. If it was moved to the 28th, all these whiners wouldn’t even remember in a year or two. As long as I get a holiday in late January, I don’t care about the date. These people always say the sky will fall if we change anything (gay marriage, banning smoking in bars, etc) then we do it and nothing bad happens.
I reckon you’re right, I didn’t hear any complaining this year about the Triple J Top 100 being on a different date.
USA vibes up in this thread.
Topical: ‘Celebrating Australia Day in 2026’.
Link to the QR code btw: https://www.clothingthegaps.com.au/pages/not-a-date-to-celebrate
Can you please add this to the post for visibility @Deceptichum@quokk.au?
Added.
I think what we need to do is to start our own Australia day celebration on an agreed date. We have to spend the currently official day either doing nothing or raising awareness and yet the racists(or uninformed if you’re young/new to the country) get to enjoy it celebrating.
I would love a day where we could all celebrate this beautiful country. We need to start the change we want to see in this world and raising awareness has been an excellent step in this journey.
Do you mean that instead of having Australia day be negative on 26th, start the celebration on another day first. Let the mood shift there naturally, rather than out of negativity on the day that’s already in place, albeit inappropriately.
Nah, it’s about getting the sympathetic guilt of white leftists out in one day so they can still feel like good people.
They have to have the day be negative for that.
Celebrate and teach about actual Indigenous figures and history? Nah, you won’t find support for that here.
You’ll find support for reproducing the existing culture. “More of the same” they’ll say whilst claiming to be progressives… Progress to what? They don’t have the slightest clue, and refuse to think about it.
I don’t understand who or what you’re arguing for or against.
They sound like an American with the progressive/indigenous wording. So they probably have no idea what they’re talking about - probably here to stir up drama.
Obligatory “not all the leftists!” but you’re right. I guarantee nobody in this thread actually gives a shit about the plight in indigenous communities or has any interest in materialist change tackling the dearth of jobs and opportunities fueling rampant alcoholism and abuse. They don’t want to do anything good, they just want to guilt trip so they can feel superior
That’s a pretty miserable world view. What makes you think people here are so cynical?
That’s actually a pretty fucking good idea. Why wait for the government to tell us what to do, they can follow our lead.
There was a moment on question everything where someone suggested a two word slogan for the yes vote: ‘long weekend’.
You can see Will Anderson’s mind explode.
edit: I looked it up - S3E1 27m20s
I have an argument that gets those racist idiots to agree to moving the day.
Wouldn’t it be nicer to have a public holiday when the weather’s nicer instead of it being 40 odd degrees? We should move it to a part of the year where it’s still good to go out but it’s not boiling hot. Perfect getting blind drunk and passing out on the grass in the middle of the day weather.
Yes please. We go from ANZAC day in April to fucking December 25th before we get another public holiday in most of Australia.
I dread that ‘public holiday drought’ every year.
Move it to early September or something. Skips the worst of winter and breaks up the work year better.
Come to sunny Melbourne and get grand final day and Melbourne cup day
I am not Australian and I don’t know the entire history or context, but one thing I can say is that not only can people change but nations can change, too. It’s possible to celebrate what a nation has become without celebrating what they’ve done.
And it’s also possible to change the date to one that does not mark a genocide.
- The 26th is the date the First Fleet landed in Sydney.
- Australia became a country on January 1st.
- The 26th became the official date for ‘Australia Day’ only in 1994.
Spin a wheel and pick a date. It doesn’t matter when it is, just as long as it’s not yet another ‘fuck you’ to the first nations.
Such a petty and easy to fix thing, but all the skungebags with flags sticking out of their utes seem to think this has some sort of cultural heritage to them. At least the US southerners have a generational gap between them and the loser flag.
I know im in the minority but I like the 3rd of march.
I’m with you. 3rd March is a good pick for both what it represents (throwing off the shackles of the British) and for the time of year (early Autumn is basically still summer), and I strongly support the idea of changing it to that date.
I think I would prefer 3rd September or 9th October, the date the Statute of Westminster was enacted (depending on whether you go by the date it actually passed in 1942, or the date it was retroactively applied to in 1939). They both come at a time of year where there’s a relative lack of public holidays. The 5 month period from late December to early May already have Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s, Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day, and Labour Day. That’s 7. The entire rest of the year has just 2!
(Using Queensland dates here, but the trend is similar elsewhere, with a lot of state or local public holidays also being in that span. And, obviously, I’m discounting Australia Day from the 5-month period for the sake of the hypothetical. Otherwise it would be 8.)
Ideal would be an early November/late October holiday, to get that warm weather while still being reasonably removed from the Christmas–Labour Day period. The early October of the date the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act received royal assent is a little earlier than ideal, but has the added bonus of some synergy with ACT, NSW, and SA’s Labour Day, as well as Qld’s King’s Birthday, giving two long weekends in a row: sometimes (including this year) a 3-day week, usually two 4-day weeks in a row.
But any of these dates would make great alternatives and have my strong support.
I guess making 1/1 Australia day would conflict with New Year’s Day somewhat… Any other significant days in Australia’s history that don’t mark genocide?
3rd March 1986 is the date the Australia Acts were enacted, which is actually what removed the last shackles of UK dominion over Australia, including the UK’s ability to pass legislation that would have effect in Australia or for Australians to appeal to the UK privy council. Up until this point, Australia was officially still a dominion of the British Empire.
The Statute of Westminster was officially adopted on 9th October 1942, though it was backdated to 3rd September 1939. It removed most of the ability of the UK to legislate with effect in Australia (still enabling them to legislate over Australia with Australia’s “express request and consent”), removed the ability of the monarch to refuse to allow the Governor-General to give royal assent, and gave Australia the ability to control the laws of royal succession independently of the UK, which is why prior to William having his first kid, Australia (and other countries such as NZ, in addition to the UK itself) had to enact legal changes to the laws of succession in order to allow for succession to be simple primogeniture, rather than male-preference primogeniture.
So that’s 3 good dates there: 3 March, 3 September, and 9 October.
There’s also 9 July, which is the date the Australia Constitution Act 1900 was enacted by the UK Parliament, allowing for federation to occur on 1 January the following year. So a potential 4th date, but kinda a lame one IMO.
March 3, 1986 I guess.
It’s possible to celebrate what a nation has become without celebrating what they’ve done.
A nation’s actions are a direct result of what the nation is. And many of the shameful actions of Australia are ongoing.
I love this land, I love many, many people here, and I love many of the things we’ve created together. But I have no desire to celebrate this nation as it stands. I feel no more kinship with someone on the other side of the country to someone on the other side of the world - we are all fellow humans. I treat visitors and immigrants with the same respect I give local citizens. For the many positive parts of Australian culture, I spot as many negatives.
But even all that aside, if you want to celebrate the positive parts and ignore the negative… it’s embarrassing to plaster the United Kingdom flag everywhere. Green and gold > red, white and blue.
The short answer is an important part of the Australian community considers the 26th to be a day of mourning and pain, so hardly a day we should celebrate.
The discussion is mostly about the date, some suggest 3 December, 1 January, 3 March or 9 July.
I am not Australian and I don’t know the entire history or context
And yet you decided to weigh in anyway. Amazing.
I made a general statement.
They have a point. Why play devil’s advocate on a subject you admit to knowing nothing about?
Because I know enough to make a general statement which holds true in any circumstance.
Hmm yes very smart. Add a useless platitude to a thread you have no idea about or stake in. No background reading or nuance here, just thought terminating cliches! I wonder why nobody is praising your amazing intellect.
You state that nuance and circumstance can make the statement false? Present it.
No, I don’t. It’s just meaningless. You might as well have posted “water is wet”.
Oh yes of course, you were just saying some words. You freely admit not knowing the context but it didn’t occur to you to, idk, educate yourself first? Nah, more important to just say words because idk, freezed peaches or something.
This is why no one likes Seppos.
Unlucky, I’ve had a nice celebration of our country today.
Australia was conquered by the British a long time ago. Nothing will ever change that, and the country is what it is today because of that event. No one alive today did the conquering and murdering. Everyone alive today is benefitting from it though, via not still living in caves and huts, having running water and electricity, living past the age of 30, etc.
Are you aware that indigenous Australians had possibly the highest standard of living in the world at the time? All the food, resources and medicines they could need, and all round very healthy. That was all destroyed when they were moved from their land, children stolen, even massacred, so the knowledge no longer exists. Today being born indigenous means a huge disadvantage because of the ongoing impacts. Does that seem right to you? Would you still say they’re benefiting from being occupied?
No one is blaming the people alive, but Australia Day only became officially the 26th in 1994.
It is within many of our lifetimes and we can change the date to celebrate it on a day that doesn’t coincide with the worst tragedy in our nations history.
Also your racism is noted.
Removed by mod
“Anyone that doesn’t like my poster is racist”, and other butthurt assholery, today at 6.
I unblocked you just so I could downvote this ridiculous attempt at shaming people based on YOUR opinion and not fact. You are just as bad as those fascists and racists you rail so hard against. And sadly, you just don’t care.
“Accountability is the same as fascism and racism”
You are such a loser, please block me again so I don’t have to deal with you replying to me.
Also temporarily unblocked because I came across this in modlogs after reporting spammers. Similar with a below poster you’re on here, all hours, spamming inflammatory political post. There’s enough posters who clearly don’t do much else with their time but use lemmy as a means to vent their frustration about their lives. Regardless of if I may appreciate why some protest Australia Day. Finding you then tagged a bunch of people who downvoted you to try and paint them as racist and shame them has all but confirmed this for me.
Edited: removed the redundant personal remarks, as even if stand by them, especially getting off social media, I think enough people are in here making that point. You can celebrate Aus day and not be racist. The binary view and political posting is why the downvote. Im not opposed to moving the day due to what it means to indigenous Australians. Most people celebrate it for having a day off work, to drink, and us becoming our own country/not being poms. Doubt you care given your replies in here but hope that clears it up for you.
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Urgh, naming and shaming people for disagreeing with you? What a fkn sad thing to do, I’m ashamed to share the same opinion with someone as pathetic as you.
Aww boo hoo naming and shaming a bunch of racists, how will I ever sleep losing your respect.
You asked for my opinion, but the toxicity was clear that I wasn’t going to give it. But since you’ve just said that well, here it is…
I spent years in Australia, much of it in rural areas you’d probably label as “Aboriginal communities”, as such the major city folk did, though in reality they were made up of all sorts of people. No one I knew framed life around skin colour or the actions of British colonists long before any of us were born.
While I was there, Australia Day was of contention, and it’s unusual to see it still is. An elder I worked with once put it plainly: colonial dates—Gregorian, Julian, whatever—hold little meaning because they aren’t connected to their culture and lived reality. They did not care and it was hard for them to. More broadly, I was taught that the country is shared, taught, and enjoyed with respect for all living things. That outlook helped me feel at home in a place that was intimidating at first, until I was welcomed in. And if you’ve travelled, you’d know this isn’t unique to Australia, it’s common across indigenous cultures impacted by European colonisation, especially outside Eurasia. A disassociation with the things of different cultures, yet are still having to have them shoved at the forefront and be told how to be about them.
What also struck was how openly critical they were of some Aboriginal activists. They saw them as loud, clueless, and often doing more harm than good. Creating social division to offload what someone once called "the First Fleet guilt” which passes through the generations. It was clear they didn’t want to be spoken for, particularly when those actions clashed with their culture and other’s cultures.
Based on your behaviour—both earlier and now—you appear to ve that type of person. British culture was never a part of them and never will be, yet you treat it as central because it’s central to you. You’ve even gone on to attack a list of people in ways that draw harder lines between groups, when both Aboriginal culture and broader Australian culture aim for the opposite.
The downvote was for you.
Knowing what I know, it’s a real shame to see the energy you put out in this post, knowing it could’ve been spent on so much more things helpful to those communities. But drill down a few layers and I suspect to find it was always about you and not them.
Okay so you spent some time in some communities experience a small part of a culture, and latched onto the first thing someone told you?
It is in contention and continues to be in contention because it still leaves a mark on the lives of Aboriginal peoples in Australia today. The majority of which might I add live in cities, not remote outback communities. And these things do hold meaning for them, and they are exactly their lived reality. Why don’t you go listen to their voices when they say they want the date changed, when they say they want a treaty, when they say they their words? Why do you subject them all to the opinion of a person living out woop woop? Do you think they are less ‘authentic’ or less worthy of listening to?
Aboriginal people live the same lives the rest of us do, they own houses, raise families, go to school, go to work, follow the Gregorian calendar, and so on and so forth. And they have said time and time again that they want the date changed. But you know what’s best for them?
And no, you downvoted this image long before I started commenting and calling out the racists. Many of which are the same names I’ve called out previously or seen them subtly express their racist views before and know exactly why they downvoted.
You are speaking to me as if this is my direct opinion, my words, and that I have a stake in anything. I’ve just passed on the sentiment of those I lived alongside around most of Australia at the time. I can share the opinion, but I don’t have the right to form it and hold it as though it is mine.
So, you will have to travel to change these people—just as the Australian government once tried—or accept them for it. In doing so, maybe realise that 300+ first nations should never be placed under a single umbrella term and thought of as such. This was, after all, a contributor to why your amendment to the constitution had pushback from Aunties and Uncles around the country. Again, you’d have to take that one up with them, not me.
If I am to share a personal opinion with you, though, it is simply that the world has made it clear to me; bad people always conduct themselves with the same nature and behaviour. Strangely, there are those that think it’s okay because they hide behind the mask of good intent. But at the end of the day, they’re the same people and their cause, whether good or bad, means little at that point.
I don’t need to travel to everywhere and speak to everyone to know that the consensus among most Aboriginal peoples is for the date to be changed.
You however maybe need to listen to more voices than one elder. Because you are actively arguing against what the majority want, and your reasoning is borderline racist implying they’re not authentic because they exist in a western system.
I personally downvoted because of the design of the poster. This was on the front page but lacked information to make sense, for the rest of the world
I didn’t even know there was an Australia Day, let alone why it’s not a day to celebrate
That said, I am blocking you because this type of confrontation and exposure is simply unacceptable
You need to get a life and focus on something that matters. Not what random people on the internet like or don’t like and asking them why
I only came here because you linked the thread elsewhere, so I didn’t see this on my front page… but you saw a poster that said ‘Australia Day’ and that left you not knowing there was an Australia day? 🤔
It even says aborigine enterprises on it, it’s not hard gather the context or follow the qr code if you wanted to learn more. And seeing some of these comments, I think OP was right to call them out.
I obviously realized that that there is an Australia day, but no information about why this is not a day to celebrate. Sure I could look into it, but the way I use up- or down votes is a reaction to what I see. Being called out for it, was a surprise to me, and fundamentally will change the way I use Lemmy from now on
While I disagree with down voting, especially en masse or on racist grounds, I am also against public shaming of voting. It’s part of the reason voting is partly hidden.
Of course, you can only have a discussion with commenters, not lurkers.
It’s purity tests given out as ideological gatekeeping. Essentially a way to sow division and make the left unpopular.
Wow, tracing people online. :-) I hate racism, promoting one race over other is racism no mater what. All this jumping around First nation only creates more hate toward them, it is not helping at all. Want to help, help people in disadvantage no matter what race they are. If it will go predominately to aboriginals, fine, it means they need it more.
I hate racism, promoting one race over other is racism no mater what
Very true. Why, then, are you not opposed to our national celebratory holiday being moved away from a day seen as a day of mourning by some, because of what it represents for them and their culture?
It affects only a very small percentage of the population. For the majority, that date means nothing outside its official meaning. And no matter what day you pick, someone will be offended. Just move on; it does not matter in the grand scale of things. But I would agree that putting it on the day when the federation was formed would make more sense, but January 1st is already used.
Ah I see. Racism is ok then, when it “affects only a very small percentage of the population.”
Logic? Please explain how did you come to this conclusion?
It’s your logic, you explain it
I just fail to see how you come to this conclusion based on my post. Please explain.
Racism is ok then, when it “affects only a very small percentage of the population.”
My opinion is fuck you, your drama and the horse you rode in on.
Upvotes and downvotes are used to indicate what people should see, and I don’t think people should see your posts.
They’re not posts “about aboriginal people”. They’re posts about Australia day.
It should be a day to celebrate indigenous people and indigenous history, from Tullamareena for burning down Melbourne jail, to A. M. Fernando for protesting covered in skeletons outside of Buckingham Palace.
I think Australia Day is used to celebrate the wrong things, and I’ll downvote posts I think do that. That’s my business and you’re not the fucking moral police of me cunt face.
Don’t you think it’s kind of gaslighting to tell people they should just forget it’s a day of death and suffering and celebrate like everyone else?
One of the people I mentioned was literally protesting the genocide dumb ass. See this is the thing Australians have no clue who any famous or legendary aboriginal people are.
A M Fernando was literally say “these skeletons are all that you’ve left of my people”… And you think learning about that is “forgetting it’s a day of death and suffering”.
Fuckin Australians on Australia day are the fucking worst.
Ok yeah that’s really good to remember. But can you tell me why it’s important to remember this on the 26th and not a more inclusive day?
The date doesn’t matter.
Yes, I only ever see you here to stir up drama and your flood of posts agitating against a day you would never celebrate anyway regardless of the date are no exception. You’re doing it again with this comment, post stuff that’s not attempting to stir up shit if you want upvotes.
We had a referendum about this, you lost.
We don’t want this identity politics bullshit, we reject it.
So, take this nonsense and shove it where the sun don’t shine.
We had a referendum about this
Not in my lifetime we sure as fuck didn’t.
They’re just saying what we all knew to be true at the time. No voters weren’t voting on the proposed changes to rhe Constitution.
Whis AI made this? Australians don’t use month-day format, we use day-month format.
Ps, nothing against the statement being made here…
It’s not AI made and where are you even seeing a XX/XX/XX format on this poster?
I think the real commenter thought “26 is” was the 15th month of 2026, which is completely reasonable…
“January 26 15” at the top. I mean, even translating that from American date format, it still doesn’t make sense unless the poster was originally made for Australia day 2015…
Again though, nothing against the statement being made, I am in the “Australia day isn’t a celebration” camp too. Just a shame the date format isn’t Australian date format. It detracts from the effectiveness of the statement by making the incorrect date format the focus, rather than the statement being made.
Thats “is” not “15”, a fair mistake to make the font does make it look like a 15
That says is not 15.
Yeah I know that now. 😊
It was a fair enough mistake tho, bad font choice.
That’s IS not 15
Fair enough, although “January 26” is still American date format, not Australian date format.
Anyway, not trying to cause an argument or anything, just pointing out some tips you might like to pass on to the graphic designer and marketing team. I’ll see myself out.
We have no standard for if we say 26 of Jan or Jan 26th. The only standard we have is for de/mm/yyyy format.
Actually we do have an official standard for both short and long date. It’s “day month year”, not “month day”. Short dates are d/m/yyyy, long dates are dd mmm yyyy. https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/style-manual-resources/quick-guides/quick-guide-dates-and-time#%3A~%3Atext=at+midday+tomorrow.-%2CDates%2C-Use+the+'day
That’s for “Australian Government content”, it’s not the standard for vernacular Australian English.
