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Essay On Australia Day

Decent Essays

Earlier this year, thousands of indigenous Australians and activist marched in major cities across Australia, arguing that January 26 shouldn’t be celebrated as its marks a day of mourning for many people. Thousands of Aboriginal people and activist protest in Melbourne arguing the date of Australia day must be altered.
A Sky News report revealed that several protests turned violent with an Australian flag set alight in Sydney and Melbourne, and protesters likening the day to the bombing of Hiroshima.
On January 26, 1788 the first fleet arrived, marking the beginning of genocide of the Aboriginal People. By 1935 all states came to acknowledge the colonisation of Australia, and January 26 became known as “Australia Day”.
However, leading up to the bicentenary of European colonisation in 1988 the term “Invasion Day” came into usage by Aboriginal people who questioned what was to celebrate about mass genocide. Since then protests have been held every year.
With Australia Day associated to celebrating genocide and the destruction of the Aboriginal culture, the government must consider altering the date of Australia Day out of respect for the Aboriginal People and to further assimilation between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, which in contrast to genocide, is something truly worth celebrating.
Before the arrival of the first fleet the Aboriginal people were free however, after the invasion the Aboriginal people were controlled by the Europeans, as displayed in

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