Blue Mountains Greens councillor Brent Hoare has started campaigning to “change the date” of Australia Day for Blue Mountains City Council in deference to the Indigenous community.
“I'm keen to advocate for #ChangeTheDate @nswalc in #BMCC #BlueMountains (but first need to talk with local elders too!)” he tweeted over the weekend to his 1000 plus followers, referencing a decision by two Melbourne councils who have chosen not to hold citizenship ceremonies from January 26 next year, nor will they refer to it as Australia Day.
But he can expect fierce opposition from Liberal councillor Brendan Christie who responded by asking council at their next meeting to “support Australia Day ceremonies on January 26 and that council flies the Australian flag at the front of the council chambers”.
“I’m very concerned about councillors playing divisive politics over Australia Day,” he told the Gazette.
“It’s a day where we come together and welcome our newest citizens. It would be disappointing if we were stripped of our powers and our new citizens had to go to Penrith or Lithgow for their ceremony … councillors should be focused on delivering the basic services, not playing games with Australia Day.”
Adding that “trying to change the date is out of step with the community”.
But Darug and Gundungurra elder, Uncle Graeme Cooper has welcomed a local debate.
“Australia Day should be celebrated on the 1st of the 1st marking when there was a constitution drawn up on that day in 1901,” he said.
“I think it’s about time that they took a stand and look after Aboriginal people. Captain Cook didn’t discover Australia, we were here.”
Indigenous broadcaster Stan Grant has been a big part of the debate, questioning place names such as the Coxs River, named after pioneer William Cox, who called for the massacre of Aborigines.
“When I drive through the Blue Mountains west of Sydney to return to the country of my ancestors, the Wiradjuri, I cross the Coxs River named after William Cox the pioneer and road builder,” Mr Grant wrote recently.
“In the 1820s, at the height of conflict between the Wiradjuri and the British … addressing a crowd at Bathurst, Cox said ‘the best thing that could be done is to shoot all the blacks and manure the ground with their carcasses’.”
Fellow Greens councillor Kerry Brown said council needs to consult widely with the local Aboriginal community before initiating any action and “the nature of the event needs to mature”.
“Any date called Australia Day should officially acknowledge the dispossession and slaughter of Aboriginal people and celebrate their extraordinary survival and diverse culture. Australia Day should have at its heart the oldest living culture on Earth."
Cr Hoare said “it’s a discussion the nation is having and we need to be part of it, but consulting widely with the local Indigenous people is obviously the first step”.
“The suggestion it be done when we founded Australia in 1901 is now an option. Obviously there needs to be an Australia Day, but having it on the 26th is divisive. We’ve had 200 years of divisive politics … it’s forgetting the great silence, covering up the terrible atrocities our nation was founded on.”
The issue will be debated at the next meeting on September 19.
