Millions of Australians rallied across the country on Sunday during Australia Day festivities to show support for the indigenous people of the country, who see the day as a sobering reminder of the beginning of great massacres and loss of life after colonization, Reuters reported.
Protesters vandalized two heritage monuments in Melbourne. Vandalized was a statue of the colonist John Batman, an important figure in the founding of Sydney and one accused of murdering Indigenous people, while red paint disfigured a World War I monument. In Canberra, red graffiti scrawled with the words “The colony is collapsing” appeared on a statue of King George V.
HAPPENING NOW: A massive crowd of people have turned up to protest Australia Day and call for "Death to Australia."
You'll notice that the most common flag is the Palestinian flag. The Australian government just welcomed and handed out money to thousands more Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/fDenp4vpYN
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) January 26, 2025
To many Indigenous Australians, January 26 marks the day of British settlement and the arrival of Captain James Cook into Sydney Cove. In this regard, it is a day of mourning and to some of the opponents, it would be called an “Invasion Day” or “Survival Day.”.
“On Independence Day.” Survival is all that counts. They’re still there. We are nowhere. An Aborigene Australian, Amanda Hill said: “You can try to assimilate for all eternity, but we are still here.”
Sydney witnessed some 15,000 people protest and enjoy musical shows, while the Melbourne central business district welcomed 25,000 people. Rates of Aboriginal deaths in police detention, missing and murdered women who were native, land rights, and the push for a treaty that would recognize Indigenous peoples were some of the core issues that protest leaders brought into the limelight.
However, although the proposal was later rejected, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attempted in 2023 to give legal representation to Aboriginal people in parliament by means of a referendum. Meanwhile, on social media, opposition leader Peter Dutton campaigned against division and in favor of unity under one flag and for celebrating Australia Day. If elected prime minister in the next election, he vowed to ban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from official government media briefings—that is well and truly something that must be done by mid-May.
