Aboriginal Day of Mourning

Running head: ABORIGINAL DAY OF MOURNING
ABORIGINAL DAY OF MOURNING
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1ABORIGINAL DAY OF MOURNING
As opined by Bond (2015), an integral aspect of the Australian history is the process
of colonisation through which the indigenous people of Australia were subjugated. Law and
Mackenzie (2016) are of the viewpoint that the aboriginals of the nation of Australia had to
face a substantial amount of discrimination, suppression and other kinds of evil and even
their basic human rights were taken away from them. As a matter of fact, the lands which
traditional belonged to the indigenous people were being unlawfully or illegally taken away
from them by the European settlers in the name of colonisation or civilisation in Australia
(Paisley 2017). The resultant effect of this is that different kinds of protests or revolts have
been staged by these individuals over the years although with apparently no results
(Silverstein 2018). In this regard, mention needs to be made of the “Aboriginal Day of
Mourning’ which was staged by the aboriginal people or for that matter their community on
26 January 1938 so as to protest against the oppression or the subjugation that the aboriginal
people had to face in the concerned nation. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a critical
analysis of the ‘Aboriginal Day of Mourning’ and the prominence that it holds in the canon of
Australian history.
Bainbridge and Doherty (2015) have articulated the viewpoint that an important
aspect of the nation of Australia is the fact that unlike the other nations of the world wherein
it is seen that their national day celebrates the glory of their nation, the contributions that the
founding fathers have made towards the nation and other aspects, the national day of
Australia celebrates the oncoming of the European settlers. The resultant effect of this is that
the aboriginal or the indigenous people of Australia over the years have boycotted the
national day celebrations which are organised every year in the nation under discussion here
(Aiatsis.gov.au 2019). It was seen that in the year 1938, on the very day on which the
National Day of Australia is being celebrated by the European settlers, that is, 26th January,
the aboriginal people of the concerned nation started the celebration of the ‘Aboriginal Day

2ABORIGINAL DAY OF MOURNING
of Mourning’ which is celebrated even in the present times (Nma.gov.au 2019). In this
regard, it needs to be said that the reason for the celebration of the concerned day by the
aboriginal people was outlined by their official manifesto which stated that “This festival of
150 years' so-called 'progress' in Australia commemorates also 150 years of misery and
degradation imposed on the original native inhabitants by white invaders of this country”
(Sbs.com.au 2019).
As stated by Burrows (2016), an important aspect of the “Aboriginal Day of
Mourning” was the fact that it was organised to mark the 150 year of the European settlers’
dominance of the nation of Australia and the resultant pain or suffering that the aboriginal
people had to face on the score of the same. The celebration of the “Aboriginal Day of
Mourning” was organised through the active collaboration of the two organisations related to
the indigenous or the aboriginal people in the nation of Australia, namely, Aborigines
Progressive Association (APA) led by its founders William Ferguson and Jack Patten and
Australian Aborigines League which in turn was led by William Cooper (Bollen and
Brewster 2018). More importantly, it was seen that the celebration under discussion here was
attended by both the indigenous and the non-indigenous people of the concerned nation to
show their protest against the inhumane treatment which was meted out to the indigenous
people of Australia who as a matter of fact had inhabited the nation of Australia for more
than 60,000 years (Lawson, Woods and McKenna 2019). However, with the oncoming of the
European settlers it was seen that the indigenous or the aboriginal people of the concerned
nation were being completed relegated to the background of the nation. This in turn raised
questions regarding the concepts of sovereignty and justice in the concerned nation since by
right the nation of Australia belonged to the aboriginal people however the European settlers
through the process of extensive colonisation made the aboriginals complete outsiders in their
own nation.