Australia Day Redesign: Indigenous Recognition and Celebration

This essay delves into the redesign of Australia Day, emphasizing the need to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and address the historical impact of colonization. It argues for changes such as altering the date, implementing a minute of silence, and an official apology to acknowledge the atrocities committed against Indigenous Australians. The design of the new Australia Day should focus on making both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people feel a sense of belonging and unity, welcoming all cultures and races. The essay references various sources to support its claims and proposes a new approach to the celebration that reflects a more inclusive and respectful national identity.

Designing and Celebrating Australia Day 1
DESIGNING AND CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA DAY
By (Student’s Name)
Professor’s Name
College
Course
Date

Designing and Celebrating Australia Day 2
DESIGNING AND CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA DAY
Design:
Australia Day must be designed to suit both Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous
Australians. The “New Australian” design should ensure that the ceremony which recognizes the
Indigenous culture and colonial impact on the Indigenous Australians. The celebration should
recognize the atrocities committed by the colonial powers (spearheaded by Arthur Phillip)
against the Indigenous Australians like loss of their autonomous rights to their lands, loss of
rights to practice their culture and loss of families (Cox annd Kerr 2018).
The new design should condemn the actions of Arthur Phillip for raising the UK's
national flag in Sydney Cove on 26/01 1788, and founding the NSW Colony. It should condemn
such actions by Phillip as dispossession, slaughter, and marginalization of Indigenous
Australians, which removed several Indigenous Australians from their traditional lands and
prohibited from practising their language alongside culture.
The design should change the current date from January 26, as argued by Tom Calma
(Advocacy Group Reconciliation Australia’s Co-Chair). Tom believes that it is wise we alter the
date because the surged impetus about altering Australian Day date replicates the rising sense
that Jan 26 remains emblematic of Australian we used to be, rather than the Australian we
admire to become. Tom further believes that the latest move to alter the date arises from the
realization that several Australians-non-Indigenous and Indigenous-believe they can never
rejoice on Jan 26 since this date denotes the start of a lasting history of trauma and dispossession
for Australians and Torres Strait Islanders (Higgins-Desbiolles, Hales and Sparrow 2019).
Indeed, there is no harm changing the data since it has been altered before as Jan 26 has
solely been a public holiday beginning year 1994- and has to be changed again if Australia is to

Designing and Celebrating Australia Day 3
accomplish a national day which unifies everyone-non- Indigenous and Indigenous people. This
date should likewise be altered because holding the national day on Jan 26 positions the
European settlements as the principal source of national pride and identity. Thus, it disregards
the over six-thousand years of pre-colonial history as well as the 230 years of multicultural
migration into Australian (Chou and Busbridge 2019).
To date, Indigenous people are still recuperating from a series of happenings triggered by
Arthur Phillip on January 26, 1788. The ongoing effect is apparent in worrying rates of
Indigenous imprisonment and the rising Indigenous kids’ overrepresentation in out-of-home
care, to highlight a few instances. Thus, by shifting the date, Australia will show its readiness to
genuinely admit and embrace Indigenous contributions, history, and culture as a treasured
component of Australian story (Reynolds 2018).
Celebration
The main aim of celebration should focus on making both non-Indigenous and
Indigenous people feel a sense of belonging and unified. The celebration should pay desired
respect to the Indigenous group and even those who lost their lives due to British invasion. The
government should say sorry to the Indigenous Australians on behalf of the Europeans for the
dark days. There should be a minute silence across Australia.
There should be a short speech of "I am sorry" read by the government to condemn the
atrocities committed by the colonial powers on Indigenous Australians. A representative of
Indigenous Australian should also be given a chance to accept the apology on behalf of fellow
Indigenous and read their "acceptance speech." This should be followed by a section where a
"New Australia" is born and welcoming all the cultures and races from across the globe
including Asia, Europeans and convicts to symbolize the unification of all in the New Australia.

Designing and Celebrating Australia Day 4
References
Chou, M. and Busbridge, R., 2019. Culture Wars, Local Government, and the Australia
Day Controversy: Insights from Urban Politics Research. Urban Policy and Research,
pp.1-11.
Cox, S. and Kerr, T., 2018. One Day in Fremantle: TV representation of this alternative
to Australia Day. Coolabah, (24&25), pp.229-244.
Higgins-Desbiolles, F., Hales, R. and Sparrow, S., 2019. Remembering and Forgetting
First Nations in Australia: Unsettling the Silence on the Founding and Building of a New
Nation. In The Nexus among Place, Conflict and Communication in a Globalising
World (pp. 207-231). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
Reynolds, H., 2018. Henry Reynolds: Triple J did the right thing, we need a new
Australia Day.