The Australia Day Debate: Historical Context and Contemporary Issues

This essay delves into the contentious debate surrounding Australia Day, examining its historical origins and the controversies surrounding its celebration on January 26th. It explores the clash between the perspectives of Indigenous Australians, who view the date as a symbol of colonial invasion and dispossession, and those who see it as a celebration of national identity. The essay utilizes the framework of 'imagined communities' to analyze how national days are constructed and how they reflect different historical narratives and values. It examines the arguments for and against changing the date, considering the impact on various communities and the broader implications for Australia's national identity. The paper references key sources such as Anderson's work on nationalism and explores the evolution of the Australia Day controversy, highlighting the ongoing discussions about reconciliation, historical memory, and the future of the nation.

Running head: DEBATE ON AUSTRALIA DAY
DEBATE ON AUSTRALIA DAY
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DEBATE ON AUSTRALIA DAYThe aim of this paper is to document a contentious essay on the controversy of
Australia’s National Day that is celebrated on January 26. The notion of imagined
communities as framework propounds that the symbolic days or national occasions are
characterized by long periods of celebration. There are elaborate talks on discussing the
uniqueness of these symbolic days. The national days are connected to the past events but
they also have significance for the future. Anderson (1998) noted that the organization and
planning circumscribed around National Day in Australia is about rendering meaning to the
history of the of the event through manifestations in the form of re-enactments, street parades,
concerts, activities in school, media activities and church activities among other (Ben
Westcott 2018). The celebration of National Day underlines the progress of the nation in the
present condition.
Australia has come under the criticism for celebrating Australia Day on January 26 as
it marks the white colonial British invasion into the territory of the aboriginals. It is the
arrival of the first fleet of the Sydney Cove and therefore, it is viewed as the invasion day.
Australia is one of the few countries in the world that uses the date of invasion to celebrate it
as the National Day. Over the years, the National Day in Australia has come to be associated
with patriotism. It was on 26th January, 1788 Governor Phillip erected the National Flag on
the Australian soil that became an emblem of the colonization of the land of the aborigines,
destruction and occupation of their land and marked the victory of British colonial settlers
over the indigenous. There has been proposal from the left-wing government in Australia to
move the date top another one as the present date posits to be humiliating for the indigenous
community. Tom Calma who is a co-chair of the advocacy group Reconciliation Australia is
of the view that the present date is reflective of the colonial, impervious and authoritative
image of Australia (BBC News 2018). On the contrary, the changing the date would be
indicative of a more democratic, egalitarian and humane Australia. Celebrating on Janaury 26

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DEBATE ON AUSTRALIA DAYlacerates the sentiments of both the indigenous communities and other supporters who feel
that the date commemorates the beginning of a protracted period of dispossession and
consequent trauma for the indigenous communities. Calma further argued that since 1994
January 26 has been celebrated only as public holiday. The dispossession and uprooting of
the indigenous from their native land followed by the condition of the lost generation evokes
pain and humiliation for the numerous communities (Doherty 2018). The present generation
of the indigenous community is still recovering from the trauma relinquished through the
overflow of indigenous children in out-of-care homes and also indigenous incarceration. It is
felt that it is an assault on the heterogeneity of Australia and entrenchment of white
leadership and supremacy. Celebrating January 26 as the National Day further underscore on
the tendency to eulogize the white colonial settlers as the epitome of civilization,
progressiveness and perfection (Carter 2006). As envisaged by Anderson, national
celebrations mark the arrival of a new regime by confounding another history thus denoting
that nation is subjective of the communities and their history with the concerned nation. The
counter argument regarding the furore for changing the date to a different one came from
Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott who advocates the right wing ideology. He contends
that there more important infrastructural issues that demands urgent attention rather than
contemplating over a date (Gellner 2008). He feels that it is important to perceive the date as
day of reflection and introspection regarding the journey of Australia to its present state.
The notion of Australia as a specific place demarcated by boundaries is a project of
modernity that emerged in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Such an
imagination of Australia as a nation did not exist during the pre-colonial era. Contrary to
popular notion, the concept of nationalism is abstract as it is premised on the western
worldview of the nation-states. There are two histories pertaining to Australia and adoption of
any one of the framework would mean adhering to a particular view of the history of

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DEBATE ON AUSTRALIA DAYAustralia. One school of thought feel that the origin of Australia is related to the foreign
occupation of by the British colonial settlers during the year 1788 (Anderson 1998). This
theory of the nation renders the white colonial empire the agentic role in fostering
nationalism. From this perspective, Australia may be understood as a young country. The
history of nation-states all over the world dates back to the twentieth century (Pinto and Pinto
2018). The second school of thought on nationalism opine that Australia is an old country and
this is because of the long history of the existence of the aboriginal communities that dates
back to 40, 000 to 60, 000 years prior to the dawn of the British colonial empire on the
Australian soil. This standpoint of nationalism emphasizes aboriginal ownership as a key to
nationalism. For Anderson (2006) nation denotes the idea of the imagined political
community where the nation projects the dual role of being both sovereign and limited and
there is a feeling of communion- The term communion indicates that there are shared feelings
over which the community participates spanning across the heterogeneous population and
territory. The sense of imagined community is produced and sustained through the allocation
of specific days as of national significance.
From the above mentioned argument it can be summated that the celebration of
national events have different meanings for different communities. The origin of the nation
state is a modern project and therefore all the communities might not uniformly perceive the
notion of nationalism. The groups that have faced violence, discrimination and exclusion in
the name of nation building would feel alienated from the history of the formation of the
nation and therefore would not conform to the dominant idea of nation as envisaged by the
majoritarian and dominant communities. The growing turbulence regarding the change of
Australia National Day is reflective of such ideological foundation.

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DEBATE ON AUSTRALIA DAYReferences
Anderson, B., 1998. Long-distance nationalism. The spectre of comparisons: Nationalism,
Southeast Asia and the world, pp.58-74.
Anderson, B., 2006. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of
nationalism. Verso Books.
BBC News. 2018. The evolution of Australia Day controversy. [online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42798864 [Accessed 23 Mar. 2018].
Ben Westcott, C. 2018. Why Australia Day is so controversial. [online] CNN. Available at:
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/25/asia/australia-day-invasion-day/index.html [Accessed 23
Mar. 2018].
Carter, D., 2006. Dispossession, dreams and diversity: Issues in Australian studies (pp. 1-
446). Pearson Education.
Doherty, B. 2018. Australia Day attended by growing controversy and calls for date change.
[online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/26/australia-day-attended-by-growing-
controversy-and-calls-for-date-change [Accessed 23 Mar. 2018].
Gellner, E., 2008. Nations and nationalism. Cornell University Press.
Pinto, R. and Pinto, R. 2018. How social theorist Benedict Anderson's influenced a
generation of scholars. [online] Scroll.in. Available at: https://scroll.in/article/775971/how-
social-theorist-benedict-andersons-influenced-a-generation-of-scholars [Accessed 23 Mar.
2018].