As we approach the national referendum to vote on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, I share a little poem I wrote and recorded in 2017. I was recently reminded about it by Roger Alsop who is collecting offerings from Australians, indigenous and non-indigenous, about our reaction to the state of our nation and our response to our recent past.
The words in CAPITAL LETTERS are direct quotes from placards and slogans chanted at rallies on January 26th in 2016 and 2017 – “Australia Day,” also known as “Invasion Day.” The quotes of politicians and the Australia Day committee are also real. Please read the poem below.
A video clip of me reading this poem on Jan 27th, 2017 (the day after I wrote it) is here:
A nation’s celebration? A reconciliation?
Reckon? Silly nation!
A silly notion to “celebrate”
our land’s invasion date.
The day the Brutish landed, let’s be perfectly candid;
frontier wars; a strategic colonising gambit:
genocide for land grab; stolen children; dispossession.
Not a date of Union, Jackey-Jackey, but division.
A date to remember — locals disenfranchised
and convicts transported, penalised.
Irish lads ‘n lasses who stole bread to feed
starved masses — a petty crime of need.
Banished across oceans
— out of sight, out of mind —
political prisoners, soldiers, others,
sentenced for the ride.
Cat o’ nine tail floggings, shackles,
chains and sodomy
in close quarters all brutally confined at sea.
A date to reflect — on the impact of invasion
— slavery disguised; and girls compromised;
disease, oppression,
transgenerational depression.
January 26th, 1788 — a date to commiserate.
Australia’s Day of tensions.
Good intensions? Just don’t mention
the exiled or the orphaned child;
the evicted or convicted…
But a chance to Recognise one another
— black grandmother; white brother.
Leaving Parliament sanctioned celebrations
thousands join elders of our First Nations
carrying signs: INVASION DAY.
RECOGNISE SOVEREIGNTY. SURVIVAL DAY.
A peaceful demo compromised
— an Aussie flag set alight.
NO PRIDE IN GENOCIDE! Cops get violent;
some youths protest; join the fight.
F**K AUSSIE PRIDE! (bogans with slogans)
DON’T CHANGE THE DATE, SMASH THE STATE!
‘What do we want? TREATY!
What have we got? F**K all!’
Police form a knotted guard.
FIGHTING TERRORISM SINCE 1788! (… hard)
CHANGE THE DATE TO MAY 8: MAAATE!
Extremely disappointed, the Premier said,
you’ve a right to protest, but instead,
this is a day of celebration of good things
that unite our nation.
You serious? Not today. Not this place.
ALWAYS WAS, ALWAYS WILL BE!
ABORIGINAL LAND!
NEVER CEDED. A NATIONAL DISGRACE.
A painted face and sunburnt bodies
draped in flags;
family parties; hooligans on beaches, racist slags;
backyard cricket; boozy barbies
— a side of sacrificial lamb
well done, not rare [like genocide amnesia]
What have we got? F**K all!’
Folk choosing to become Aussie,
to wear the cozzie,
can’t choose the date to join the fold
— their day to hold in memory — a happy day. There is a way.
Be Freo bold! Assign a different day!
[in a plumb voice]: ‘The Australia Day council
has a proud commitment to aspects of reconciliation symbolic.”
[it’s a dumb choice]: Jan 26th. Rudely symbolic…
A slap in the face for our aboriginal friends.
Some reconciled to limbo alcoholic
when this choice of day says
how little they count.
Colonisation obscenities mount
denying indigenous sovereignty.
Don’t be a misery guts!
Miserable gutted? Me?
This is Australia Day! If you don’t like it,
mate, crawl under a rock and hide for a bit.
This is the day to celebrate
“the defining moment
of our national identity”
— the arrival of the First Fleet.
A defining moment?
True, Prime Minister, but not sweet.
A day to commemorate. Yes.
But not one for “celebrate” tweets.
Change the date for partying
and firework display.
Not the 26th… but any other day, MATE
any… other… day.
© Anne M Norman
peripatetic musings 