Fly the Aboriginal flag at half mast on Australia Day, January 26

mellowyellow · Jan 15, 2021

By Lidia Thorpe

Lidia Thorpe is a Djabwurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman and an Australian Greens Senator.

For First Nations people across this country, January is a hard month. The colonial flag-waving, the heightened racism, the collective amnesia, and the celebration of violent occupation. After more than 200 years of colonisation, too many Australians still think January 26 is a day of celebration.

Since James Cook first set foot at Kamay (Botany Bay), there have been at least 270 massacres of First Nations peoples in this country. We will never know the true number of casualties - only that many thousands of First Nations people across this nation were massacred in numerous frontier wars, over many decades, often in cold blood. Today, black deaths in custody only serve to remind us that this period of violence and injustice has not yet finished.

That’s why, for Aboriginal people across this country, January 26 marks a day of mourning…..

https://www.smh.com.au/national/fly...-half-mast-on-january-26-20210113-p56tvu.html

Warrigal · Jan 16, 2021

I do not mind one way or the other about this issue. If it would help I am all for it but I don't think this is an issue that the public is unaware of. As a means to furthering reconciliation I think it won't achieve much but who knows? Some more education cannot hurt.

Perhaps it will help the campaign for recognition of the first nations people in the Constitution and establishment of an indigenous voice to the parliament. What I would really like to see is some real progress in overcoming social disadvantage. For that to happen the politicians do need to see that Australians like me are also wanting justice for descendants of the dispossessed nations.

As for the flag, better to fly it at half mast than upside down, as a sign of a society in danger.