Speech for Invasion Day 2025, Nipaluna/Hobart
On Invasion Day / Australia Day
I recently had my picture shared online about an art I opportunity I was chosen for. In the picture I’m wearing this shirt. There was nothing inherently political or controversial there. Yet, something about me being an Aboriginal woman and wearing this shirt that says sovereignty with the image of our island and an Aboriginal flag, caused a lot of racism and hate in the comments. Most just posted happy Australia day and one even said that my shirt is dividing the country.
I wondered, what does my art have to do with invasion day. But mostly I wondered, how on earth it could be my shirt dividing the country.
While I don’t think that it is my shirt dividing the country. It certainly did highlight that there is in fact, a divide.
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On the one side of the divide, you have those who know that the foundation of this country is based on the removal of Aboriginal people from our lands through violence and genocide. They know this is a country-built on white supremacy. And they are proud of it.
The legacy they have inherited from their ancestors makes them feel big. They want to carry that racism forward and use their energy to uphold systems of discrimination. This is the country they have created, and they want to celebrate that history proudly. Today is their day.
On the other side of the divide are those that have learned the history of this country and it makes them feel sick. Stories of massacres, rape, genocide, and the forced removal and incarceration of Aboriginal people don’t make them want to celebrate.
Wanting to change the date means you understand that the invasion of our lands is not something to unite in celebration over. It means that you believe that Aboriginal people are human, that our lives have value and that our ancestors deserve dignity.
It can also mean that you see the need for justice, and you understand that there is a possibility of creating a new story for this country. One in which unity does not mean assimilation into white Australia but the ability for all of us to have our rights, culture and history respected.
The last group in this divide is Aboriginal people: We are the ones who know that changing the date will mean very little without changing the country as well. We know that there needs to be a treaty. A treaty that legitimizes the Australian state occupying our lands. One created on mutual terms to determine how we are to interact with each other and have our culture and country respected.
We are the ones who know we are here because our ancestors survived this history and dreamt us into being. We know this is where we belong and that our rights exist whether or not you recognize them. We have both time and justice on our side.
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If you are willing to acknowledge the truth of our history and do the work to lessen the impacts of it, then you should stand with us.
If you want to create something new to celebrate together then you should stand with us.
It’s great to see that such a huge amount of people stand with us on this day.
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Before I go, I just to read you what’s on the back of this shirt. It’s a quote from Xavier Herbert a white Australian author and it says.
Until we give back to the black man just a bit of the land that was his and give it back without provisos, without strings to snatch it back, without anything but complete generosity of spirit in concession for the evil we have done him — until we do that, we shall remain what we have always been so far: a people without integrity. Not a nation.. but a community of thieves.
Imagine the comments after that one.