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Invasion Day protests

26 January 2008

Around the country, hundreds of people marked white invasion of Australia on January 26 by attending protests and festivals.

In Brisbane, 350 Murris and their supporters gathered at Parliament House in a militant defence of Indigenous rights, Paul Benedek told Green Left Weekly.

Long time Indigenous activist Denis Walker told the crowd the First Fleet were the first boat people, and said a treaty was needed to address past wrongs.

Protest organiser, Sam Watson, said that thousands of people across Australia would be celebrating a nation that is based on a legal lie. “That’s why it is critical”, he said, “that Aboriginal people gather on this day and send a very clear message to everyone that this land always was and always will be Aboriginal land”.

Wayne Wharton reminded everyone that the court case for Palm Island protester, Lex Wotton, was coming up in April and that we must be ready to protest again then.

He said that the Brisbane Murri community had a history of leading the politics of Indigenous affairs in this country.

“They are talking about this national body — a new mob … to sit up there and rubber stamp their racist ideology”, he said. “If this community can start acting like a community again we can change that agenda.”

The protest then marched to Musgrave Park, stopping en route to mark sites where significant Aboriginal battles had occurred in the past. Past militant leaders of the Murri community were celebrated and remembered.

Alex Bainbridge reported that thousands attended a festival in Sydney’s Victoria Park, where the Aboriginal Rights Coalition had a stall promoting the February 12 Canberra Convergence (see page 8).

In Adelaide, around 300 people gathered for a BBQ at Tandanya, according to Simon Butler.

Marcus Greville told GLW that around 300 people attend a militant march in Melbourne that marched to Parliament House and the aboriginal affairs building. Speakers and chants called on the PM Kevin Rudd government to halt the intervention in the Northern Territory and compensate the Stolen Generations.