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Aboriginal rights campaigners mark Invasion Day

Susan Austin & Paul Benedek

31 January 2009

Three hundred people rallied for Aboriginal rights on Invasion Day in Hobart. Protesters pointed out that Aboriginal people remember January 26 as the date that their land was first invaded, their ancestors massacred and their rights trampled.

All speakers called for the federal government to change the date of Australia Day.

Michael Mansell from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre called for a treaty to be negotiated around Aboriginal sovereignty, land rights and resourcing, and that the date of the signing could become the new Australia Day.

Protesters marched from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre down to parliament lawns, where a ceremony was held to commemorate Aboriginal ancestors who had suffered or died due to the colonisation of Australia.

In Brisbane, in the face of a city decked out with seemingly endless Australian flags courtesy of the Courier Mail, up to 500 Aboriginal activists and supporters marched through the streets to proclaim January 26 as Invasion Day.

Earlier, hundreds gathered in front of the Queensland parliament, expressing anger at both state government policies — such as refusal to pay in full the Stolen Wages that were withheld from Aboriginal workers — and federal policies, especially the racist Northern Territory “intervention”.

Murri leader Sam Watson chaired the rally and Aboriginal poet Lionel Fogharty read a moving poem entitled “But I’m Black”. Speeches were heard from longtime activist Denis Walker and Mona Mona activists Rhonda Brim and Andrew Duffin. Aboriginal activist Wayne Wharton gave a firey speech denouncing Aboriginal “gatekeepers” who betray the Aboriginal people as a whole, and young men and women from the Aboriginal community.

After the march, a Survival Day concert was held at the Jagera grounds in Musgrave Park. The previous day, St Mary’s Church, which is under threat of excommunication by the Catholic Church hierarchy, held a treaty service in support of Aboriginal rights and sovereignty.