This great continent of the south that we all call home, Australia, hosts the longest continuous culture on planet Earth. That is, the culture of our Indigenous brothers and sisters, who, amongst others, took care of the flora and fauna of this land for the past 65,000 years!
The First Nations of this continent, the First Australians—that is, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People—after the arrival of the First Fleet on January 26, 1788, headed by Arthur Phillip, who had sailed into what is now Sydney Cove with a shipload of convicts and the establishment of the first permanent European/British settlement, were gradually driven to almost extinction via racism, violence, and disease.
It is estimated that by the 1930s, there were fewer than 100,000 Indigenous Australians left, compared to the original estimated population of more than one million. Up until the 1967 referendum, the First Nations people were not included in the official population census of the country, and up until 1992, Australia was considered to be legally Terra nullius, in other words, an empty continent without any residents, before the violent takeover of the land by Britain!
It is because of these reasons that Aboriginal Australia and its supporters, at least the 40 per cent (6.2 million citizens), who voted in the October 2023 referendum in support of the creation of an advisory body to the Australian Government and Parliament on Indigenous issues, to be called the Voice, ask for a change of date to our national day. It is because of these undisputed historical truths that they call Australia Day either Survival Day or Invasion Day, and they ask for a new, more inclusionary Australia Day, such as, for example, January 1st, the date back in 1901 when Australia was officially formed as a federal country after a series of referenda in the various colonies that ended up becoming the states of the new nation.
Furthermore, for those who are not aware of the history of the current Australia Day, celebrated on January 26, it is worth mentioning that the first official public celebrations for Australia Day were held on the 50th anniversary of the white settlement, in 1838, and that there were centenary celebrations throughout the continent on different dates in 1888. In 1938, on the 150th anniversary, the day was proclaimed an official holiday. Australia Day, though, in the first decades of Australia as a continental nation, was not always celebrated on January 26! In the white bicentennial and celebratory year of 1988, January 26 became a national public holiday. It was only as recently as 1994 that the decision was taken to observe the Australia Day holiday on the actual date of the 1788 Sydney Cove landing.
The vast majority of the Greek migrants who arrived in Australia in the post-war years and founded today’s almost half-a-million-strong Australian Greek community were not involved in the first few decades, while trying to establish themselves through hard work, in the public sphere and in the historical debates of mainstream Australia. For these almost exclusively working-class Greek migrants, the Australia Day long weekend was an opportunity to enjoy themselves away from work, either in their own households with friends or via excursions to nearby beaches with the clubs and associations of their own community. For them, the Australia Day weekend was the end of the school summer break and the unofficial end of their own holiday period.
One would have thought that the changing demographic, economic, and cultural characteristics of the Greek Australian community over the past 50 to 60 years would have also changed their understanding of the history, the culture, and the politics of the wider mainstream Australian community.
One would have thought that the leaders who run the second oldest “secular” Greek Australian community organisation in the country, the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales, founded in Sydney in 1898, people who have experienced racism and exclusion by the mainstream, because they belong to culturally diverse (from the mainstream) communities themselves, would have been more sensitive to the history and the sensitivities of other victims, like our Indigenous brothers and sisters…
One would have thought that Greek Australian ethnic community leaders won’t be defining and celebrating multiculturalism in 2025 with a “cultural” BBQ—that is, souvlakia, loukoumades, and other desserts—on a day of mourning for Indigenous Australia. Especially leaders who identify as, or who are perceived to be, progressives…
One would have thought that progressive people from the Greek Australian community would know and would oppose the practices of right-wing, extremist, and/or privileged white Australia to oppose the change of date, because it is this Australia that uses January 26 as a “super weapon” in its culture wars with mainstream, moderate, and reflective Australia, who tries to change our national date…
Sadly, though, as this image manifests, this is not the case…
January 26, the foundation of white Australia through a violent takeover of Indigenous Australia, still remains one of the two most important dates on our national calendar. But a forward-looking new nation like ours needs to have an inclusive national day that reflects its best moment in history, like its formation, for example.
A national day needs to recognise and include all three pillars of modern Australia: Indigenous, British, and Migrant.
The members and friends of the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales can always celebrate, if they so wish, the current Australia Day as individuals. However, as an organisation, the Greek Community of Sydney needs to be more sensitive to the true history of Australia and to the rights of the ancient keepers of this land, our First Nations people.
