Indigenous academics at Charles Sturt University (CSU) wholeheartedly support the call by 2009 Australian of the Year, Professor Mick Dodson, for a national ‘conversation’ about changing the date and name of Australia Day.

 

Mr Gary Shipp, Head of Campus and Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies at CSU Dubbo, says that Professor Dodson’s call opens dialogue, and that open discussion encourages thinking about the issue. 

 

“This dialogue educates the public about different thoughts and perspectives, which hopefully leads to an informed discussion rather than dismissing Professor Dodson’s call,” Mr Shipp said.

 

Dr Shayne Williams, a senior lecturer at the School of Teacher Education at Bathurst also supports the call.

 

“By raising this issue, Professor Dodson has represented our people extremely well because he has highlighted the very salient point that by continuing to celebrate national citizenship on 26 January we, the first people of this great country, are effectively marginalised from feeling joy and pride in being Australian,” Dr Williams said.

 

“Because of our shared history, Australia Day on 26 January is a politically charged day.

 

“While it represents the anniversary of the birth of modern Australia for non-Indigenous Australia, for us it represents an Indigenous day of mourning and a day of survival.

 

“As an Indigenous day of mourning, we stop to think about and commemorate our forebears, who suffered and who perished in the name of nation building.

 

“As a day of survival, we mark that our cultures remain strong, our identities remain vibrant, positive and dynamic, despite all that we have suffered through the onslaught of colonisation.

 

“Perhaps 26 January would be better thought of as First Fleet Day, and perhaps a new citizenship day of celebration can be constituted on a day neutral to the politics of relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.