How can we join in?
These are the questions Echuca’s Professor Henry Atkinson asks of Australia Day.
When the Wolithica elder considers the date January 26, it is not one of celebration; it’s a day of sorrow.
The date recognised as Australia Day commemorates the English hoisting their flag on Australian soil 233 years ago and claiming it as their own.
“When Cook landed here in Australia it set the precedent for the decimation of First Nations people in Australia,” Prof Atkinson said.
“He took possession of Australia - just by naming it terra nullius, meaning nobody was here. Well somebody was here because one of his soldiers shot an Aboriginal person.
“That’s evidence that we were here, and we’ve always been here.”
As he talks, Prof Atkinson struggles to get his words out, fighting through the emotion of talking about the trauma and loss endured by his people.
“You can’t celebrate the loss of so many people,” he said.
“You can’t celebrate the loss of languages, cultures, and certainly the land.
“The decimation that followed, not by Cook himself but by the many people that came from overseas.
“So many wrongs were instigated and perpetrated against Aboriginal people.”
January 26 was declared the national Australia Day public holiday in 1994, with different states previously celebrating on various dates.
The ‘change the date’ movement to celebrate Australia on a different day has been growing over recent years and protests have been held all over the country.
“Maybe there will be a day and we can celebrate it as one,” Prof Atkinson said.
“But it really needs the Commonwealth Government to make that happen.”
“There is a lot of racism and assimilation has been tried and it’s not working, and it will never, ever work.”
He said while governments were trying to do the right thing, they were actually doing the wrong thing.
“If we’re trying to change the things for younger generations, talking about incarceration and crime, health, housing, and suicide is taking place which means there’s early death for our young ones,” he said.
“At the same time, we’re losing a lot of elders and that causes problems for the young ones because there’s nobody to teach culture and language.
“The loss of country and identity, all that comes from the government.”
He said governments of the past and today were asking everybody to live a lie.
“This country has been living a lie for over 200-odd years by saying nobody was here in Australia at the start,” he said.
“If they can change the date of the Queen’s Birthday, why can’t they change the date of Australia Day?
“How can we change that date so everybody in the future can celebrate as one?”
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