#Australia day

[emptyjunior]

For international people, it's our 'Australia Day' today also known as Invasion Day, and protestors all over the country are using their protestor power not just to talk about Aboriginal Rights, as we have the last few years, but are marching for Palestine too👏

And are facing a lot of confusion and criticism from the media for 'confusing the issue' but everyone marching Knows that it's the Same issue, our oppressors are their oppressors, it's all the same fight. From the river to the sea, always was always will be

[kropotkindersurprise]

January 25, 2024 - A day before the celebration of "Australia day" the statue of Captain Cook in St. Kilda, Australia, was sawn off at the ankles, with the words "The Colony Will Fall" painted on the statue's plinth.

[radicalgraff]

Anti-Colonial graffiti seen around Narrm on the eve of Australia Day

[hyacinth--girl]

Yet again kissing the betoota advocate writers on the lips

[queerasfact]

Invasion Day

On January 26 1788, the First Fleet of convicts from Britain arrived on the lands of the Eora Nation and the establishment of a British colony in Australia began.

Although the day is now official observed as Australia Day, it is, to quote Victorian community organisers, “an annual reminder of invasion, occupation, genocide and the ongoing impacts of colonisation that continue to destroy our land and waters”.

Keep reading under the cut - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that below is an image and names of deceased persons.

First Nations people have publicly marked 26 January as a Day of Mourning since 1938. The photo above comes from 1988, when, on 26 January, Australia officially celebrated its bicentenary. In response to public celebrations of the day, gay Aboriginal and South Sea Islander man Malcolm Cole and artist Panos Couros came up their own way to mark the occasion – a float in Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade a month later.

The float, known as the “Aboriginal Boat”, took the form of a sailing ship manned by Malcolm, dressed as Captain Cook, the British man who “claimed” the lands of First Nations people along Australia’s east coast for Britain. Narungga and Kaurna man Rodney Junga-Williams played botanist Joseph Banks, who was also instrumental in the decision to colonise the continent. The float was pulled by their white friends.

As Australians ourselves, living on the stolen lands of the Kulin Nation, we encourage you to spend the day doing what you can to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation is one organisation working to support queer First Nations people, that you in turn can support.

[Image source: Photograph taken by Ken Lovett, Australian Queer Archives, via ABC]

[finifugue]

No political statements allowed in the sport but we’re gonna promote a date that celebrates the genocide of the world’s oldest continuing culture and its people… okay f1 official account.

[you-need-not-apply]

I don’t want to see a single “happy Australia Day” post tomorrow. It’s invasion day. It’s a sad day. It is a day for remembering not a day for celebration.

[naanima]

Happy fucking Australia Day.

This year they toppled Captain Cook's bronze statue by cutting it at the ankles. And statues of some other white British colonisers were defaced.

What a beautiful start to this trash day.

(but seriously, fuck this day... But thanks for the public holiday).

[bridgeytidgey]

fight against invasion day. go to rallys, sign petitions, just make your voice heard. even if it doesnt affect you directly you should attend, sign and shout. we need to recognise the bloodshed that australia day symbolises.

also vote greens

[ultravioletrayz]

i just wanna go on a little invasion day rant because i'm high rn and bored on the public holiday lol.

obviously i'm all for changing the date to honour the fact that this nation is stolen land and has been built on the neglected and abused backs of our beautiful indigenous people. Fuck the colony and fuck Peter Dutton.

but outside of that, Australia day is fucking stupid in general. "every country has a day" yeah and jan 26 is a stupid day. it is not a celebration of australia, it is a celebration of Britain and a bunch of dumbass boats. other nations' days are in honour of independent, culturally significant empowerment within a country's developmental history. ours is not a true representation of australia's initial development into a rich nation.

with that being said, i propose that the date of our country's national holiday be changed to july 9; the date the australian constitution was signed and we officially became a federation rather than a regionally divided, brit-ruled colonial prison island.

it celebrates our more formal, legislative beginning as a nation 'independent' of Britain and marked a more appropriate and realised encapsulation of australian views and policies. and, it allows jan 26 to be observed by indigenous people as the tragedy it really was.

idk, that's what i think and its just my opinion... but my opinion is correct lmao

a big fuck you to anyone that celebrated yesterday, and my heart goes out to all the aboriginal people mourning and struggling during this time <3

[exhaustedcaterpillar]

it's invasion day, not australia day

genocide is not something to be celebrated. this invasion day, attend a rally, donate to aboriginal organisations, advocate for changing the date. stand in solidarity with your aboriginal friends.

always was, always will be, aboriginal land

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

Friendly reminder: it’s not Australia Day, it’s invasion day and if you “celebrate” you are not welcome here. Thank you

[radicalgraff]

Anti-Colonial activists in Magandjin set alight liberated flags on Invasion Day 2025

[foxs0x]

Today is 'Australia Day.' While many Australians celebrate with snags on the barbie and an arvo by the pool, I find it hard to join in. For me, this day marks the erasure of the Indigenous people — the traditional custodians of my country.

What many people don’t know about me is that I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my 5th great-grandmother, Margaret, an Aboriginal Dharug woman who was among the first of the Stolen Generation in Parramatta, Sydney. Her closest living descendant to me is my nan.

Most people don’t realise this about my family, as my grandpa is Swedish and bloody everyone in my community knows him lol. My relatives, apart from me and my brother (and my nan), all have blonde hair and blue eyes. Even our surname is distinctly Scandinavian and difficult for most people to pronounce or spell down here.

But today, I’m thinking about Margaret and her story. She and her little sister were stolen from their mob as children, never to see their mother or family again. The two girls were separated, and Margaret never saw her sister again. Her name, her culture, her teachings — all stolen. She was forced to 'forget' everything about her heritage and was taught how to ‘be white.’

Margaret was indoctrinated into Christianity and later became a house slave for a white family in Sydney. She married a white man — a convict sent to Australia — who was also a slave. When her husband passed, she bought a burial plot to ensure she could rest beside him. But when Margaret died, she wasn’t allowed to be buried there because she was black. Instead, she was placed in an unmarked grave, and to this day, no one knows where.

Everything was stolen from her, even in death.

In World War II, my nan’s father was white-passing. He hid his heritage to secure better work opportunities, something many felt forced to do at the time. He kept this a secret his entire life, only revealing the truth before his death when he returned from the War.

Margaret’s story isn’t unique. It's one of countless others that form the fabric of Australian history. Stories of stolen culture, destroyed families, and enduring pain that echoes across generations.

That’s why I believe Australia Day shouldn’t be a celebration. Instead, it should be a day of remembrance and respect for the resilience of the Indigenous people whose lives and legacies were forever altered by nothing but pure cruelty.

🖤💛♥️

[claraameliapond]

For Australia, 26th January is invasion day, and that's literally it.

Today is a horrifically sad day in Australian history. Invasion day.

That's literally all it is.

Please please please do not join in the chorus of racism wishing anyone a "Happy Australia day" on the 26th of January

We can, have and are moving forward together as a country,

But we cannot truly do so if a celebration of our country and identity is held on the literal anniversary of the brutal and long-standing invasion, massacre and occupation of Australian aboriginals, the first peoples of Australia.

This invasion and subsequent violent Colonisation was full of many horrors that lasted well into the late twentieth century, and the long-standing repercussions of which have lasted to this day.

The stolen generations , in which generations - multiple generations of young aboriginal children were literally stolen by white colonists from their families, sent to missions, (detention boarding "schools ") , in which they were converted to Christianity and prepared for menial jobs, punished if they ever spoke their own languages, and subsequently put into the service of white families, with the intention to be bred out, never to see their families again. Never to be educated about their home, their families, their land, their culture, their languages, their history; they are the oldest continuing culture on earth. The last of these missions were in effect until 1969. By 1969, all states had repealed the legislation that allowed the removal of Aboriginal children under the policy and guise of "protection".

The indigenous health, longevity and poverty gaps still exist. Access to medicine, medical care, healthcare, a western education, all things we deem human rights by law, are not accessible to many rural communities still. They are provided, but in western ways, on western terms, with a gap of understanding how best to implement those services for an entirely different culture , that we do not have a thorough understanding of - that was what the referendum was about: , how best to implement the funds that are already designated to provide those services, because it's not currently working or usable by those communities. Our aboriginal communities are still not treated equally, nor do they have the same access we all enjoy to things like healthcare services, medicines and western education.

It is horrific and insensitive to therefore celebrate that day as our country's day of identity, because it's literally celebrating the first day and all subsequent days of the invasion, the massacres, the stolen generations, the subjugation and mistreatment, the inequalities that still persist today. It celebrates that day, that act committed on that day, of invasion , violent brutal massacres of Aboriginal people, as a positive, 'good' thing. As something that defines Australia's identity and should define an identity to be proud of.

That's nothing to be proud of.

Our true history is barely taught in our school curriculum, in both primary and secondary school. Not even acknowledged.

It needs to be.

We cannot properly move forward as a country until that truth is understood by every Australian, with compulsory education.

January 26th is Not 'Australia day'. It's Invasion day. It's a sorrowful day of mourning.

Please do not wish anyone a "happy Australia day " today.

It's not happy and it's not Australia day.

Australia day should be at the end of Reconciliation week that is held from the 23rd May to 3rd June.

A sentiment that is about all of us coming together as a shared identity within many identities, accepting and valuing each other as equal, a day that actually acknowledges Australian aboriginal peoples as the first Australians - because they are.

This is literally about acknowledging fact - that is the truth of Australian history. Aboriginal cultures should be celebrated and embraced, learnt from, not ignored, treated as invisible and especially not desecrated by holding celebrations of national identity on anniversaries of their violent destruction.

Australian aboriginal peoples, cultures and histories, should be held up as Australia's proud identity of origins, because it literally is Australia's origins.

That's a huge, foundational integral part of our shared identity that must be celebrated and acknowledged.

Inclusivity, not offensive exclusivity. Australia day used to be on 30th July, also 28th July, among others. Australia Day on the 26th January only officially became a public holiday for all states and territories 24 years ago, in 1994. It's been changed a lot before. It can certainly be changed so it can be a nonoffensive , happy celebration of our shared Australian national identity for everyone, that respectfully acknowledges and includes the full truth of our whole shared history, not just the convenient parts.

There is literally no reason it can't be changed, and every reason to change it.

#Always Was Always Will Be

[jordzyellis]

Invasion Day on Kaurna Land 2025 🖤💛❤️