Thousands of people took to the streets to protest against Australia Day claiming the national holiday celebrates white colonisation and the persecution of Aboriginal Australians.
January 26 marks the anniversary of the first British settlers landing in Sydney Cove, New South Wales, in 1788, but for indigenous Australians, the date means the start of oppression, including dozens of massacres throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
More than 25,000 people, Aboriginal and white, joined a demonstration in Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city marching up to State Parliament House chanting “always was, always will be Aboriginal land”.
One of the organisers, Ken Canning, of the Fighting In Resistance Equally activist group, said he hoped the rallies would increase awareness.
“The idea here is to engage the general public because our political spectrum around the country ... ignores the calls of Aboriginal people,” he said.
At least 3,000 protested in Sydney, with rallies also held in Hobart, Adelaide and other cities. There were no reports of violence.
There are about 700,000 Aborigines in a population of 23 million in Australia, whose descendants date back about 50,000 years before British colonisers arrived. They suffer disproportionately high rates of suicide, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and imprisonment.
Protesters have called for a treaty between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, recognition in the constitution, and an end to inequality.
They have also called for the date of Australia Day to be changed or for the holiday to be abolished altogether.
The date of Australia Day has been a subject of debate for many years as has whether the Australian flag should be changed to remove the Union Jack.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out a change of flag.
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He said: “That’s the one they have on their backpacks when they’re travelling overseas, that’s the flag that our soldiers have on their shoulder patches, that is our flag. So, I think the Australian flag will be flying over Parliament House long after all of us have shuffled off the stage of history.”
