When the oppressed become the oppressors.

We are in the same country and we want to celebrate the diversity and achievements of Australia, not be divided – and yet there huge arguments on the purpose of having a day for all Aussies to celebrate when many argue and bicker, mostly with strangers, about 26 January.

And yet 26 January is a momentous day. India has its national independence from the same overlords, Britain. Here in Sydney, it is also the date of the Rum Rebellion in 1808, when the government of his majesty was overthrown. William Bligh, fresh from the Bounty Mutiny, was once again subject to a coup. The first coup under white rule until the 1975 Whitlam Dismissal coup. The takeover lasted for almost two years in the New South Wales colony. Hence, coincidently, 26 January is a day of coup in Sydney – a colony. In fact, Australia never existed in the first century plus of British rule as anything more than a series of colonies – penal colonies to be fair, first created in 1788 when the First Fleet Landed, followed by Norfolk Island in the Pacific.

It was on 18 January when the first fleet entered Botany Bay with a landing party going on shore. Yes, the date is not 26 January. Sighted by peaceful Aboriginal people, it did not lead to a permanent landing as the area didn’t appear to be fertile enough. overnor Arthur Phillip decided that this was not the place to settle and dispatched an exploration party on the 21st to explore other areas. They actually MOVED on to what we know as Port Jackson (in the Eora nation), with a proper landing taking place on 27 of January! Yes indeed, 27 January 1788, not on the day that is celebrated.

Colony secretary David Collins wrote of the landing, “disembarkation of the troops and convicts took place from the following day (27 January 1788) until the whole were landed.” Though, the British flag had been planted the day before, it may also have been planted in Botany Bay days earlier and of course when Captain James Cook visited. Contrary to a statue in Sydney, the great Cook did not “discover” these lands, he was one of the few white explorers after the Portuguese and Dutch to visit. They were all way behind the Indigenous peoples of the lands, who were always here.

The fleet was filled with slave labour, ie convicts, many of whom died on the eight-months journey, violently ill with scurvy and other diseases, and beaten by soldiers if they complained. People who did not want to be here were sent to the colonies for petty theft or political dissent. This was a case of Britain and their elites getting rid of the poor, the hungry and those posing a threat to British rule. All up, the British Empire sent tens of thousands of people to colonies worldwide to work for free, a form of slave labour, sometimes for minor crimes.

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The colonies grew until, on 1 January 1901, Federation brought all of the colonies together to become AUSTRALIA, born on that date. In 2001, on the bicentenary of this federation, I inked my first ever tattoo on my back – a Federation of Australia tattoo. Why would I do that? I am a proud Aussie, despite the ’80s and ’90s being an era where I was called “wog”, “greasy Greek”, “go back to your own country” and you get the drift.

Despite the sometimes bitter migrant story, I love Australia and I felt that this date represents my nation – hence the tattoo.

We already have fireworks and parties on New Year’s Eve, therefore why not celebrate the birth of our nation as Australia, on 1 January as well? Need another public holiday, why not select a day in January or February to recognise the role of migrants? Migrants Day or a day of diversity and inclusion for all?

NSW governors celebrated 26 January as Australia Day from the 1820s and it came to be viewed as the national day in 1934, but it was only made official by former prime minister Paul Keating in 1994 – a mistake, in my view.

For the Aboriginal people, it is viewed as Invasion Day.

The formal establishment and proclamation of the colony actually occurred on 7 February by Phillip in the name of King George – not the 26 January where there were no landings anywhere in the continent.

Greek empathy for First Nations

The First Nations people, who have lived here at least 60,000 years, seek recognition in Australia’s story. As descendants of grandparents who lived under the brutal Ottoman regime, we can empathise with Aboriginal people, as these were and are their lands. They never ceded them, and they never signed a treaty to relinquish their entire ownership.

The Ottomans kicked out and killed millions of my grandparents generation out of their traditional lands; their successors in Turkey did the same in Constantinople, occupied Cyprus, Sea of Marmara, Imvros and Telendos. We condemn this behaviour, yet, many of my fellow second and third generation Greek Aussies find it hard to understand the pain Aboriginal people go through. A similar pain to the one we went through. We were the oppressed, both in Ottoman/Turkish times and during the decades of mass migration from Europe.

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When did we go from being the “dirty wogs” in Australia, the oppressed, to joining the oppressors?

I do note that the initial racism has essentially vanished, but it was there until the 90s or more, especially if you looked like me. For an Aboriginal person, the racism remains in their land even today, in 2021.

In years gone by, I have spoken to and worked with a range of Aboriginal elders. I learned a lot, about their stories, and their ancestors, including the pain of the Stolen Generations. Why do the kids need to be taken from their parents? In the 1800s, if Indigenous people weren’t being wiped out, many were chained up to stop them from leaving farms and lands that they were assigned to work on, essentially as slaves.

I sat down with a friend, a Bundjalung man who now lives on Darug lands, Uncle David Williams. He is one of the most decorated navy personnel this country has ever seen, with three decades service, Uncle taught me about his culture, the lands, real reconciliation between Aboriginal people and whites, especially the first reconciliation; this was held on Prospect Hill between Aboriginal women aligned to the warrior Pemulwuy and white colonialists on 3 May, 1805. I used to watch him, and the custodians who were born in Darug lands preside over Reconciliation Day, for many years. They would open their hearts and pain of what has happened in their lands.

Uncle David is one of the greatest people I ever met. What he does for veterans, young people, Aboriginal people and the broader community is almost peerless. He never pushed me to learn about 26 January or Aboriginal culture, he inspired me to do my homework. No topic was ever off limits with him and he has no compunction telling it how it is.

This goes for all people from the First Nations.

Just imagine your lands are taken away, no compensation and we eliminate your loved ones – similar to what happened during Ottoman rule.

Australia didn’t even recognise them as citizens until 1967. The least we can do is listen to their pain. Have a positive conversation.  Aboriginal people were oppressed and, in many ways, still are. Kevin Rudd delivered an apology to the Stolen Generations, but it is not enough. I challenge you to learn about their sufferings and see if there is a solution that includes all of us, white, black and everyone in between.

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Uncle makes it clear; 26 January is a colonial celebration.  “We can’t change the past; we can change the future so that all our children feel included,” he says, when I ask him about the day. Uncle makes it clear, how much he loves Australia, he is a proud black man, Australian, Aboriginal. He feels that the school curriculum needs to do more to recognise the history of the people and the lands before 1788. He asks how many people know about the exploits of Aboriginal men fighting in WW1, with up to a thousand men involved, for example?

“When Malcolm Turnbull threw the Uluru Statement in the bin, he set us back years, decades. We need to be in (every) Parliament, we also need to support teachers more than we do to teach all of the history,” he laments. As for Australia Day, “we were never consulted….. It’s a colonial celebration, we need one for everyone that includes all of society.”

He indicated that, until there is an alternative, of course most people will celebrate the national day. We talked about my favourite day, ANZAC Day.

I spoke to my friend and sports partner, Josh Staines, about 26 January and he made it clear what a difficult day it is.

“As an Aboriginal person, this day is painful. It’s a celebration on false pretences and often glances over Indigenous history.

Many racists would like to think this country was discovered by Captain James Cook and then later settled on 26 January, but that just isn’t true,” he said.

“Similar to Greeks who don’t look lightly at the invasion by the Ottoman Empire, I feel sorrow when reflecting at the invasion of Australia. When Australia was invaded, Indigenous people were told that their spirituality (religion and way of being) was wrong. Indigenous children and young women were court ordered to work for free in the houses, estates and properties of non-Indigenous people, for no wage. Aboriginal babies were buried up to their necks and their heads were kicked off for sport. These are some of the atrocities that Indigenous people have faced. We have survivors in our community today that were removed as children and given numbers instead of names because of their Indigenous heritage (Kootamundra girls home, Kincela boys home).”

“Lots of Indigenous Australians view 26  January as Survival day for this reason. As most Non-Indigenous Australians celebrate the birth of this country, Indigenous Australians reflect on surviving through invasion and oppression. Ironically we all love this country and want what’s best for everyone.”

“As a Wiradjuri man living in Sydney, I don’t celebrate Australia Day but I do look forward to a date that will see us all walking together. Personally, I like 8 May (maate!).”

This year, we will celebrate 26 January. I want you to spare a thought for the people who lived here for tens of thousands of years. Spare a thought for the convicts. For the disgraceful Rum Rebellion. For the real date when the country of Australia was created in 1901. Think about 18 January 1788.

We, as Greek descendants, were denied justice from the Ottomans and Turks; I will do my bit to stand with Aboriginal people for they have suffered cruelly, been oppressed. We have more in common with First Nations people than you realise. They don’t hold parts of our Acropolis either and refuse to give them back a la Britain where many Aboriginal artefacts are kept too. Aboriginal people just want to live in their own lands as Hellenes have similarly wanted to live in their lands, peacefully and free of oppression and subjugation.

Billy Cotsis, documentary maker and author of Greek history and fiction