“Australia Day” celebrates shameful land grab
That these horrors began on January 26, 1788 is why many Aboriginal leaders denounce Australia Day as Invasion Day and call for the date of Australia’s national day to be changed to one that can be celebrated by all Australians.
Indigenous Peoples: 222 years of struggle for Australia’s Aboriginals Peter Robson
Green Left Online 17 Jan 2010 “………Colonisation then took the form of taking land. The land grab was justified by the doctrine of Terra Nullius, which said the native people of Australia were simply fauna, not owners of the land that colonists stole.
This legal fiction remained until 1992 when the High Court’s Mabo judgment finally recognised the pre-colonisation Aboriginal occupancy and ownership of the country.However, subsequent legislation by the Keating and Howard governments ensured that Native Title was recognised in a largely toothless form, easily overturned if mining or agricultural industries demanded it………..
Some historians place the Aboriginal population at between 250,000 and 750,000 people before 1788. By the beginning of the 20th century, this had fallen as low as 31,000 and took decades to recover.
That these horrors began on January 26, 1788 is why many Aboriginal leaders denounce Australia Day as Invasion Day and call for the date of Australia’s national day to be changed to one that can be celebrated by all Australians. Despite this being in line with ALP policy, the Rudd Labor government has refused to discuss any changes to the date of Australia Day………………..
the intervention’s harsh control measures …..“Why is the government taking this action? Well it’s all about a land grab. The mineral resources in the NT are very rich”, Downs said.
“It’s about taking away land rights under the permit system giving both the federal & state governments free access to all the land.
“This is much clearer when you look at the issuing of exploration licenses. In 2006 there were 180 exploration licences, in 2009 there [were] 400 licences.”………………….Since January 26, 1788 Aboriginal people have resisted white colonisation and dispossession. The Ampilatwatja walk-off is simply one expression of this…. It is a movement whose time has come.
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