Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to know there is an image that displays deceased people.
“Australia Day” January 26 marks the anniversary of the arrival of the first fleet at Port Jackson in 1788. For most indigenous people this is known as invasion day. Their treatment to this day has been brutal and in the least one of denial and rejection. It is a hard history to read and on the part of the colonial architects, even to this day, a very shameful history. I am one of many Australians who would rather move the celebration to a new date in conjunction with a dialogue with indigenous peoples as to how to achieve that. But then I believe that nationalism and patriotism are poisonous, as history and our nightly news shows, so maybe no day is needed.
Photo: Australian National University: Aboriginal men in chains in the Kimberly, date unknown.
“Obviously colonial arrogance is a long time dying.” Alain Badiou
Your Disapproved Skin
We dug our wealth from under your feet,
and we housed ourselves in your delicate bones,
scarifying your disapproved skin
with our tribal markings,
chaining your bodies but never your hearts,
we hunted a perception of you
and caricatured our values as superior;
as a weak parent blames their child
we laid a burden of blame upon you,
a fiction of conscience,
a trick of justification,
that had no purpose other than
to exploit the very breath of you,
surely our sorry must be
the very breath of us.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul, pvcann.com
Image: The Australian Aboriginal Flag – Formally recognised in 1995 as an official flag, was designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man in 1970 and first displayed at the National Aboriginal Day in Adelaide in 1971. The design is significant: the colours represent the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, the red ochre of the earth and a spiritual connection to the sun the giver of life and protector (as stated by Harold Thomas).
parallax 
Congratulations afterwards! Yes, one must never forget the origin of a country with such a great, rich tradition. Michael
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Yes, we here have not yet embraced it properly.
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Very breath
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Yes, the very breath, thank you Ana.
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😌
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Living overseas with my Australian Hubby, we actually celebrated Australia Day (as a fund raiser for bushfires) but it was something, he would have not done in Australia ever …
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This speaks to me in so many ways. This is the same sentiment that has been brimming for some years regarding the Columbus day. How can we ever celebrate a day which marks as evasion and brutal violation of human rights?
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Yes, and why do we so protect the colonial view, astounding.
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Reblogged this on Megha's World and commented:
How can we ever celebrate a day which marks as evasion and brutal violation of human rights?
Very fitting and moving poetry from Paul Cannon.
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Many thanks for your generous reblog Megha.
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My pleasure
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I am going to share this with an Australian indigenous woman I have met on instagram.
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Well, thank you for thinking of her.
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Sadly, Australia is not alone in carrying this legacy of shame.
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So true Liz, it seems to me that wherever the Europeans went they made indigenous life miserable.
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Exceptional post, Paul. The truth of this is angering. I hope one-day humanity will realize that the color of someone’s skin should not give an individual permission to judge, abuse or dishonor.
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Yes, it is angering, I lie for the change, so glad to know you do too, thank you Susi.
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❤
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The saddest part is the colonial mindset continues.
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Yes, I live for the change, I keep hoping.
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So we do.
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And that’s what I think keeps us all going, we are not alone.
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You know this resounds very deeply with me! One charmer yesterday told me it was probably better when they were classified as “flora and fauna” as they were for centuries. The missionaries told them not to steal yet we took their land and slaughtered them …
I have for decades campaigned that we remove the union jack from the corner of our flag and insert the above flag there with the southern cross! I used to have a bumper sticker with that flag on it and boy did it arouse extreme emotional responses. About time we split from the UK like Harry and Megan, we need to mature and make our own flag embracing the Traditional Land Owners 🙂
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Yes I do know, as we both know. Where do these people come from (rhetorical question), it bugs me that they can’t see, so blind. Yes, I too have been campaigning for the flag and the anthem to be changed.
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sadly very few know even the first verse of our anthem … guess that says it all!
What are you suggesting?
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I’d love an indigenous poet to write something, Noel Davis comes to mind, but there are many, and capture something about the land and ecology rather than human aspiration.
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not heard of him and google doesn’t know him? Yes that sounds like a healthier focus!
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Yes Noel is hard to find he works by word of mouth and sells only direct. There’s some old work on amazon but because it is old, the price is astronomical.
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is he from WA? can you share anything about him?
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No he’s from your side. I can send you a couple of pieces I did find on the net.
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thanks I’d appreciate that!
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🙂
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This poem really cuts to the heart of this huge and widespread issue, Paul. It’s beautifully expressed.
Just as you say in one of the comments: everywhere the ‘civilized’ Europeans went they left a legacy of oppression, none worse than here in South Africa, the most unequal country in the world.
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Yes, you live in probably the worst example I can think of, we have been so destructive to each other, the wounds will linger.
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O, and thank you very much Chris for the wonderful comments.
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Reblogged this on I Write Her and commented:
Another post that has HIT HOME. I believe this piece will grip you as it did me. I applaud Paul for writing these truths as well as he did.
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Many thanks for that Susi, very kind.
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My pleasure, Paul! ❤
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And perhaps, even then, not broad enough. Well done.
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Yes, even then, thank you Ken.
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Reblogged this on The Mix and BIG ISMS and commented:
we are all related… across this globe
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A powerful poem indeed, and right to the heart of the issue.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Many thanks Pete, I appreciate your response.
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This poem is quite possibly my favorite of all time, Paul.
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Here Here!! A sad remind of our shameful history and yes a day change would be one step towards acknowledgement
>
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Yes, if only we could move on in this.
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This is so powerful and here in the US it is “black history month” I don’t think there should be a month at all to recognize a WHOLE RACE. A whole race of flesh and blood only given one month of importance vs celebrating everyone all the time seems absurd to me just as “Australia Day” does to you. This poem applies to so many people and cultures around the world. Good for your poem however sad that this is our past and present.
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Yes, I so agree with you, we should be celebrating everyone every day in my view, Yes Australia Day does do that, awful really. So many thanks for your response and thoughts.
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Thank you for putting together such a great post. It took me a second to figure out what I wanted to comment because it gave me a lot of food for thought.
As well as here in the US most people glorify Australia and think it’s an untouched wonderland because of UGGS and Koalas but many people should know more about the History of the continent because it’s so much more than boots and bears.
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Our history is appalling, yes, I so agree, it should be made known.
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How unfortunate there was so much needless suffering.
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Yes, and yet the choice is right in front of us to do it differently, but so many will not, it is so distressing to see people treated so badly.
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Like other unfortunate situations, people tend to sweep it under the carpet.
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That is the really sad part, the deliberate covering it up, making people’s plights invisible.
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This is a very great poem. Touched every depth of me.
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Such a truthful and moving poem. You set the context so concisely. The debate about reconciliation should never fall into cliché, it is too impactful on too many lives. That so many have commented is a tribute to the effectiveness of your work.
So important to give voice to truth, to acknowledge.
That’s why I don’t want to see the Australia Day date moved. Every time that date comes around we must acknowledge the truth and meaning of the complexity of Australia. The positive truths celebrated on that day should not be unwound from that other darker disturbing truth. For me to change the date is a variation the terra nullius. A changed date would give many comfort in implied permission to ignore an ugly and disturbing part of our truth.
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Ah, good point, I like that, yes, the integrity we need, thank you for taking time to share that Max.
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