Changing the Date of Australia Day Argumentative Essay

📌Category: Australia, World
📌Words: 472
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 09 May 2021

How would you feel if someone was rejoicing on the day your home was taken from you? Well, this is exactly what we’re doing on Australia day to all the indigenous people out there. We are celebrating on the day that their identity, their family, their home was taken from them. The date of Australia day should be changed because it is extremely exclusive to First nations people, the meaning of Australia has changed, and people don’t take it seriously anymore and Australia day doesn’t hold as much significance as we think.

It is very insensitive and exclusive to celebrate Australia day on the 26th of January, many indigenous people find it offensive to celebrate on this day. We are celebrating on a day that should be a day of grievance and mourning. The company Australians together says, “celebrating these things on the 36th of January can divide us as Australians by marginalising and offending many indigenous people who see this date as commencing a chain of event that had disastrous consequences for many first nations people”.  The actively demonstrates that it is inappropriate to be celebrating on January 26th as it is a sensitive topic to many first nations people.

Another reason why the date of Australia day should be changed is that people don’t take it seriously anymore, Rachel sarra, an indigenous designer, artist , and activist says ‘ For white Australians changing the date will simply mean coming together on a different day and the public holiday would still take place. For indigenous Australians, changing the date would acknowledge the pain associated with January 26th’.  The meaning of this day has changed so greatly over time that some people don’t even know what we are celebrating on the day. The market research company Review Partners conducted a poll asking people to identify the historical event celebrated on January 26th , only 43% of them got it correct. This demonstrates that if we change the date of Australia day it won’t make a difference to white Australians, but it will include the first nations people.

Changing the date of Australia day would be a better option as the 26th doesn’t hold as much significance as we make It seem. It was only until 1994(25 years ago) that Australia day became a national public holiday and was celebrated consistently each year. The first fleet didn’t even land in Australia on January the 26th, the actual date is about a week before it. To respect the first nations people Australia day should be moved to a different day so this public holiday can be enjoyed by all as well as acknowledging all the parts of our history, so we can move forward together as a nation.

To conclude, the date of Australia day should be changed to reflect changing community attitudes. It is insensitive and exclusive, it is no longer taken seriously, and the 26th doesn’t mean as much as we think. These are just a few of many reasons of why we should change the date of Australia day.

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