The debate about whether the date of Australia day Essays

The debate about whether the date of Australia day Essays The debate about whether the date of Australia day should be changed or not h as been a rising iss ue recently. T oday I will be discussing why I believe "that the date of Australia day should be changed". ARUGMENT 1: Native Australians associate January 26th with the invasion of their country and they deserve to mourn on the day their ancestors were invaded. It is a painful reminder of the harmful past that the aboriginals had to endure, the commencement of massacres, oppression , and land gr abbing from the aboriginals in some cases was done with absolute brutality. For aborigines, 26 th January isn't a day where they celebrate to respect the diversity of Australians, but a day where suffering began for their race. To celebrate such a day would mean to cherish over the genocide of their ancestors. We (as in the other cultures in Australia) should support these people by not celebrating Australia day due the devastation that begun upon the aboriginal people after this day over 2 centuries ago. If you guys think about the massacres of aboriginal people over the 2 centuries after this day, what is so good about celebrating a day on which reminds ever y one of the sadness, the atrocity, the torture that took place? How do you feel about celebrating a day that marks the devastation of the aboriginal community ? What right do we have to celebrate such a devastating day?! A boriginals living in Australia deserve to mourn the atrocity their ancestors went through. They should not be asked to just forget about it and move on . We should be respect the fact that the aborigine community is considerate enough to let us live on their land, if it weren't for their generosity, Australia would not have been the country it is today. It is a great country today due to its prosperity and multicultural society however the native population way of life and culture was also destroyed in the process of building this beautiful country. ARGUMENT 2 : The day relates to the destruction of the native population way of life and culture. Which leads me to me next argument , According to the UN Genocide convention, the indigenous aboriginal population dropped from about 1 million to 0.1 million (which is 100,000) between 18 th to 19 th century , which was after the European settlers arrived. What caused this m assive population to drop? Well for the following reasons , 1. The European brought dis eases such as small pox, influenza, chicken pox, measles and many more to this land which infected thousands of these aboriginal people since they weren't immune to the unfamiliar diseases, therefore in a way indirectly killing them. 2. The British settlers didn't hesitate to annihilate many of the aboriginal tribes, just so they can come here and live with their families . The cultures of different tribes were destroyed too. Their rightful freedom was snatched away from them after 26 th of January. Their lives were terroris ed after this day, and yet till this day we celebrate such a daywhy? ARGUMENT 3 : The Australian day celebrated on January 26 th glorifies the triumph of imperialism, while at the same time ignoring the guilt presented by the day. Many Australians celebrate Australia day as a good and a positive day. If we celebrate this day we are just disrespecting the fact of what happened here over a century ago, we are just forgetting the lives that were lost and moving on believing everything turned out right. On that day, indigenous people were displaced and disempowered to the extent which they were made slaves b y the very people who asked them to live on their land. I am not sure about you guys but this makes my blood boil. From a personal point of view, I believe that the date of this day should be changed to have inclusivity . What I mean by inclusivity is that we change this dat e to some other day where people of all cultures get together and celebrate Australia day, as it is multicultural country. REBUTTAL : Changing the date presents an opportunity