January 26 marks the colonisation of Australia and the grief, heartache and pain that this has inflicted on First Nations people for generations. It is also a moment to recognise the ongoing survival of the oldest existing culture in the world today.
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Warrane, marking the beginning of British colonial rule on Gadigal land. This date, originally commemorated as Foundation Day, has evolved into Australia Day. However, this day also represents the start of the invasion, suffering, and dispossession for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The true history of these lands spans over 60,000 years, far preceding colonial times.
When British settlers began colonizing Australia in 1788, between 750,000 and 1.25 Aboriginal Australians are estimated to have lived there. Soon, epidemics ravaged the island’s indigenous people, and British settlers seized Aboriginal lands.
Though some Aboriginal Australians did resist—up to 20,000 indigenous people died in violent conflict on the colony’s frontiers—most were subjugated by massacres and the impoverishment of their communities as British settlers seized their lands.
Between 1910 and 1970, government policies of assimilation led to between 10 and 33 percent of Aboriginal Australian children being forcibly removed from their homes. These “Stolen Generations” were put in adoptive families and institutions and forbidden from speaking their native languages. Their names were often changed.
For many Aboriginal and Torres Trait Islanders, January 26 is a day of mourning, symbolising the loss of their ancestors, their land, and their rights. It recalls the devastating impact of the Frontier Wars, the ongoing trauma, and the systemic injustices that continue to this day, including disproportionate rates of Black deaths in custody, health inequities, and the desecration of sacred sites. Celebrating on this day overlooks these painful realities and the resilience of First Nations peoples in the face of ongoing colonisation.
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The truth about white Australia: The genocide few talk about
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The killing times: the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront
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Indigenous kids are still being removed from their families, more than ever before
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
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reminders:
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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
Update regarding my earlier post about suspected group-chat wrecker: He started with some bullshit again yesterday and I kinda snapped and told him to stop it with this senseless garbage, muted the chat to calm down, and when I unmuted it today he had left. Yay?
I’m kind of a little worried + overthinking about this though. hope it doesn’t have too much social blowback, since we have a decent amount of mutual friends and acquaintances. and he’s a lot of fun and really not a bad dude, just extremely politically reddit-brained and woefully uncritical. I mean, plenty of people are, but they at least usually have the good sense and decency to shut the fuck up. Sure, he wants an end to all the violence and for the working masses to achieve liberation, but all his takes and opinions are extremely eurocentric and always just so happen to align with the US state department. I tried my best to find some kind of ideological framework in there but nope, seems like it’s just
all the way down. I have enough infantile bullshit to deal with already, so that’s not really the kind of person I can keep around.
Eh, whatever. If you dip into a nice little tankie echo chamber, you should expect your shitty takes to be dunked upon
external validation pleas.e
some people pick up on discrete social cues, some people need hollered at. some people learn through observation, some people through painful experiences. perhaps this is the first time someone pushed back, loudly, aggressively, at their opinions and they’ll learn to be better in the future? the hope is that they take the time to introspect their opinions instead of just how they’re dispensing them.