Australia Day 2014 vs Invasion Day 2019

Australia Day, But Not Happy

23 January 2023

2.5 MINS

Australia Day, meant to be a joyous celebration of all that makes our nation a wonderful country to live in, has been turned into a flashpoint for annual demonstrations of resentment.

For some people, this is not a happy week.

I know someone who is rarely happy. Let’s call this person ‘Chris’ (a pseudonym to disguise their actual identity). Chris is over 80 years old and has an excellent memory. However, what Chris remembers are the hurts, offences, perceived insults, and wrongs experienced throughout their lifetime. It’s like the pain of those injustices is still as fresh as it was 80 years ago. They do not forget, and they most certainly do not forgive.

Because so much of their thinking is centred on the hurts that they have experienced, there is little room for a sense of thankfulness for the good things that they have known. Chris’ life is filled with grievance and unhappiness.

Of course, with this outlook on life, they continually describe themselves as a victim. Chris has the knack of ‘spinning’ every conversation and circumstance to emphasise just how hard-done-by they are.

They don’t intentionally tell lies. But when they talk about an event or a conversation from the past, they omit the details that do not fit the narrative of ‘I was wronged and made to suffer’.

Now that is one person, but their life exemplifies the sad consequence of the ‘victim identity’ and ‘grievance mentality’.

Unhealthy Obsession

For several decades, Aboriginal Australia has been told that they are victims of white colonial oppressors who brutally massacred their forebears and stole their lands. They have been told that their culture, which supposedly had been the oldest human culture and which supposedly had been in perfect harmony with the natural world, was devastated by the arrival of the Europeans.

The emphasis has been on what was lost, the spirit of grievance against those who took it, and the search for reparations from the descendants of those white colonial oppressors.

With so much emphasis on the hurts and injustices, there has been little room for a sense of thankfulness for the good things that the arrival of the Europeans brought to Aboriginal people. Yes, wrongs did occur, but if the focus is repeatedly on the wrongs, there is little room for forgiveness and thankfulness.

If Aboriginal Australia is continually told that your land was stolen, your culture was devastated, your spirituality was destroyed, and your identity was lost, the engulfing sense of victimhood and grievance will result in unhappiness.

Light of the Gospel

The truth is that God loves, and has always loved, the Aboriginal peoples. In fact, God so loved Aboriginal Australians that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish in his or her sin, but should find forgiveness in Jesus Christ and enter into eternal life.

Sadly, for almost 1,800 years, Aboriginal peoples did not have an opportunity to learn of this truth. They were trapped in their sin and living in fear of the spirits, generation after generation. They did not have access the life-changing freedom found in relationship with the true God through Jesus Christ.

And then came the British! No, they were not perfect, and they did not always do right. But, in God’s plans, the 26th January 1788 was not “Invasion Day”… it was “Coming-of-the-Gospel Day”!

Anderson George, an Aboriginal tribal man from the Northern Territory, said in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra at the National Day of Prayer and Fasting, “I thank God for Captain Cook.” Mr George is a spokesperson for i4GiveDay and a proponent of the need for forgiveness. He observes, “You cannot forget, but you can forgive.”

When you focus on the good, you can forgive the wrongs that were done and you can appreciate what you have gained. And that’s the pathway to happiness!

___

Photo: Chris Phutully, Australia Day 2014/Julian Meehan, Invasion Day protest 2019/Wikimedia Commons

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8 Comments

  1. Jim Twelves 23 January 2023 at 9:08 am - Reply

    Brian, magnificent! Wonderful! Thank you so much for this most uplifting of reminders of the power of the gospel that we (our nation) can so easily forget. How un-politically correct to say that the Christian gospel trumps tribal brutality and struggle.

  2. Brian Robertson 23 January 2023 at 8:20 pm - Reply

    Thank you, Jim. Yes, it is “un-politically correct”, but if Jesus’ claim in John 14:6 is true (and we believe that it is), then ‘Coming-of-the-Gospel Day’ was the best thing that could have happened to the Aboriginal people.

  3. Kaylene Emery 24 January 2023 at 5:33 am - Reply

    As one born into poverty and isolation, surrounded by snakes. I thank God for those who braved my mountain in order to bring us the Word of God.
    As they approached us they were afraid but did not let their fear stop them. God in His mercy inspired their courage.

  4. Ian 25 January 2023 at 12:21 pm - Reply

    Time for people to wake up to FACTS.

    The truth of Australia Day

    This is information that all Australians need to know. Especially those that believe it has to do with how anybody was treated.
    People should learn the true facts before opening their mouth to spew falsehood.
    This information was authored by Peter Lee – it should be taught to all Australians.
    ‘Below is the reason Australia day is celebrated on 26 January Here are the Facts about Australia Day but don’t expect the media to educate you with these facts as it is not part of their agenda 1. Australia Day does not celebrate the arrival of the first fleet or the invasion of anything 2. Captain Cook did not arrive in Australia on the 26th January. The landing of Captain Cook in Sydney happened on the 28th April 1770 – not on 26th January.
    3. The first fleet arrived in Botany Bay on 18th January. The 26th was chosen as Australia Day for a very different and important reason.
    The 26th of January is the day Australians received their independence from British Rule. However, Captain Cook’s landing was included in Australian bi-centenary celebrations of 1988 when Sydney-siders decided Captain Cook’s landing should become the focus of the Australia Day commemoration.
    Sadly the importance of this date for all Australians has begun to fade and now a generation later, it is all but lost. The media as usual is happy to twist the truth for the sake of controversy.
    Captain Cook didn’t land on the 26th January, so changing the date of any celebration of Captain Cook’s landing would not have any impact on Australia Day, but maybe it would clear the way for the truth about Australia Day.
    Australians of today abhor what was done under British governance to the Aborigines, the Irish and many other cultures around the world. So after the horrors of WW11, we decided to try and fix it. We became our own people.
    On 26th January 1949, the Australian nationality came into existence when the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 was enacted. That was the day we were first called Australians and allowed to travel with passports as Australians and NOT British subjects.
    In 1949 therefore, we all became Australian citizens under the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948.
    Before that special date, all people living in Australia, including Aborigines, were called ‘British Subjects’ and forced to travel on British passports and fight in British wars.
    This is why we celebrate Australia Day on the 26th January. This was the day Australians became free to make our own decisions about which wars we would fight and how our citizens would be treated. It was the day we were all declared Australians.
    Until this date,Aborigines were not protected by law For the first time since Captain Cook’s landing this new Act gave Aboriginal Australians the full protection of Australian Law.
    This is why 26th January is the day new Australians receive their citizenship It is a day which celebrates the implementation of the Nationality of Citizenship Act of 1948 –The Act which gave freedom and protection to the first Australians and gives all Australians, old and new, the right to live under the protection of the Australian Law”, united as one nation.
    What was achieved that day is something for which all Australians can be proud.
    Isn’t it time therefore that all Australians were taught the real reason we celebrate Australia Day on 26th January? In one way or another, we are ALL descendants of Australia ALL OF US. So we should ALL be celebrating and giving thanks for the freedoms, the lifestyles and opportunities that we currently enjoy, thanks to the strengths and battles of our ancestors.’

  5. Adele Huntington 26 January 2023 at 8:21 am - Reply

    Wow! This really needs to be made known. Do our parliamentarians know this?? Do our churches know this?? Do other organisations know this?

  6. Warwick Marsh 26 January 2023 at 6:15 pm - Reply

    Fantastic article Brian much love Warwick

  7. Bryan Mayne 28 January 2023 at 9:00 pm - Reply

    The Lord can truly show that with His awesome help we can overcome any grievances and only then can they be thankful for all the good the gospel speaks. Jesus tells us all in Mark 9:23 “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The First Australians need Jesus now more than ever because He is the only Voice of truth. Thanks for a great article Brian. Bryan.

  8. Roberta Hodgson 29 January 2023 at 2:16 pm - Reply

    Why dont the media put this out? Many people suffered from the last World War but we gained our freedom- I had a tough childhood at the hands of a father who came home traumatised from being in Changi for 4 years and on the Burmas Thailand railway- no one has compensated me for this.I had to forgive and move on. Many in our country need to do the same- great article- there is so much rubbish the media want us to believe. Thanks Brian Roberta

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