While people across the country celebrated Australia Day with barbecues, baby pools and the Triple J Hottest 100 countdown, indigenous and non-indigenous Australians at Canberras Aboriginal Tent Embassy united in a national day of mourning. Some called it Invasion Day. Others dubbed it Survival Day. All came with one key message - recognising the sovereignty of indigenous Australians. Hundreds of marchers trekked from Civic to Old Parliament House Monday morning, their chants of always was, always will be Aboriginal land growing louder. Police escorted the rally across Commonwealth Bridge with congested traffic crawling behind the march as it inched towards its destination. One marcher, Tony Reid, paused with his Aboriginal flag to say, a lot of things are still being swept under the carpet and the day was important for the Aboriginal flag. Ngunnawal elder Aunty Agnes Shea addressed the marchers as they arrived at the tent embassy. Weve got to keep the fire burning and keep going along to make everyone listen to what we have to say in our country, she said. Elder Les Coe, an organiser of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, said numbers were good but the group wanted to put the Australian Government on notice. We want our freedom and were not going to stop until we realise what that is. It seems to be quite an elusive thing, something we need to grab hold of, he said. The Aboriginal people are just fed up, were sick of it - no more lies, no more handouts, no more dangling handouts in front of us and empty promises. (from the article) - [Cat]
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 05:58:58 +0000
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