January 26 means different things to different people. Some protested the day, while others just wanted to enjoy the sunshine.
Melburnians marked Australia Day in varied ways, some attending a protest advocating a change to the date and others enjoying the summer weather on a long weekend.
Indigenous elder and historian Uncle Gary Foley said: “Today’s the day that we remind the Commonwealth that we’re still here. Today is the day that we remind them that we can’t have reconciliation without recognition.” Tilly Gunther, a 22-year-old from Bairnsdale, said those who complained about recent protests should look at the issues driving them.
Police later broke up a small clash between the pro-Australia Day and Invasion Day groups when they bumped into each other along the Yarra River. At the Invasion Day rally, Westgarth resident Carolyn Lunt said Australians should “ask blackfellas which day they would like to celebrate. It’s important for them to heal. It’s got to be a date they choose.”
“The problem with those activists is they are so fixated with projecting themselves as survivors that they leave no room for us to come together as citizens,” she said. “So we have to stand up against what those people are peddling today. We should be proud of being Australian and our Australia Day.”She also compared the First Fleet to potential settlers on Mars. “All those years ago, those ships did not arrive, as some would have you believe, as invaders.
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