From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli

TO celebrate Australia Day on January 26, the date on which the British invaders came ashore and claimed possession (terra nullius February 7) at Sydney Cove, is wrong and regrettable.

The arrival of the tall ships on that glorious summer’s day marked the dropping of a final curtain on the 50,000-years-plus history of the First Nations People, and precipitated an on-going devastation of their civilisation.

For generations it was a spuriously acknowledged universal truth: white was superior to black. It was not queried nor debated. It was deemed natural order. Happily, my parents believed differently!

FACT: Australia’s First Nations People have, since white annexation in 1788, been treated inhumanely. Historians have researched, acknowledged, and recorded the minutiae of their dispossession, dislocation, marginalisation, and recidivistic indifference. The dehumanisation, demonisation, and the attempted genocide wittingly perpetrated by white Australians, makes for sombre reading.

Racism is one of the great societal cankers. It deems one group superior to another. It corresponds to a set of attitudes, behaviours and practices which perpetuate an imbalance in the division of power. It is the oppression of specific, ethnic-racial groups. It serves to maintain the advantages of others. It fosters and perpetuates social disparities. It is, by definition, destructive and deeply divisive. It is a stain on the pages of history. While we cannot change history we can achieve a resolution. Reconciliation will be an emotionally painful and protracted process. One can only speculate at its passage-in-time.

The swirling debate, and the implacability of the majority to retain the date, is disturbing. The logic is fallacious; the argument, racist. The excoriating of other’s sensibilities is lamentable. For the implacable, a simple test to mine the depth of knowledge regarding Australia Day: Who was the first governor of the colony of New South Wales?/How many ships were in the First Fleet?/How many convicts, crew, soldiers and family members were on that journey?/What was the name of the First Fleet’s Flagship?/ How long did it take to reach Australia?/What is the correct name for Circular Quay?/What is the correct name of Sydney Harbour?

Intuition suggests the majority, including politicians, would be found wanting, and while the result is not empirical evidence it does insinuate and highlight a degree of ignorance and hypocrisy. Australia Day celebrations should represent more than a ‘barbie’ and another public holiday!

Captain Cook did not discover Australia, and Australia Day was not consistently observed as a public holiday across the Nation until 1994. Previously, it was known as First Landing Day and Foundation Day. Since it fell in the summer holidays it was not part of the school’s learning programme. If we are serious about compromise, we should celebrate on a date which reflects the cohesiveness of the Nation, not the hostile divide.

An extrapolation of the Voice to Parliament referendum result would suggest a lack of national willing. The intransigent spite of the conqueror to humiliate the vanquished is distressing; devoid of generosity of spirit. It will be a courageous government who, without consensus and ignoring the predictable racist clamouring, dares to implement a change.

Answers: Captain Arthur Phillip/eleven/between 750-780 convicts, and around 550 others/HMS Sirius/8-months/Sydney Cove/Port Jackson.

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald — radio 3BA Monday at 10.45 a.m.

Contact: [email protected]