An Australia Day message from Andrew Lethlean

THE Bendigo region has a rich and complex history that should be respectfully celebrated on Australia Day.

Each year we have activists who campaign to ban Australia Day events, or change the date from January 26.

Most of us are tired of the lectures and the attempts to deny our history, or to make us feel guilty for the actions of previous generations. We can’t change our past, but we can learn the lessons and commit ourselves to doing better in the future.

In reality, Australia Day is an opportunity to celebrate everything that is great about our community and to learn from any past mistakes.

Generations of people from different cultures have built our region and I’m proud of our achievements.

It is a sad fact of history that Chinese people faced institutionalised racism on the Goldfields but today we celebrate the impact they had on our region. Can anyone imagine Easter in Bendigo without the spectacular cultural influence of the Chinese dragons?

And it’s also true that our region was inhabited for at least 40,000 years before European settlement with the Aboriginal clans who occupied this land the Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung People.

Today that history is acknowledged daily with beautiful artwork on public infrastructure, our talking tram, gallery, and ongoing efforts to achieve practical improvements for all vulnerable people.

Rather than look backwards as a nation, we need to understand that now is the time to write our positive chapter of the Australian story.

It should be a story of hope and optimism, as we instil confidence in the future of the Bendigo region to our younger generations.

Throughout our history, the people of the Bendigo region have demonstrated a capacity to overcome challenges and stick together in tough times.

We have withstood droughts, fires, floods, pandemics, wars and economic hard times to make an extraordinary contribution to the nation.

In that spirit of resilience on Australia Day, I will gather with our community and recognise the incredible people who will be made citizens of the year, and to celebrate their many achievements.

For those of us who are proud of our country but mindful of the challenges we still face, the constant lecturing by elites about Australia Day is tiresome and counter-productive to a vision of a more united and respectful nation.

In contrast, there’s no argument about commemorating Anzac Day on April 25 each year because that’s the day Australian troops started their ill-fated mission on the Gallipoli peninsula. It’s not a celebration of war and we don’t gloss over the failures of the campaign and the heavy losses sustained on both sides. We don’t try to change the date of Anzac Day, but we do tell the full story of Australians at war across several conflicts and the freedom they secured.

The challenge is to take exactly the same approach to Australia Day and tell the entire story of European settlement in our nation.

We should not ignore the sensitivities, and the impacts on the longest living culture on the planet but we should also celebrate the amazing successes and countless positive changes over the past 240 years.

At a time when much of the political and media commentary focuses on what’s wrong with Australia, we should try to count our blessings more often and be proud of our incredible achievements as a nation.

I’m proud to be an Australian and there’s nowhere else in the world I would rather live.

Happy Australia Day

Andrew Lethlean

Nationals Candidate for Bendigo