Invasion of Australia Day
Thirty years ago the 26 January became a public holiday
In recent years the celebration of Australia Day has been met with increasing recognition that the continent had owners prior to becoming a British colony.
Today I'm pondering if Australia Day would be called Invasion Day regardless of the date because the question of sovereignty remains unanswered.
I believe it's this question that was not satisfactorily addressed in the referendum last year, as many First Nations weren't assured that legal recognition in the Australian Constitution was tantamount to accepting the legitimacy of the document and undermining the need for treaties.
My recollection is the increased funding for Australia Day events saw a rise in patriotism.
Over the years the Big Day Out began to be characterised by people wearing the Australian flag like a cape, for example.
I seem to remember that was one reason given by the concert organisers to hold the event on a different day, but it had also grown to be two concerts in Sydney.
As the population of Australia increasingly recognises a First Nations identity, I expect the question of sovereignty will become louder.
There is a need for our country to reconcile the national narrative, but it will always mean different things to different people.
For me it always was and always will be...
Stay out of trouble
While I can appreciate the sentiment here, his original advice to "Stay out of trouble" should cover such simple activities as those stated here.
Anyway, now I should go wash the dishes so that I can cook lunch!
Jason Richardson artist bio
Late last year I was asked for an artist bio and must've been feeling like a smartarse, as I wrote:
In the year 2023, Australia is a totalitarian state where the favourite television program is “Married At First Sight” -- a game show in which a group of strangers participate in a social experiment and are forced together by experts. The idea is rapidly applied to other media and group exhibitions, team sports, compilations and anthologies abound.
Having been described as an interdisciplinary artist for his restless imagination and inability to stick with one medium, the textual deviant Jason Richardson is maligned as a poet through refusing to use punctuation. Although artists have little opportunity for being employed, he takes the chance to propagate ideas by accepting deadlines and produces strange passive sentences while dreaming of escape from Leeton.
