Don’t change the date. Change the country.

Jonathan Green
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

They’ve changed the date, and this concerns me, as an inner-Melbourne resident.

A white one as it happens, which puts me at a distance from some elements of this conversation, and makes me directly responsible for the resolution of others.

I welcome the change, to drop the ‘celebration’ of Australia Day, but at the same time I’m struggling to see it as more than gestural, as a piece of comforting politics for people like me: people burdened, a little emptily, by concern.

And yet, yes, I see how much power there is in that gesture, and how many gestures need to be made before this thing is done, before the peoples of this country can share a sense of common possession, respect and purpose. And I can see too how important it is for white Australia to look deep into itself, to deal honestly with the path that has brought us to this place, and to wrestle with ghosts: of the people we were and the people we wronged. Killed. Dispossessed.

Which I guess is where I pull up short on the changes made in Yarra and Darebin.

Where do the decisions of these well-intentioned councils sit on the continuum of that long conversation, that stony path toward recovered memory and accountability?

Clearly Yarra and Darebin, and yes, we folk who live there, are probably a step or two away from most non-Indigenous Australians in our feelings about reconciliation and historical truth, and perhaps in that context the council decisions stack up as logical progress in a purposeful journey. Perhaps.

My lingering sense though is that these changes risk being empty motions that signify everything and change nothing. That in the way of modern politics and the proud flaunting of political virtue and identity, the gesture risks being seen as an end in itself.

Which is where I find myself wishing that we could change more than a date.

Maybe all this would mean something if we could also change a country.

Do that and on the day we mark that transition, on the day we sign that bond that moves us from blood-tainted colonial relic to a place at peace with the many peoples that make it … itself … well then, on that day we would have a thing to truly celebrate.

We might even call it Australia Day.

The trouble with changing the date is that right now we don’t know what date we are changing it to.

)

Jonathan Green

Written by

Meanjin editor. Nemesis of pirates. Does stuff on the ABC.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade