Invasion Day

One of the alternate names for Australia Day given the history of today marking the arrival of the first British fleet to colonise the land.

Australian Indigenous Flag

The painting on a wall

The writing in a scrawl

Pictures that were once in stone

Meaning carved out in stone

Until that day, everything changed

And the light of Country was singed

With the blood of its people

The tears of many an Aboriginal

January 26th is a sad reminder

Of the first fleet that plundered

The land and took over many acres

And began the onslaught of massacres

The British with their many guns

And their material in tonnes

Of tools and supplies to create

Their own civilisation from this date

Sadly, there are many who forget

Or choose to ignore rather than let

Themselves feel some sympathy

And view the history with empathy

For the many lost native traditions

Thanks to English colonising conditions

Where infrastructure that we appreciate

Was created at the cost of Indigenous fate

The painting on the wall

The writing in a scrawl

What history is told to the many

Too often told by the majority

Countless deaths by colonisers

So many lives bound by fetters

After all, what does this day mean?

Australia Day but not as it may seem.