January 26 marks the colonisation of Australia and the grief, heartache and pain that this has inflicted on First Nations people for generations. It is also a moment to recognise the ongoing survival of the oldest existing culture in the world today.
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Warrane, marking the beginning of British colonial rule on Gadigal land. This date, originally commemorated as Foundation Day, has evolved into Australia Day. However, this day also represents the start of the invasion, suffering, and dispossession for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The true history of these lands spans over 60,000 years, far preceding colonial times.
When British settlers began colonizing Australia in 1788, between 750,000 and 1.25 Aboriginal Australians are estimated to have lived there. Soon, epidemics ravaged the island’s indigenous people, and British settlers seized Aboriginal lands.
Though some Aboriginal Australians did resist—up to 20,000 indigenous people died in violent conflict on the colony’s frontiers—most were subjugated by massacres and the impoverishment of their communities as British settlers seized their lands.
Between 1910 and 1970, government policies of assimilation led to between 10 and 33 percent of Aboriginal Australian children being forcibly removed from their homes. These “Stolen Generations” were put in adoptive families and institutions and forbidden from speaking their native languages. Their names were often changed.
For many Aboriginal and Torres Trait Islanders, January 26 is a day of mourning, symbolising the loss of their ancestors, their land, and their rights. It recalls the devastating impact of the Frontier Wars, the ongoing trauma, and the systemic injustices that continue to this day, including disproportionate rates of Black deaths in custody, health inequities, and the desecration of sacred sites. Celebrating on this day overlooks these painful realities and the resilience of First Nations peoples in the face of ongoing colonisation.
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The truth about white Australia: The genocide few talk about
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The killing times: the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront
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Indigenous kids are still being removed from their families, more than ever before
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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
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So my USB mouse is on the blink and my attempts to fix it haven't worked and I decided it's time to get a new one.
I just wanted some cheap wired mouse I can plug into my computer. I had to scroll through page after page of weird angular things that looked like they were designed to kill Gordon Freeman, all named shit like "STEALTH" or "Power Gaming Recon" before I got a sniff of what I was looking for. The wired mouse section of a bunch of websites I looked on just listed off wireless mouse (and in one website's case, mobile phone SIM cards).
Is it just me or has the internet become a real bugger to find what you want nowadays?
I went through the same thing recently. Took forever to find anything and the mouse I ended up getting is not great. For some reason I am always accidently right clicking.
I use duck duck go so google won't track me, but then half the time ddg is so shit I end up using google, and then half of that time I still can't find what I want. It used to be spooky how good google was at taking a natural language query and returning exactly what you wanted. But those days are gone.