Hey friends!
A bit of a sadder post this week, but so so so important to share!
We finallyyy finally got a day off. It's been full on, and so amazing, but we finally got Friday - Sunday off! Friday was January 26, also known as "Australia Day", the first day the settler's landed in Botany Bay. However, this land was already inhabited by the Aboriginals, and January 26 is known as "Invasion Day" or "Survival Day".
It was perfect, the International House we're living in is right across the road from Victoria Park, and the park hosts the Yabun Festival and is the final destination of the Aboriginal march.
The Yabun Festival is a celebration of the range and diversity of the Aboriginal tribes and their cultures. There is food, dancing, singings, speeches, smoke ceremonies, and everything in between. There are hundreds of stands selling native art, jewelry, t-shirts and clothes, there are booths for indigenous rights and clubs and organizations around the country.
Learning about the Aboriginals has been one of my favorite parts of the semester so far. It is such a rich, sad but so critically important story. They were forced off their land, children were stolen and put into missionaries, and even today they have the highest rate of poverty, lowest health, high levels of drug use, and high suicide rates.
The children who were taken are known as the Stolen Generation; it is a story very similar to that of Airlift Baby from the Vietnam War. They were forced to assimilate and "become white". The colonists justified all their actions by saying the land was uninhabited and the indigenous people they did face were a "dying race".
Anyways, Australia Day is a hotly contested holiday; it is the only national holiday of a developed country that is so contested. There are movements for #changethedate to celebrate another day, that doesn't mark the invasion and death of the Aboriginal people. (I think this is hilarious, one of the proposed days is May 8th -- may-eight - mayyyttteeee - mate!)
Since most people celebrate Australia day with drinking and having a good ol' fashioned "barbie" it was a really incredible to watch the dances and celebrate the culture of the first people instead.
------------------------------------------------------
In some other news, we're in our last week of Sydney which is INSANE! We're moving to Tazy and starting at Maria Island on Thursday! (I don't know how much I'll be able to post once we start moving around, but I will try to keep you all updated with the work we're doing!) We're going to start delving into the marine side and it's going to BE INCREDIBLEE!!!
If you have any questions on the program, Invasion Day, anything Sydney related, my life at LC or whatever you can think of :D I love when people reach out!
You can reach me at ksaylor@lclark.edu
Cheers!
Kate
A bit of a sadder post this week, but so so so important to share!
We finallyyy finally got a day off. It's been full on, and so amazing, but we finally got Friday - Sunday off! Friday was January 26, also known as "Australia Day", the first day the settler's landed in Botany Bay. However, this land was already inhabited by the Aboriginals, and January 26 is known as "Invasion Day" or "Survival Day".
 |
| Traditional clapsticks and dance |
It was perfect, the International House we're living in is right across the road from Victoria Park, and the park hosts the Yabun Festival and is the final destination of the Aboriginal march.
The Yabun Festival is a celebration of the range and diversity of the Aboriginal tribes and their cultures. There is food, dancing, singings, speeches, smoke ceremonies, and everything in between. There are hundreds of stands selling native art, jewelry, t-shirts and clothes, there are booths for indigenous rights and clubs and organizations around the country.
Learning about the Aboriginals has been one of my favorite parts of the semester so far. It is such a rich, sad but so critically important story. They were forced off their land, children were stolen and put into missionaries, and even today they have the highest rate of poverty, lowest health, high levels of drug use, and high suicide rates.
The children who were taken are known as the Stolen Generation; it is a story very similar to that of Airlift Baby from the Vietnam War. They were forced to assimilate and "become white". The colonists justified all their actions by saying the land was uninhabited and the indigenous people they did face were a "dying race".
Anyways, Australia Day is a hotly contested holiday; it is the only national holiday of a developed country that is so contested. There are movements for #changethedate to celebrate another day, that doesn't mark the invasion and death of the Aboriginal people. (I think this is hilarious, one of the proposed days is May 8th -- may-eight - mayyyttteeee - mate!)
Since most people celebrate Australia day with drinking and having a good ol' fashioned "barbie" it was a really incredible to watch the dances and celebrate the culture of the first people instead.
------------------------------------------------------
In some other news, we're in our last week of Sydney which is INSANE! We're moving to Tazy and starting at Maria Island on Thursday! (I don't know how much I'll be able to post once we start moving around, but I will try to keep you all updated with the work we're doing!) We're going to start delving into the marine side and it's going to BE INCREDIBLEE!!!
If you have any questions on the program, Invasion Day, anything Sydney related, my life at LC or whatever you can think of :D I love when people reach out!
You can reach me at ksaylor@lclark.edu
Cheers!
Kate