Councillors have praised the initiative to welcome new Australian citizens on January 25 instead of the regular Australia Day ceremonies on January 26, also known as Survival Day by Indigenous people.
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The trial by Dubbo Regional Council (DRC) will see differing community celebrations marking Australia Day 2023 in Dubbo and Wellington. For the first time, Wellington will host citizenship and award ceremonies, Indigenous cultural exhibitions and multicultural stalls at a twilight event on the eve of January 26, while Dubbo will have events on the day itself.
The decision was taken following community consultations taking place at the Wellington Town Committee meeting on December 5 and a Reconciliation Action Plan meeting on 22 November.
Mayor Mathew Dickerson said the initial intention was to have twilight events in both places but Department of Home Affairs guidelines had prevented DRC from doing so.
"With discussions with the Department of Home Affairs there was a trigger of 20 conferees a year. Once a community or city or town has more than 20 conferees throughout the year they must hold a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day," Cr Dickerson said.
Since Dubbo had more than 20 new citizens and Wellington did not, DRC was able to trial a twilight event in Wellington.
"It wasn't something that we were happy with, we argued the toss with the Department of Home Affairs, ultimately they trump us so we have to go along with those rules," Cr Dickerson said.
"We're hopeful this is a trial for one year. We're hopeful that maybe the year after the rules might change... and potentially this might change to a twilight event in both, let's see in both communities to start with."
In Thursday's council meeting, Cr Jess Gough asked the Wellington community to keep an open mind.
"Don't think of it as Wellington playing second fiddle, think of it as a chance for Wellington to take the lead and be pioneers in creating change and taking into the consideration of our Aboriginal community and their thoughts and their feelings towards this," she said.
Speaking about his elections policies when he ran for council, councillor Lewis Burns dwelt on "unity and community" and breaking barriers between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
"There's not going to be any change until we make change so hopefully we're going in the right direction, we don't know if we're making the right decision, but we've got to try," Cr Burns said
He had attended Australia Day events in Dubbo this year after a long time since he would always go to Survival Day events instead. He said Aboriginal community members were respected and well-received at the celebrations this year
Echoing Cr Burns' sentiments, Cr Pam Wells also spoke to the significance of what the date meant to Aboriginal people and hoped to have more culturally appropriate events on January 26 in the future. She believed the trial was "a great step forward".
"I think the learnings and the emerging interest across the nation around the Uluru Statement From The Heart and so many other things happening for Australia, that I see us as leading the way in starting to incorporate culture in what we're trying to achieve on that day and also as a collective, as a multicultural community as well," Cr Wells said.
"But I don't want us to forget about what our Aboriginal people are fighting for in terms of voice and I see that coming through in what we're trying to achieve on 26 of January in 2023, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes."
Speaking from Wellington's perspective, Cr Richard Ivey was happy the new trial had received a lot of support and believed it made "a lot of sense". He said embracing Indigenous and multicultural people as well as the history of European settlement highlighted "how far we've come."
He recalled when January 26 events in Farm Cove depicted enactments of Governor Phillip rowing ashore and planting a flag next to the Opera house. He said that day affectively changed about 60,000 years of Indigenous culture in Australia and that it would never be the same.
"if we could just manage to get [to] where society says 'Isn't this fantastic? This is what modern day Australia is about', I think we've achieved something," he said.
Cr Shibli Choudhary agreed with other councillors stating next year's celebrations were a great idea to bring everyone together.
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Bageshri Savyasachi
I am a health and general reporter with an interest in transparency, crime and issues affecting Canberra's diverse communities. Contact me at bageshri.s@canberratimes.com.au or send confidential tips to bageshri.s@proton.me
I am a health and general reporter with an interest in transparency, crime and issues affecting Canberra's diverse communities. Contact me at bageshri.s@canberratimes.com.au or send confidential tips to bageshri.s@proton.me
