Images from Tasha Lee and The Guardian
By Situation Theatre 9/4/2020
Nothing quite like celebrating the arrival of a plague ship to honour Australia’s origins.
The interminable #ChangeTheDate debate has finally been resolved, with Australia’s national day modernised by switching to a date when a more contemporary disease-ridden ship entered Sydney Harbour.
When it became clear that the date Border Force allowed the Ruby Princess to dock, March 19, represented not just Australia’s rich legacy of importing diseases to wipe out the local population, but also Australian values of sickening boat-based double-standards, a lack of transparency, and the stench of corruption, momentum for the switch became unstoppable.
#Changethedate campaigners are mostly pleased with the new day. They say it strikes the right balance of honouring a time when white people docked in Sydney and infected locals, while also more honestly owning up to Australia’s appalling governance than its predecessor.
