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| The 2019 breakfast |
Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain, and the first Governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1770 and raised the Union Jack to signal the birth of the colony. The legal basis for this invasion of Aboriginal lands was called terra nullius which translates from the Latin as 'empty land' or 'no man's land'.
Stone and timber villages, swidden agriculture, elaborate aquacultures and diverse bioregional culture-making was trammelled and disappeared so as this imperialist legal term could be employed back in England. The use of the term was so obviously an opportunistic fabrication by the British state and yet the day, January 26, is still used as a day of national celebration in Australia. To redress this colossal deception, the annual Terra Nullius Breakfast was started in Daylesford in 2017, and was a first of its kind in Australia, joining the ever growing Change the Date and Invasion Day movements.
While the breakfast is an acknowledgement of the great lie of terra nullius, which this nation state is founded on, it is also a standing with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters who have more than survived the invasion and who are rebuilding their lives and their cultures after generations of oppression by the various Australian states. This is not a protest, it is an overdue acknowledgement of our history, a 'fessing up to what the state of Australia stands upon.
Please join us for the fourth annual Daylesford Terra Nullius breakfast:
Sunday, 26 January
9am - 11am
Outside the Daylesford Town Hall
Please bring a dish to share for breakfast, a thermos of tea or coffee, crockery and cutlery, and a sun hat. This is a waste free event so no single-use plastic please.
If you'd like to RSVP on the FB event you can do so here.
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