Change the Date Mate - Always was, always will be - what exactly are we being asked to celebrate

Now let oos see! Are we aboot celebrating 50-60 thousand years of inhabitation or a wooden ship sailed by a Captain Phillip's making ground on the east coast of what would then be named Australia. History an' deep rooted culture, longlines and survival in all aspects of this mighty continent or another colonial episode of greed, genocide and deaths in custody. Ter first mate bloke Scomo, its summat about his ancestors arriving in chains. And look what he achieved. Him! Prime minister. All week he has banged on aboot shared values of what it is ter be a 'mate'. Somewhere between a beer ad and a bettin' un. ANZACs celebrating Australia day on a scrap of sand on Gallipoli playing cricket under shell fire from Johnny Turk - who's now a mate. He's trying very hard ter recreate a rugged legend like the Kiwi writer Barry Crump did with a 'good keen man', boot man being of either sex like. This were a time when there were more men setting about the trade of colonisation, taming the wild lands and ruining it fer the generations ter come. "Another lump of coal with yer tea vicar?" Summat oot of a golden haze of the past. The very recent past. An too many of oos think it is uncomfortably close to mythologising White Australia or Johnny Howard's era where those migrants of recent times and of colour knows there place - assimilate or you can't be a mate, mate!

So come a hot Saturday in January 2019, me and missus Belgo Geordie took ourselves down ter the far corner of Hyde Park to join those whose Australia Day is ter remember first people and the legacy colonisation has had on their history and rights of self-determination. It were a better turn out than 2018 (which were better than year before). It were a shame not ter be starting from the Block in Redfern. Boot as every year indigenous speakers reminded folk that this were not a once a year event. Come 14 February 2019 its a call ter march on NSW parliament to deliver petition ter ask fer joostice fer young TJ Hickey (ISJA Sydney). Two points came oop at today's March. The untrustworthiness  of the two major parties. Aye, and its true neither were evident here. Boot Greens were out in force and though yer cannot doubt the activism of some in the Greens, I'm not so sure the mainstream of that party are the hope of the future. I prefer the folk of Socialist Alternative and Alliance. Factionalised boot thinking and getting involved.

Secondly sum dangerous ground targeting Israel as being alike the white colonisers of Australia. I thought Jews and Arabs were the indigenous people of that land. Israel has acted as a coloniser in creating the State of Israel but it is also a return home for the Jewish people. Think if two indigenous people were in dispute as to has rights to country. It doesn't make what Israel does in colonising the region right - disposing Arab populations of their land, birthright and future boot it is not the same agenda as here. By all means serve it oop ter Netanyahu. Dish it oot re Israel's government doing nowt to stop settlements growing like cancers on Arab land. However, like some of those on the left with a long memory I'm sensitive to when attacking Israel turns into attacking Jews. One speaker said we should not behave like sheep and follow the leader. Some of us should take time ter think through the issues. Like Cook was not the coloniser. He is the name associated with the founding of white Australia. To think he had the power to achieve much more than sail his boat under orders is to treat him like he was the power of his day. It was the Admiralty, the English aristocracy and merchants of the day driving Empire - not much has changed. The Murdochs have more power than their emissaries like the Morrison's, Trunballs etc. Unelected, untaxpaying pariahs still song off the world and pay nowt but scorn fer the misery they cause. Pay taxes. Don't be daft. Big business is aboot looking after big business. The rest of oos can just be the sheep going ter slaughter.

Which brings me nicely ter still proud to be associated with Maritime Union Australia (the might MUA!) A small but strong presence when only a few good unions were present. MUA spoke and marched boot it were all 5000 plus who filled the day with Aboriginal flags, chants and a sense of solidarity. Good to see Uncle Ken back. To see it were children leading the march. Lots of young ones. Diversity plus in the marchers. There were some good crack going on about me. Lots of young ones giving their Saturday ter a cause they are passionate about. I liked the Japanese quartet tha looked like escapees from the biennial arts crowd with serious line drawing tattoos and own made fashion statement clothes. The many creative posters, placards and banners. Colourful and in good spirits. It were a hot day boot Sydney reflected, like other centres but again led by the good folk of Melbourne, that changing the date might joost be an change that's time has come. Step up again ter deliver the petition in February. A small ask to address the many injustices. Now as for a treaty...