Survival Day 26 January – Share the Spirit | MelbourneProtests 2007-2011

As last year, while those who felt so inclined were celebrating the invasion and seizure of Australia two hundred years or so ago, others, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, gathered in the Treasury Gardens to celebrate the survival of the original inhabitants – to ‘Share the Spirit’ and incidentally enjoy a free concert courtesy of an assembly of some of the best musicians in the country. The heat made it hard to get people to dance – though a few were up to it – but there was no doubt about the enjoyment. The only sour note of the afternoon came when MC Kutcha Edwards announced about 2.30 pm that a complaint had been received from the Australian Open that the music was disturbing the tennis …

The event was officially sponsored by Songlines Aboriginal Music Corporation in conjunction with the City of Melbourne, but many groups and organisations contributed stalls, including Your Voice, 3KND, 3CR, Nuclear Free Australia, and Friends of the Earth, Melbourne, to name only some. One group wearing black t-shirts with the letters “GST” (Genocide to be stopped Sovereignty to be acknowledged Treaty to be made) prominent were calling for a boycott and protest at the Melbourne 2006 ‘Stolenwealth Games’ – http://www.kooriweb.org/gst/index.html

Things were still in full swing when I left, at about 3.15 pm …