<P> WE, representing THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA, assembled in Conference at the Australian Hall, Sydney, on the 26th day of January, 1938, this being the 150th anniversary of the whitemen's seizure of our country, HEREBY MAKE PROTEST against the callous treatment of our people by the whitemen in the past 150 years, AND WE APPEAL to the Australian Nation to make new laws for the education and care of Aborigines, and for a new policy which will raise our people to FULL CITIZEN STATUS and EQUALITY WITHIN THE COMMUNITY . </P> <P> In order to celebrate Australia Day the Government of New South Wales had planned to reenact the arrival of the First Fleet in Port Jackson . However, all the Aboriginal political organisations in Sydney refused to participate . In response, the Government removed a group of Aboriginal men from a reserve in the west of the state, and brought them to Sydney . The men were kept overnight in the stables at the police barracks in Redfern . On Australia Day, they were taken to a beach at Farm Cove, where they were told to run up the beach, to convey the impression that they were fleeing in fear from the British . </P> <P> The reenactments attracted heavy criticism from the Day of Mourning protesters, who were not allowed to visit the men from the reserve when they were staying at Redfern . However, the Sydney media focused more on the fact that convicts had been excised from the reenactment . </P> <P> Day of Mourning protests have been held on Australia Day ever since 1938 . However, in recent years, other counter-protests held on 26 January, such as Invasion Day and Survival Day, have been more prominent in Australia . </P>

The aboriginal day of mourning january 26th 1938