Changing up Australia Day

By Sarah Waters

Tweed Shire Council bucked tradition and held their 2024 Tweed’s Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony on Thursday, January 25, last week – the day before Australia Day.

Council decided to change the date last year, after Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles announced an update to the Australian citizenship ceremonies code.

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Councils are now allowed to host ceremonies on any of the three days before or after January 26.

Mayor Chris Cherry said hosting Tweed’s Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony a day before the public holiday allowed invited guests to attend last Thursday’s event and then spend Australia Day with their family and friends.

It also saved council with costs by not having to pay staff overtime for working on a public holiday.

Tweed Councillor Nola Firth said that it was a win, win situation to have the awards and citizenship ceremony on a different day.

“While I personally believe Australia Day should be on another day than the one where Captain Arthur Phillip arrived and took possession of what was in fact Indigenous land, the timing of the citizenship ceremony, of which there are many during the year, was not intended to create controversy,” Ms Firth said.

Ms Firth said community members could still celebrate Australia Day as they wished on January 26, but it also allowed the award ceremonies to be held on a day which wasn’t so contentious to some people.

Councils now have more control over what they do for Australia Day

Meanwhile, Byron Shire Council, did not host any Australia Day celebrations or ceremonies this year.

Mayor Michael Lyon said council held the opinion quite broadly that there should be a different day to celebrate Australians, which is more inclusive.

“I think the way things are going, more generally in Australia, is to move away from having January 26 as Australia Day and certainly in this Shire we’ve felt that way for a long time,” Mr Lyon said.

Last year, Byron Shire Council held a citizenship ceremony on Australia day, but this year it was moved to January 29.

The Byron Shire also did not hold an Australia Day awards ceremony to celebrate its community members.

In 2022, it decided to celebrate its citizens or community members at a completely different time of the year, which now typically coincides with Local Government Week in August.

Survival Day was instead held again at Byron Bay last Friday, January 26, which celebrated the survival of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and culture.

Arakwal Bundjalung people of Byron, the Sisters of Reconciliation and the Cavanbah Reconciliation Group invited community members to the 20th annual Cavanbah (Byron Bay) Survival Day event at Main Beach, Byron Bay.

Thousands attended the event, which included Bundjalung and Djugun musicians and speakers who discussed the history of the British Invasion and colonisation of Bundjalung people.

Ballina Shire Council had no changes to its annual Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony with both celebrations held last Friday at the Lennox Head Cultural Centre.

The shire’s ceremony started with a Welcome to Country by Bundjalung elder Aunty Julia Paden, followed by a special citizenship ceremony and the much-anticipated Ballina Shire Australia Day Awards.

For more Tweed Shire news, click here.