Fremantle Has Officially Moved All Of Its Australia Day Events From Jan 26

 
Back in August, the Fremantle Council in Western Australia announced that they would be moving their Australia Day fireworks to a day other than January 26. 
This was obviously an incredibly divisive decision, as is the larger debate to wholly change the date of the national day countrywide. 
Now Freo has gone a step even further, announcing that they will be changing the date of all of their normal Australia Day events.
Mayor of Fremantle Brad Pettitt said that the council had heard from Aboriginal elders “loud and clear” that the day of January 26 was not a day of celebration. 

“We thought it was time to acknowledge it wasn’t a day of celebration for everybody and it was an opportunity for us to come up with a different format on a different day that could be truly inclusive.”
Freo will instead celebrate on January 28th with an event called ‘One Day in Fremantle‘, at which John Butler, Dan Sultan and Mama Kin will perform. 
The day will also feature citizenship ceremonies that are usually held on Jan 26. 
Former Western Australian of the Year Dr Robert Isaacs, who is an Indigenous Australian and a member of the Stolen Generation, told the paper he had not heard of any complaints from his Aboriginal community.
“The shire needs to retract what it’s doing. It’s not in line with community attitudes. 

I strongly condemn them for this whole thing. 

Australia Day is Australia Day.”
But Pettitt has clarified, 
“We were never trying to say to people they couldn’t do anything or shouldn’t do anything on Australia Day.

That’s for other people to judge. We’re simply offering what I think is a really good alternative.”
The ‘One Day in Fremantle’ event will be held on February 28th on the Esplanade Reserve.
Photo: Chloe Sargeant / pedestrian.tv. 

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