Not Even the Sacrifice of Our Fathers Is Enough to Earn Our Place
The growing backlash to “Welcome to Country” at ANZAC Services.
Australia’s mainstream media have reported “shocking scenes” at ANZAC Day dawn services in Sydney and Melbourne, where the opening “Welcome to Country” was met with boos from multiple attendees. But is it really that shocking?
We all knew it was coming, and it’s really not hard to see why. The protestors will insist they are not booing to disrespect the ANZACs, but because they feel the ANZACs are being disrespected. That’s a sentiment apparently felt by many. Just look at the social media response to videos of the incidents, and you’ll notice many people quietly approving of the reaction.
Supporters of the “Welcome to Country” argue that it is a respectful recognition of Indigenous heritage, but whatever the intended meaning, many Australians do not feel it is a gesture of national unity, but as something insulting and out of place, particularly on a day set aside to honour those who fought, bled, and died for the nation.
For many Australians, the “Welcome” carries an implicit message that their belonging in Australia is conditional, that their inheritance of the country is somehow secondary, and that no amount of sacrifice can secure their place in the place their fathers built and bled for.
ANZAC Day is one of the few events in the national calendar that still has the power to unite real Australians. Introducing foreign elements that many perceive as divisive, insulting, or patronising risks undermining the whole ceremony and turning it into something it is not and never has been.
What’s more, ANZAC Day is not like other national events. It isn’t a general civic gathering, but a solemn act of remembrance centred on a specific group of people, and their specific kind of sacrifice. That makes any perceived shift in focus far more likely to provoke a negative reaction.
The point of the ANZAC Day memorial service is to honour those who served and died for their country, so the focus ought to remain there—where it’s always belonged: on the men and women whose sacrifices made the nation possible, and on the shared inheritance they secured for their children.
Anything that detracts from that will inevitably provoke backlash, because to suggest Australians are not welcome until welcomed is, in effect, to suggest that not even the sacrifice of their fathers was enough to earn their place.