Category: WRITING

26th January – A Day of Shame

Today, the 26th January is ‘Australia Day’.

Wikipedia:
“Australia Day is the official National Day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip.”

It is a public holiday. People celebrate.
What is there to celebrate about an invasion?
An invasion of the land of the Aboriginal people who have been here for somewhere between 40 – 60,000 years, if not longer.
There is nothing to celebrate.
Some call it Invasion Day.
Some call it Survival Day.

I am full of shame for this country in which I live.
This racist country in which I live.
I was so pleased to see the doodle on Google today.
No happy happy go Aussie go bullshit.

Below is a video of Stan Grant, an Aboriginal journalist, telling the truth.
Please do watch it.
It is incredibly sad.
And it is shocking.

In a Corner, like a Rat, I Will Bite

In a Corner, like a Rat, I Will Bite (2012/2015) Ashley Lily Scarlett

In a Corner, like a Rat, I Will Bite (2012/2015)
Ashley Lily Scarlett

I like tame rats. They’re intelligent and affectionate. And their little hands are so delicately beautiful. Using their teeth, they will run off with anything that can be used to line the nest which they are building inside the bottom of your sofa. Cigarettes. Tampons. Tissues. Thoroughly chewed up pencils. She was so cute, Milly. Once we did a dance in a circle. I was naked. I felt like a pagan queen.

text © Ashley Lily Scarlett 2015