- How is Sydney Festival in 2020 engaging with January 26? - Well last year we had
The Vigil on the 25th and this whole idea that the 25th is a very important
day the day before it all changed is what we're looking at and the 26th for
us, Australia Day as a national day, I think is more becoming more a day of
discussion and debate and so we're wanting to do with a number of different
projects. In 2020, I love this idea you know we've got 2020 vision on this one
this notion of a procession where we're going to smoke the city walking down
through the city to smoke it on the 25th then arriving at Barangaroo for a vigil
where people are invited to come and sit vigil from dusk of the 25th through till
dawn of the 26th. This notion of a morning of mourning, which also takes
our lead if you like from the Day of Mourning,
which was in 1938, which in fact is the is just as old as the Australia Day as
we understand it now. We're doing a project called Proclamation where we're
designing 250 flag poles and planting them in Barangaroo and inviting the
people of Sydney to design a flag and we'll raise it and somehow you'll feel
more ownership of the place if you raise a flag here. [laughter] Well
that's the idea and then this notion of what is it about flags that create such
kind of passionate conversation and how could Captain Cook actually say I plant
this flag and I own it now or well George the 3rd owns it. What does that
really mean? So for me January 26th is about needing more understanding of who
we could be as a nation not who we have been. And what I love about Australians
is that we we're pretty down to earth about a whole range of things and so I
think we can deal with this not in a kind of shouty way we can actually go
actually it's got to be a day for everyone
and I Ken Wyatt was talking about this a morning of mourning that
this alternate vision for a national day could be like an Anzac Day where there's
at dawn ceremony with a ritual of remembrance and mourning going through a
parade as Anzac Day does and it finishes with a game of two-up and sharing stories
with your mates at the pub. Anzac Day has a structure to it but our National Day
doesn't, how can we provide a national focus a National Day that says something
about who we are and who we want to be. - What is it about the relational nature
of nationalism of non-indigenous and indigenous people coming together and
having an interface or conversation? Why is that so important to you in this program?
- For me the nationalism is either is an absent mindedness it's a lack of
thoughtfulness around identity and what I think we're trying to do with this
this UTS Big Thinking form around rethinking nationalism is to say is
actually the Australian character one of yes we're self-deprecating you know we
don't want to be you know the tall poppy syndrome we don't be to kind of flash
about things but we do get on with things in a very pragmatic way we don't
like being told what to do by those in power it has to be a kind of collective
community experience as much as possible. Are there things in our character that
we should say this is what it means to be Australian I like that there's
movements around a bill of rights, which says what do all Australians deserve as
a fundamental of rights and I put in that this notion of the voice to
Parliament or a voice and recognition of First Nations people. When we're
rethinking nationalism it's not just the flag and the anthem and it's actually
something about our deep character which we don't want to talk about much