May 1 National Day of Action

The #SOSBlakAustralia campaign has been building momentum. The leaders of this movement, the Aboriginal women of the Kimberley, have called for Friday, May 1st, to be a National Day of Action, with over 85 rallies organised across Australia and the world to declare that Aboriginal communities matter.

The National Day of Action is an opportunity for us to stand with Aboriginal peoples of this land. It’s a chance to show that Christians from across the breadth of the Church in Australia, oppose the threat of community closures, and are willing to act to see justice prevail, based on both love for our neighbour and respect for God’s custodians of this land.

Join a rally:

• Adelaide, SA - 12pm (noon) at Tarntanyangga (Victoria Square)
• Brisbane, QLD - 5pm at King George Square, Adelaide St
• Canberra, ACT - 11am Garema Place, Civic Centre Canberra
• Darwin, NT - 12pm at Raintree Park, Knuckley St
• Hobart, TAS - being organised
• Melbourne, VIC - 4pm at Melbourne Town Hall Stairs
• Perth, WA - 11am at Forrest Chase
• Sydney, NSW - 4pm at Belmore Park near Central Station
• Plenty of other locations you can find the details here - Albury, Alice Springs, Armidale, Auckland NZ, Beagle Bay, Bellingen, Bendigo, Berlin Germany, Bourke, Broome, Byron Bay, Cairns, Cedunda, Charter Towers, Chicago USA, Christchurch NZ, Coffs Harbour, Denver CO USA, Derby, Dubbo, Dunedin NZ, Esperance, Fitzroy Crossing, Forster, Geraldton, Gladstone, Goondiwindi, Gosford, Halls Creek, Hamilton NZ, Hong Kong, Honolulu Hawaii USA, Houston Texas USA, Illawarra, Kalgoorlie, Kununurra, Launceston, Lismore, Logan, London UK, Los Angeles USA, Mildura, Moree, Moruya, Muswellbrook, Nambucca Heads, Newcastle, Newman, New York NY USA, One Arm Point, Orange, Ottawa Canada, Port Hedland, Portland VIC, Port Lincoln, Roebourne, Rockhampton, San Francisco USA, Stradbroke Island, Tauranga Aotearoa NZ, Toronto Canada, Townsville, United Nations NY USA, Vancouver BC Canada, Warmun, Warrnambool, Washington DC USA, Wellington NZ, Wilcannia, Yamba, Yarrabah.

We've made printable A3 signs you can download and print to take with you. You can find the colour version here and the B&W here.

Why?

As followers of Jesus, we know the wonder of being reconciled to God. We know the beauty of reconciliation. But we also know that reconciliation doesn’t come cheap - Jesus died on a cross - and calls us to live out real repentance. Repentance comes with change. 

A policy of forced closure of Aboriginal homeland communities, however, simply repeats the past. It is an attack on reconciliation, that renders the saying of ‘sorry’ utterly meaningless.

You can find more out about the proposed closure of Aboriginal communities and the invitation for faith communities to take part in the Rallies here.