The online event showcased pre-recorded speeches from people, including Aboriginal activists, allies, and 2021 Australian of the Year, Tasmanian Grace Tame.
Palawa Elder Rodney Gibbons also pre-recorded a speech for the broadcast and told NITV News he hopes the online event will be well-attended.
"I hope it’s successful, but obviously nothing beats an absolute jam-packed march through the streets of Hobart and a nice joyous rebellion," he said.
Mr Gibbons said attitudes towards January 26th have continued to shift over the years.
Palawa Elder Rodney Gibbins told NITV ahead of the 2022 Online Invasion Day Rally -Lutruwita/Tasmania that attitudes towards January 26th have changed. Source: SBS
"Young people with a much more open mind about it that take the time to study talk to Aboriginal people, read books, and make up their own minds about it," he said.
The online rally began at 11.45 am, with about 1,400 people tuning in just before midday.
The event was broadcast from piyura kitina (Risdon Cove) - land that was handed back to Tasmanian Aboriginal people in 1995.
Piyura kitina was the site of a massacre of Tasmanian Aboriginal people by white settlers in 1804. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre said about 50 Aboriginal people were killed.
Brothers, Seth Counsel, 19 (L) Blake Counsel,14 (R) attend the broadcast of the Online Invasion Day Rally 2022 Lutriwuta/TAS at piyura kitina (Risdon Cove) Source: Supplied
Well-known Tasmanian Aboriginal lawyer and activist Michael Mansell was the first guest speaker of the online rally.
“January 26 is the worst possible date that could have been chosen (for Australia Day)”, he said.
“The forces of the public are putting enormous pressure on the government to change the date.
“I say, let’s look at a new date. Let’s get away from January 26.”
The 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame said non-Aboriginal Australians needed to stand in solidarity.
“I believe that my role in this pursuit of change and justice is one of solidarity and support, and I stand alongside all of you in solitude. Thank you,” she said.
Last year, the Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein committed to a Treaty process with Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
In November, the , authored by professors Kate Warner and Tim McCormack, made 24 recommendations to the government.
One of the recommendations is the establishment of a truth-telling commission to "create a permanent and official historical record of the past", which would include "clarifying the historical record", "quashing" that Tasmania's Aboriginal people did not survive colonisation, and educating the public "about the injustices committed ... as well as the intergenerational and ongoing effects of colonisation".
Tasmanian Aboriginal community members gather at piyura kitina (Risdon Cove) for the broadcast of the Invasion Day Rally 2022 Source: SBS
In an address to Parliament last year, Mr Gutwein said the government would consider all of the report’s recommendations, but he stopped short of promising it would lead to Treaty.
“We will consider all of the recommendations, and we will consider them in full, and I will respond (in 2022),” he said.
As the TAC’s Invasion Day rally went to broadcast, The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said it was responding to a report of potential damage to an Aboriginal petroglyph site at Sundown Point in the state’s northwest.
“The change in the site was reported to the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service late Monday,” a statement from the Department said.
“Compliance officers are investigating whether part of the petroglyph site has been dislodged by tidal movement or removed, and when this may have occurred.”
