Henry Atkinson

FOR Monash University professor Henry Atkinson, Australia Day is not a day of celebration but one of sadness.

Professor Atkinson, a Wolithica indigenous person, said while he had no problem with people who chose to celebrate Australia Day, he wondered if people were celebrating "for the right reason".

"Some people say Captain Cook found Australia, but Australia was never lost. It's always been here. People have always lived here for 75,000 years with their beliefs and their cultures and religions."

Mr Atkinson said while people who had come to Australia might have the opportunity to go back to their homeland, indigenous Australians did not.

"We don't have land we can really call our own. We have lost a lot: our culture, our language and our spiritual connection."

Mr Atkinson, who teaches in the faculty of education, said he had seen "assimilation taking place in disguise, and a genocide to some of our culture".

"The Government needs to compensate in some way for the losses indigenous people have suffered in the past and continue to suffer today.

"It's demeaning to indigenous people to deny their place in this country."

Professor Atkinson called for the issue of land rights to be put back on the Government's agenda.

He said Australia Day was a celebration of western history of this country.

"For me it's not a day of celebration. It is a day of sadness for the majority of indigenous peoples.

He said "true reconciliation" required constitutional changes that allowed indigenous peoples "to be who we are".

"There's a lot of hurt.

"Until that true history of indigenous people is heard and recognised, we can never get to this day.

"Then we can work on a national day that brings together all Australians - indigenous and non-indigenous."