Day of Mourning (Australia)

The Day of Mourning was a protest held by Aboriginal Australians on 26 January 1938, the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet and the British colonisation of Australia. It was held to draw attention to the poor treatment of Aboriginal people and entrenched racial discrimination. The protest purposefully coincided with Australia Day celebrations, with protests with similar aims continuing to be held on 26 January under the names Invasion Day or Survival Day.

The Day of Mourning was organised by the Sydney-based Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), led by Jack Patten and William Ferguson, and was supported by William Cooper's Melbourne-based Australian Aborigines' League (AAL). Patten and Ferguson had published a series of policy demands earlier in the month. The protest on 26 January included a march through the streets of Sydney, beginning at Sydney Town Hall and ending at the Australian Hall. The attendees subsequently held a conference on Indigenous rights and unanimously passed a resolution condemning the "callous treatment of our people by the white man" and calling for "new laws for the education and care of Aborigines" and "a new policy which will raise our people to full citizen status and equality within the community".

Following the Day of Mourning, leading participants met with Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and Interior Minister John McEwen and pressed for further action in line with Patten and Ferguson's policy agenda. Their lobbying played a key role in the development of the New Deal for Aborigines, announced by McEwen later in 1938, which set out a pathway to full citizenship rights for Indigenous people contingent on cultural assimilation. The New Deal was welcomed by the APA but its implementation stalled and its recommendations took decades to achieve. The Day of Mourning also contributed to a surge in Indigenous activism, including the publication of the short-lived Australian Abo Call as the first national newspaper for Aboriginal Australians. The APA ultimately split into rival factions later in 1938 but the Day of Mourning participants continued to play a significant role in rights activism.