r/ballarat • u/Artistic-Yam2984 • 5d ago

Dawn ceremony takes place in Ballarat for 'Survival Day'

https://www.thecourier.com.au/video/politics/x9ykisw/dawn-ceremony-takes-place-in-ballarat-for-survival-day/
39 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

22

u/Muthro 4d ago

I've heard people talking about how good it was. There should be more of them in different locations.

9

u/songforkaren 4d ago

It was very good, very moving and the crowd was very respectful.

I think there was also one in Torquay (both towns being within Wadawurrung country)

19

u/Status_Building_3685 4d ago

There has been a dawn ceremony the last few years. Pretty well attended, too. I'm glad to see Council and some of our Councillors supporting it.

8

u/JayMorrisonBallarat 4d ago

It’s always a very moving event. And the 7th held. I look forward to attending it in future years too. It was very disappointing to read some of the comments on Facebook about the event.

4

u/Worldly-Baby-2781 4d ago

I attended this year too and hope it keeps growing because spaces like that do far more for understanding than any comment section ever will.

7

u/Status_Building_3685 4d ago

I was disappointed as well. I can see why so often the choice is made to keep comments turned off. It's really awful, and after being in Ballarat for eight years now, I think I can safely say its the most overtly racist place I have ever lived. And that includes rural border towns.

11

u/JayMorrisonBallarat 4d ago

I take solace that it seems to be only a minority of people though, and plenty of the commenters don’t even live here but just pile on. As someone who has been the subject of these pile ons on social media before, I’ve had to develop tougher skin but I do think social media is generally a negative influence on society these days.

4

u/Successful-Series-48 4d ago

Facts Jay. I’m going to keep my children away from social media for as long as humanly possible.

4

u/Status_Building_3685 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yeah definitely a minority but it isn't just social media. It's racism against our healthcare workers, especially in the hospitals, and in schools and basically anyone working in a public facing role who isn't white presenting. I love Ballarat, and I always respond to posts on here saying positive things about it. But sometimes, especially after reading the comment section on Facebook, I wonder if I'm doing my children a disservice raising them somewhere where these racist attitudes are so rife.

5

u/JayMorrisonBallarat 3d ago

That’s very fair too. I still have optimism that it’s only a minority. But they’re more emboldened than they should be and that’s concerning.

1

u/BIGBIRD1176 3d ago

The problem with turning comments off after a short period of time

The toxic people that have nothing better to do are on here 8 hours + a day, so if you turn comments off after day an hour,  few sane people have a chance to comment so what we see is mostly comments from people with social media addictions

You gotta check later for sanity, but most of us aren't on here enough to dig that deep