A female truck driver has unleashed on critics of Australia Day, calling on her fellow Indigenous residents to ‘celebrate being an Aussie’ on January 26.
The truckie, who lives in Beverley in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, took to TikTok to share her thoughts on the controversial public holiday.
‘As an Indigenous Australian I think my five cents is justified,’ she said in the video filmed in the cab of her truck.
‘Firstly, I’m a proud Australian and I celebrate Australia Day. And I hate other Indigenous people who incite hatred and disrespect over the 26th of January.
‘It’s a date. It wouldn’t matter if you changed it to the 6th of December or the 11th of July or the 29th of February – you c***s would still find something to whinge about!
‘Why don’t you just be thankful that one, you are alive, and two, you live here in Australia? And stop using it as a cop out.’
The tattooed truckie revealed how she was ‘extremely proud’ that both of her grandfathers fought for Australia in the Second World War.
‘I find it disrespectful from anybody, or any corporate company for that fact, who decides that they don’t want to celebrate Australia Day,’ she added.
The unnamed truckie, who is believed to live in Beverley in WA’s Wheatbelt region, took to social media last month to share her thoughts on the controversial public holiday (pictured)
Last year, Woolworths and Aldi proclaimed they would not be stocking Australia Day merchandise.
The move prompted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to call for a boycott of both businesses.
The truck driver said she too wanted the public to boycott businesses who shun Australia Day.
‘To anybody else out there who wants to spread hatred and division over a day, pull your head out of your arse you muppet,’ she added.
The woman’s comments were flooded with support.
‘When I was a Kid Australia Day was about celebrating our Indigenous as much as celebrating being an Aussie,’ one said.
‘We wouldn’t be Aussies without our Indigenous. You’re 100 per cent right on all points.’
Another person who claimed to be a ‘fellow truckie’ said they supported her views.
‘Firstly, I’m a proud Australian and I celebrate Australia Day. And I f***ing hate other Indigenous people who incite hatred and disrespect over the 26 of January,’ she said (pictured: Australia Day revellers in 2021)
‘(I’m an) ex-soldier and of Indigenous heritage. Proud of you and a Proud Australian,’ they added.
Australia Day, observed each year on January 26, marks the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Harbour in 1788, when the first governor of the British colony of New South Wales, Arthur Philip, hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.
But, for many First Nations people, it is regarded as ‘Invasion Day’ or the ‘Day of Mourning’.
The growing polarisation around the national holiday is perhaps best summed up by the government-owned National Australia Day Council.
‘For some, Australia Day is a day to celebrate all the opportunities provided by living in a free, multicultural society,’ it wrote in its 2022 annual report.
‘For others, it is a chance to reflect on their own citizenship and what it means to be Australian. And for many, 26 January represents a day of sadness, mourning and reminder of colonisation.’
