Day of Mourning (Australia)
The Day of Mourning was a protest by Aboriginal Australians held on 26 January 1938, the 150th anniversary of the First Fleet and British colonisation. It was organized by the Sydney-based Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), led by Jack Patten and William Ferguson, with support from the Melbourne-based Australian Aborigines’ League (AAL) led by William Cooper. The protest aimed to draw attention to the poor treatment and racial discrimination faced by Aboriginal people. It was timed to coincide with Australia Day, and similar protests against the day’s meaning have continued under names like Invasion Day or Survival Day.
On the day, a march went through Sydney from the Town Hall to the Australian Hall, where a Day of Mourning Congress for Aboriginal people gathered. About 100 people attended. They issued a manifesto calling for equal citizenship, education and care for Aboriginal people, and an end to policies they saw as controlling their lives. The speakers, including Patten, Ferguson, Pearl Gibbs, and Tom Foster, demanded ordinary rights and an end to racial discrimination. They also called for abolishing the NSW Aborigines’ Protection Board and for land rights, better access to education, and government support for Indigenous people to own land and grow their own foods.
Following the Congress, Patten, Ferguson, and other delegates met with Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and Interior Minister John McEwen to push for action. Their lobbying helped shape the New Deal for Aborigines announced later in 1938, which proposed a path to full citizenship for Indigenous people but tied to cultural assimilation. The plan was welcomed by the APA and AAL, but its full implementation stalled and took many decades.
The Day of Mourning helped spark greater Indigenous activism, including the launch of the Australian Abo Call in 1938 as a national newspaper for Aboriginal readers. However, the APA later split into rival groups, and the unity shown at the Day of Mourning did not last. The AAL continued its work, and activism persisted into the 1940s and beyond.
Background for the Day included previous protests in 1888, petitions in the early 1930s, and a push to gain recognition of Aboriginal civil rights. The day also drew on support from figures like author Mary Gilmore and the nationalist publisher The Publicist, which helped spread the protest’s ideas.
In later years, Australia has increasingly marked the day differently, with National Sorry Day on 26 May and counter-protests on 26 January (Invasion Day or Survival Day) drawing more attention to Indigenous experiences and rights. The Day of Mourning remains a significant moment in Australia’s history of Indigenous activism.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:53 (CET).