On 26 January 2022, members of Rwandan community in Queensland under the umbrella ofthe Rwandan Association of Queensland (RAQ) Inc. celebrated Australia Day for first time in Queensland history. Event took place in Logan City located in Queensland state.

26 January is the date that marks the arrival of the first British fleet at Sydney Harbour and raised the flag. This is the day many migrants to Australia get citizenship and it is celebrated at state and federal levels.

Although 26 January plays a role in Australia history, its meaning has been interpreted differently. Some people consider the day as the beginning of Britain’s invasion of Australia and the violent expropriation of Aboriginal lands.

Others who seek to retain the current Australia Day date often invoke a tradition which parenthesises the uncomfortable details of Australia’s colonial history.

The event started 10am and finished 8pm. Attendance was between 180 to 200 people.

It involved Volleyball and soccer tournaments with cash and cups awards. Volleyball started 10: 30 till 1:30 and soccer started 2pm to 3:30pm.

 RAQ Australia Day Soccer Cup  and   RAQ Australia Day Volleyball Cup

Who funded the Event?

The event was financially funded by the National Australia Day Council (NADC). Honourable Jim Chalmers also provided some marquees as weather on the day was not suitable.

Participated Communities

ACCESS community have been supporting Rwandan community in providing meeting and party rooms, soccer games fields and share important information that contribute to the wellbeing of community members. Having facilitated in venue and facilities, ACCESS Community management, transmitted event information in local councils and communities that made it possible to have an unexpected high number of attendances.

The guest speaker from Multicultural Australia encouraged community members to keep working together and follows government guidelines to minimise risks of getting covid19 infection.

Burundian leadership also played a vital role by allowing their soccer team “Burundi Stars FC” to compete for the RAQ Australia Day Cup and wonderful cultural dance by Burundian “Umuco Club “dancing group.

Congolese and Ugandan leaders, it was a wonderful opportunity to show than being spectators. They actively competed with the RAQ youth in Volleyball and nearly made it possible for the RAQ mature to win the cup.

Business owner of Rwanda heritage also had opportunities to speak on impact of the covid19 pandemic to their businesses. These included Active Refugee and Migrant Integration in Australia (ARMIA), Complete Healthcare Connect and Diverse & Inclusive Care Australia.

How did Event end?

At the end of Soccer competition, it was raining and could have been had for performance, awarding and food sharing to be conducted in such environment. One of the managers of ACCESS community opened hall to enabling above activities to come to the end. The most requirement was to wear mask all the time while one is inside and was followed accordingly to minimise transmission of the covid19.

Elder Bill Mukaye welcomed communities to the nation and the national anthem followed.

Food and beverages were served after the RAQ President speech and Burundian and Rwandan dance groups kept entertaining audience until award ceremony concluded the event.

Follow this link

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1hc4vTfdMXiCYCx7PslDwSj8pGc41RVUu?u

sp=sharing for some photos that were taken during event.

Theogene Ngabo

President- Rwandan Association of Queensland.