Both Prime Minister Turnbull and Opposition Leader Shorten have used the word ‘invasion’ to describe what happened in Australia in 1788. (They still differ over reconciling, recognising, and whether or not to have a treaty.)
Now that we have bipartisan agreement on 26 January 1788 is it possible we can also call what happened in the Dardanelles on 25 April 1915 an ‘invasion’ rather than use the euphemistic word ‘landing’? To use the test the prime minister applied – what the local inhabitants thought of what was happening – there is no doubt the Ottoman Turks thought they were being invaded.
15 June 2016
There is a difference in my opinion, that Turkey was at war with the British Empire in 1915, Indigenous Australians were not at war with the British Empire in 1788. For my mind, the term ‘invasion’ brings an unlawful or unexpected quality to an event.