Australia’s youth broadcaster Triple J has asked its listeners whether it should change the date of the annual Hottest 100 from 26 January.
An online poll launched on Wednesday asked for feedback on the date of the annual Australia Day music countdown, amid a growing campaign to have it changed to show respect to the nation’s Indigenous population.
“Over the past 10 months we’ve been consulting with a range of people, musicians, community leaders and representative groups on their opinions of Australia Day and the implications of holding the Hottest 100 on that day,” it said.
In September last year, the station’s content director, Ollie Wards, said there was a case for moving the date away from Australia Day, which marks the start of British colonisation of the continent, and which many Indigenous Australians consider a day of mourning.
The station declined to move the date for this year’s Hottest 100, but announced that future years would be under review.
In August last year, Indigenous artists Briggs and Trials, performing as AB Original, released a single with Dan Sultan arguing for the date of Australia Day to be changed.
The song, January 26, came 16th in this year’s countdown. Earlier in the month, 12 Australian hip-hop artists collaborated on a new track also calling for the day to be moved.
Wednesday’s poll asked listeners whether they consider the countdown “an essential part of Australia Day”, whether “the day would be the same without it” or whether they “don’t really understand the issue”.
It provides an open submission box for the question “What do you think of triple j’s Hottest 100 being on January 26th?” where listeners can provide their own answer.
In 2014, Indigenous playwright and actor Nakkiah Lui explained why many members of the Indigenous community protest the date each year.
“Australia Day is a day of mourning,” she said. “We do not celebrate the coming of the tall ships in Sydney’s harbour. Instead, we mourn the declaration of Australia as terra nullius as well as those who have died in massacres and those who were dispossessed of their land and homes.”
The Hottest 100 has been broadcast on January 26 for two decades, but Australia Day has only been consistently celebrated as a public holiday on that date since 1994.
In January, Triple J said the review would consult the ABC Bonner Committee (the broadcaster’s advisory body on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues), Indigenous artists, Reconciliation Australia and the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.
An update on the review is due to be presented in the second half of 2017.
This year’s Australia Day was marked by protests from hundreds of people across the country, and mentions of #ChangeTheDate on Twitter increased 850%.
