Emancipation Day 2024

Our keynote speaker this year for Emancipation Day will be the Hon Tony Abbott AC, and our focus will be on John Newton, the slaver, turned slave, turned slaver, turned clergyman, who was such a key figure in the abolitionist movement.

This is a celebration of the moment when Human Rights went Universal.

Newton's story is one of thoughtless involvement in an inhuman trade, conversion to Christianity, but only some years later a realisation of the evils of slavery. It is a tale of frail, but redeemable humanity; sin and repentance; atonement, and ultimately forgiveness.

Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace" is written with humility about the human condition. Confessional and uplifting it speaks of virtues lacking in our modern harsh and unforgiving world. It is so authentic that it has been frequently "covered" by secular singers as diverse as Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Willie Nelson.

It is also a story of how a small determined group of people can change the world for good. Newton, his protege William Wilberforce, and his patron John Thornton, all play a part in changing British public opinion, so that from the publication of his book Thoughts on the African Slave Trade in 1788 to the passing of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833 (coming into force on August 1, 1834) abolition went from a fringe concern to an overwhelmingly majority consensus.

Trinidad and Tobago first instituted Emancipation Day on August 1, 1985. In 2021 Canada was the latest country to make Emancipation Day a national day. We intend to make Australia the next.

Host or Publisher Australian Institute for Progress