Right: Aboriginal "day of mourning" in 1938.
Arguments in favour of changing the date of Australia Day
1. Aboriginal Australians see January 26 as the date their country was invadedAboriginal Australians have long opposed January 26 as a day of national celebration. The 2009 Australian of the Year, Professor Mike Dodson, has explained, 'Many of our people call it Invasion Day. To many indigenous Australians, in fact, most indigenous Australians, it really reflects the day on which our world came crashing down. I'm sensitive to that, I understand that... I too share the concerns of my indigenous brothers and sisters about the date.'
Former Australian Rules footballer and coach, Ron Barassi, has similarly stated, 'Australia Day is the day put aside to focus attention on just what a great country this is. But I reckon we're celebrating the wrong day. I think we should change the date of Australia Day. We were invaders and conquerors in 1788 when the First Fleet arrived and we took this land from the Aborigines. January 26 just doesn't sit right with me and I'd prefer it were changed.'
A number of letter writers endorsed the views of Mick Dodson and Ron Barassi. Mr John Kelly, in a letter published in The Age on January 27, 2009, stated, 'I would like to add my name to those of Mick Dodson and Ron Barassi who have called for a re-think on Australia Day. January 26 is unacceptable, insofar as it divides the nation and reflects a date that is infamous in the eyes of our indigenous population. If we are to be a truly inclusive society, a more appropriate date should be sought.'
As early as 1938, a group of Aboriginal protestors commemorated January 26 not as Australia Day but as the Day of Mourning, in acknowledgement of the dispossession of Aboriginal Australians.
By 1988 Aborigines declared their opposition to the celebrations of 26 January with land rights flags at Lady Macquarie's Point on Sydney Harbour, the Bondi Pavilion protest concert, and the gathering of Aboriginal marchers and white supporters at Belmore Park.
The protesters set up a Tent Embassy at Mrs Macquarie's Chair adjacent the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. The embassy, made up of several large marquees and smaller tents, was manned by a group of Aboriginal people from Eveleigh Street, Redfern. It became a gathering place for Aboriginal people from all over Sydney. One of the aims of the embassy was to raise awareness of Aboriginal rights and the distressing conditions under which many Aboriginal people live. Opposition to the celebration of a national day on January 26 became a focus for the group's activities.
From 1992 there have been Survival Day concerts to mark Australia Day.
2. Changing the date of Australia Day would be a powerful gesture toward Aboriginal reconciliation
It has been suggested that changing the date on which Australia Day is celebrated would be a powerfully symbolic act, demonstrating respect for the Aboriginal point of view.
Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University, has stated, 'Many people believed that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's "Sorry" speech in Parliament soon after coming to office reflected a new respect for the views of Indigenous people, but Mick Dodson's call for a national "conversation" has been shut down before it has even started.
By ruling out discussion of the view of many Indigenous people, that Australia Day celebrates the invasion of the continent and the beginning of their dispossession and repression, Mr Rudd shows a worrying disregard for Indigenous perspectives
Are we too afraid to hear the arguments? Can we have reconciliation if some people's opinions are excluded?...
The symbolism would have real meaning if ... we showed a renewed respect for the history of dispossession by adopting a new date for Australia Day that marked both the shift to a ... recognition of original ownership of this land by the first Australians. January 26 could remain a public holiday to mark the arrival of the First Fleet and the history of white settlement, akin to Thanks Giving Day in the United States.'
3. Other countries that were originally colonies have national days that commemorate their independence
It has been argued that January 26 is not a suitable national day for Australia to celebrate national identity. Critics of this date note that what it commemorates is Australia's connection to Britain.
Former Democrat Senator, Andrew Bartlett, has stated, 'It is not just that this date marks the start of a dispossession, displacement and killing of Aboriginal Australians far more brutal than our nation is still able to admit or acknowledge.
I also don't see why a nation which has become independent from the country which colonised them would celebrate their national day on the anniversary of colonisation. Most other nations with this sort of history celebrate on the date of independence, not the day of colonisation.
Republicans might argue that Australia is still not fully independent until we no longer have the British monarch automatically serving as our head of state. But in a legal sense, Australia is now a fully independent nation.
The date when Australia came into existence as a country was January 1, 1901, when the various colonies became states as part of the federation of Australia...
Despite Kevin Rudd having already said the answer is "no", I agree with Professor Dodson, and others like the chair of the Australia Day Council, Adam Gilchrist, that it is good idea to have this conversation and become more aware of our own history and what being Australian should be about.'
A number of letter writers also adopted the view that Australia should have national day that celebrates its independence, not its status as a former colony. Robert Humphris, in a letter published in The Age on January 27, 2009, stated, 'We should change the date of Australia Day, not because it represents the invasion of a nation of indigenous Australians, but because the arrival of a downtrodden group of English convicts and their less-than-noteworthy guards at Botany Bay does not represent the birth of a nation and is memorable only to their descendants. We want to celebrate our beginnings as a proud and independent nation. Independence started with self-government in Victoria in 1855. Sydney, of course, would object to this as a reason for celebration. The obvious point of independence is the birth of the nation through Federation on January 1, 1901.'
Similarly, Ruby Partland in a letter also published in The Age on January 27, 2009, stated, 'January 26 is a joke. Most countries celebrate the liberty they gained in fighting for an identity separate from their colonisers. I know a date that will not bring us shame and sadness: the day we get over our obsession with Britain and become a republic.'
4. January 26 has no significance to Australians who are not of British origin
It has been claimed that for Australians who are not of British descent, there is little of significance in commemorating the day New South Wales was established as a British colony.
This point has been made by former Democrat Senator, Andrew bartlett, who has stated, 'But it is not only Indigenous Australians who feel that 26th January is not the best day to celebrate our unity as a nation, as Ron Barassi's views make clear. Many of the millions of Australians who are not of British heritage are also likely to find another day more meaningful. Plenty of other people who, like me, have some British ancestry, also feel the same.'
In a blog comment posted on The Australian's site on January 26, 2009, it was further noted, 'The Queen, the Union Jack on the flag and January 26 are still remnants of British/white colonial occupation and do not reflect today's Australian multicultural society. Australia still needs a lot of work to have more visible non-white, non-European representation in its social fabric.'
5. The date and the title of Australia's national day has been changed on a number of occasions in the country's past
It has been noted that the custom of celebrating Australia's national day on January 26 as Australia Day is a relatively recent one. Not until 1935 did all the Australian states and territories use that name to mark that date and not until 1994 did they begin to celebrate Australia Day consistently as a public holiday on that date.
Earlier in the colony of New South Wales' history, January 26 was celebrated either as First Landing Day or Foundation Day.
After Australia's federation in 1901, there was widespread concern that federation not be misinterpreted as an attempt on the part of the new nation to sever its ties with Britain. In 1905 Conservative Australian and state governments reinforced the Empire's role by instituting Empire Day, 24 May, the birthday of the late Queen Victoria. At this point the new nation had no agreed national day of celebration.
During World War I, 30 July 1915 became Australia Day. The day was an occasion for raising funds for the war by drawing on Australians' pride in their soldiers' achievements.
In addition, aboriginal protest groups have since 1938 commemorated the day as either a Day of Mourning or Invasion Day or Survival Day.
Critics of the January 26 date for a national holiday argue that the date cannot be said to be sanctioned by tradition when it has varied so much over the years and has been a source of significant contention.