Australia Day is a public holiday celebrating the country and its achievements. It is celebrated on 26th January, as this marks the arrival of the first British colonists and the raising of the British flag at Sydney Cove. This is seen as problematic by some, as the date also marks the beginning of atrocities against the Australian Aborigines that saw their population fall by 90% and their culture largely destroyed.

Arguments for keeping Australia Day on this date:
- It is the traditional date of celebration and shouldn’t be changed.

- The events took place more than 200 years ago and don’t affect today’s Australians. Why do people dwell so much on what one group of ancestors did to another group of ancestors? Obsessing over historical grievances is stupid. Stop trying to make us feel guilty over past sins that took place in the past.

- Why should the majority change for the sake of a minority.

- What other date should we change it to? The date the colonies united as a single nation? The date in which we gained full independence from Britain?

- The date of British colonisation SHOULD actively be a date of celebration because it brought civilisation to the country [what I think people are trying to say here is “Western civilisation”].


Arguments for changing the date of Australia Day
- It has only been celebrated consistently on this date since the 1980s. Hardly changing a long-standing “tradition”.

- It is not a day that unifies Australians as it meant to. In fact, it is hard to think of a worse day for a celebration that is meant to include us all.

- Are people actually expecting the first Australians to celebrate a day that marked the beginning of genocide against their ancestors and the destruction of the oldest continuous culture on earth? It was the beginning of massacres, ravaging disease (often through the deliberate giving of smallpox-contaminated blankets) and dispossession from traditional lands. Injustices against Indigenous Australians have effect to this day: Indigenous Australians can expect to die over 10 years earlier than their non-Indigenous counterparts, infant mortality is double that of other Australians, alcohol and drug problems are widespread, Indigenous children make up 27% of child suicides despite Indigenous people comprising 3% of the population, and young Indigenous men have the highest suicide rates in the world. It was known as a Day of Mourning by Aborigines even in 1938, long before it became known as “Australia Day”.

- Telling Australian Aboriginals to “get over it and move on” is completely disingenuous. Should we stop commemorating Anzac Day and Remembrance Day because the wars happened years ago?

- Literally any other day would be fine. Anything BUT this day.

- It is day of invasion and is recognised by Australian courts as such. While British colonisation was previously termed “settlement” on the basis that there was no previously-existing legal system (ie. British law filled this hole) and that the land was owned by no one, this doctrine was overturned by the High Court In 1992. Indigenous people were recognised as having a legal system and a system of ownership. As there was no treaty with them, it was an invasion.

- A change in date has widespread support and many people do not celebrate for the reasons stated above. Protests are staged in every major city on Australia Day, which this year drew a crowd of 50,000 people in Melbourne alone.

Lol well you see... The day that Australia became a nation (the date of federation) would be a good choice of national day, no? Problem is, it's on New Year's Day and no Aussie's gonna give up a public holiday by merging it with another.

July 9 is the day the Constitution came into effect (but it's shit boring and no one really cares about it)

March 3 is a good choice. The day we severed remaining ties to Britain and became a country in our own right. Aussie Independence Day, basically.

Personally I like May 8 though. Because May8.. M8... maaate.