As usual, 26 January has been marked by protests, denunciations of those protests, and further iterations. Even apart from the fact that it marks an invasion, the foundation of a colony that later became one of Australia’s states isn’t much of a basis for a national day.
I have always thought we should go back to our earliest national day of Wattle Day.
Australia day is hugely problematic, Jan 26 ought to be a National day of mourning and Jan 27 our national day of reconciliation.
I like wattle day as a national holiday. I also like 9 July as Australian day, when the Queen said we could be our own nation instead of a collection of British controlled colonies. The most Australian thing to do is have more than one day off work to respect our nation by getting sunburnt and picking flowers. Real Aussies just want another day off.