When the first fleet dropped anchor in Sydney Cove it was not some sort
of casual arrival, it was the intent to settle permanently.
It had the effect of joining the aborigines permanently to the rest of
humanity and bringing them forward thousands of years.
The changes required to adjust to reality would inevitably cause
problems for them as the change was enormous.
They had to learn to read and write as just one example and learn
what was money.
Knowledge was no longer in song lines but in books.
Land tenure had to change because a patch of land required a family to
work that patch and put their life into it.

The changes that aborigines had to accept were because the rest of the
world worked that way and they were now in it.

That day was the biggest event they had experienced in 60,000 years
and was more important to the aborigines than those on the ships.
How can you top that as a day to celebrate ?

Bezza,
It really doesn’t matter what is being done for the pseudo Aborigines, it’s always not right & not enough. The colonisers are blamed for introducing alcohol yet when indigenous are barred from obtaining alcohol because they can’t handle alcohol, they bleat discrimination. Same goes for drugs. Drug & alcohol intolerance is the same with many indigenous as it is with non-indigenous yobbos.
To change Australia Day is nothing but a weak attempt to deflect blame for shortcomings !

Hummm! "It had the effect of joining the aborigines permanently to the rest of humanity and bringing them forward thousands of years." That was not the state of the world in 1788. Africa, most of the The Americas, much of Asia was unknown and as yet unconquered by the European. This revisionist nonsense that European colonisation was some kind of "Blessing for Aboriginal people" is totally untrue. Just as he did elsewhere the Gubba subjugated Aboriginal Australia, just as he did to other indigenous in the rest of the world he conquered.

Hi Bezza,

You ask - How can you top that as a day to celebrate?

The Australian Museum makes it clear that:

January 26th does not celebrate the establishment of
Australia as a country, but marks the foundation of
the British colony of NSW.

We're told that:

Most nations celebrate their national day on the date
of independence from their colonial power, not the
day of colonisation.

January 26th has negative associations for Australians. Both
Indigenous and non-Indigenous. For Indigenous it marks the
start of dispossession and discrimination
and for non-Indigenous it marks the arrival of
convicts in chains.

Why would we want to celebrate a day that has unhappy
connotations for so many.

A different date would be a significant symbolic act towards
reconciliation.

Foxy,

"The Australian Museum makes it clear that:"

They are just part of that revolting bunch of "holier than thou" creeps who wanted to make Australia a divided apartheid nation. The voters told them where to stick it.

The 26th is a great day for people to celebrate the lives given them by this great nation that celebrates equality and the fair go. I'll be thinking of the people who contributed to the nation we all enjoy, not a hateful narrative.

Hi Foxy, hear, hear, well said.

I'm not a nationalist myself, although I see myself as an Australian, and proud of it. Nationalism is used too often by extremists as an excuse to propagate hatred, fear and division within society at the expense of minorities and those they despise. You can see on this forum how the small mined wack jobs nationalist think. Sad really.

I would simply like to see Australia Day moved to 1st January, and be a day of inclusion for ALL Australians, not just the GUBBA'S we have on this forum.
p/s The stumbling block with that for all those proud patriotic gubba's is 1st January is already a public holiday, and they don't want to lose a day off! Of course there are those who celebrate 20th April as an unofficial holiday. A day to remembered for them.

p/p/s What about that gubba who said he bought a Chinese made flag and he's putting it up in his front yard. I wonder, is it red with yellow stars, he's silly enough to fall for that.