Australia is the only nation on earth, that I know of, that was brought into being on a single day by a single document, January 1st, 1901 by the Australian Constitution. Not even the Americans can claim that, nor for that matter the New Zealanders, the Canadians or anybody else. Australia wasn't a fully independent nation, but still it was a nation.

So. When do we celebrate our national day in the 21 century? Well, January 26th, when a penial colony was set up in the colony of NSW. Makes a lot of sense doesn't it?

Now if the Australian constitution had not been written or had been rejected by the Australian people in a referendum we would not be living in a single nation today! We would be like new Zealand, each colony would have created its own separate nation. The first fleet's arrival would still be in our history books dated January 26th - but we wouldn't be a single nation.

So, the pivotal event that created our single nation was the creation of the 'Australian Constitution' by our founding fathers and it being passed by a referendum and then enacted into law by the British on January 1st 1901.

I say happy new year and Happy Australia Day for January 1st, 2011!

p.s. The public holiday could be moved to March 3rd when we became legally independent from the UK with the signing of the Australia (independence) Act 1986. When we become a republic we could use the Queens birthday as President's day or something.

Yeah, not for celebrating to conquering of a people, but maybe we should celebrate a day when all Australians are seen as equal. Sure, that is a LONG way off yet and what would all the bogans do without being full of piss and waving the flags of nationalism in the faces of immigrants and the indigenous.

But, if it's going to happen maybe pretending there wasn't an invasion is a good idea.

The trouble is that Australia was not "brought into being" on Jan 1st 1901. It was "brought into being" many dozens of thousands of years earlier through aboriginal settlement.

For most of the past 222 years since 1788 we have ignored this "fact". Aboriginal history has been invisible, and to this day there are many amongst us who are happy for that to continue.

The aboriginal people were the founders of our land.

Jockey,

I think you should be using the word 'terra australis' when describing aboriginal settlement thousands of years before, not the term Australia, which is really short for the Commonwealth of Australia. But, it is an undeniable indisputable fact that the different colonies formed into one country on January 1st, 1901 called the commonwealth of AUSTRALIA.

So, I ask all of you again, why do we celebrate 'Australia Day' on the wrong day? January 26th

We celebrate it on the wrong day because we basically invaded aboriginal lands without negotiation or permission when we started the colony. That's why Jan 26th is the wrong day.

Just like 1st Jan is also the wrong day. On the 1st of Jan 1901 we did NOT seek permission or cooperation from aboriginal people for the declaration and content of the Australian Constitution. Officially, the true owners of this continent were thought of as little more than animals, they were not considered citizens with all the normal rights of a citizen. So because of our blatant and inhumane theft of entire aboriginal lands at the time, the 1st of Jan is an incredibly inappropriate day to celebrate Australia Day.

Jockey,

You are talking about terra nullius, this was covered by the High Court in the Mabo case. Maybe you could suggest something useful like using January 26th as Indigenous person's day.

My only gripe is that it means instead of missing an extra day of work, we have a holiday on New Years day- when everyone is hung over.

Remember it pays to be practical about these things...
(though better yet, were we to become a republic, we hold the referendum on a day of the year for which holidays are scarce (winter, spring) and make Australia day that one?

King Hazza, we would retain January 26th as a public holiday and call it 'Reconciliation Day'. But, AUSTRALIA('s)(birth)DAY was on January 1st, 1901, thus Australia Day is January 1st.

The fire works on the harbour bridge would celebrate two things the birth of a new year and the birth of a nation.

Jockey, I totally sympathise with your views on Aboriginal Australia and our (European-cum-multicultural) invasion and displacement thereof.

The 26th of January has always been Invasion Day to me.

However, I really like Sense's idea of calling it Reconciliation Day and continuing to hold it as a public holiday and a major day on this country's calendar.

We should realise that, as bad as it was, the invasion of Aboriginal Australia was nothing unusual in the history of humanity or indeed in the history of life on Earth. Many countries are built upon a history of invasion.

One very significant step forward would be to declare Jan 26 Reconciliation Day, while moving Australia to Jan 1.

Reconciliation Day is a great idea. But I think it should replace Australia day, whether it be on 26th or the 1st. I don't think we should have the two days.

The reason I think we should go that way is because we need to recognise more fully that we invaded this country. There's still many history deniers to this day who deny that. We stole aboriginal lands, murdered aboriginal people, decimated whole communities, brought horrific disease, stole and raped their women and forever damaged numerous cultures. And to this day there are those politically correct individuals within our society who blame aboriginal people because they are not just like us. These are the history deniers amongst us.

Because of aboriginal history, I believe Reconciliation Day should replace Australia Day. Let's show we're world leaders in this regard. Just because other countries don't do this type of thing doesn't mean we have to timidly follow the pack.

Ludwig and Sense- very good idea, I would definitely support that (and having an actual reconciliation day as a public holiday would be a very positive step).

Gentlemen - we have just changed Australian history - congratulations and well done!

On the contrary, maybe one or two of us are capable of recognising and understanding history in it's totality and as it REALLY happened. Remember, history is NEVER merely isolated events; it's a complicated and lengthy series of events that are not isolated, but intertwined. To view isolated events, without "full" context to "all" concerned, is usually a misread of accurate history.

Deniers of accurate Australian history are everywhere.

Should we ever end up with a separate Australia Day and Reconciliation Day, I would hope that Reconciliation Day be accorded the same official status as Australia Day. The original occupiers of this land deserve no less.

I find sense's Reconciliation Day suggestion to be worthwhile, but I also agree with transky that it should either be one or the other regarding Aust. Day and Reconciliation Day. But like transky I think if we're to have both then they should be equal in importance and recognition. I can't see where anyone's changing history on this topic.

A better title for January 26th would be 'Reconciliation and 'Heritage Day'. Reconcilation and heritage for Australian aborigines and heritage for people proud of their British heritage.

Correction, 'Reconciliation & Heritage Day' should be a day for reconciliation with and for Australian aborigines and a day to celebrate the heritage of not only people of aboriginal and British descent, but the heritage of all other peoples in Australia as well.

Australia become a nation in 1901, but was a colony of Britain. The country had to let go of Empire to move out on it own. I think it is butter to keep the 26th as Australia day when the Europeans come here.

SEPTEMBER 17 IS THE DAY

New Year's Day is a holiday in its own right, and is unsuitable for a national day because there's too much litter and too many hangovers.

Other candidates: The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 was passed on July 5, signed by Queen Victoria on July 9, and proclaimed by her on September 17. You can eliminate July 5 and July 9 because it was not yet confirmed that Western Australia was on board. On September 17, it was all stitched up.

Besides, of all the above options, September 17 is the one most likely to have tolerable weather across the country.

Yes, September 17 is also the date of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. But it's not their national day! Besides, any date is bound to clash with something or other. For example, January 26 is Republic Day in India!

If you want a Reconciliation Day, the obvious candidate is May 27 -- the date of the 1967 referendum that included Aboriginal persons in the census.

Don't forget we're basically a colony of the USA now. And we don't realise it.

The present Australia Day does not represent the occasion we became an independent country. It does recognise our origins through. Federation was a great leaf forwarded to becoming an independent nation. Others steps were when we created our own flag created our own high courts and introduced our own passports. There is one more step to take before we become an independent nation. We must have our own head of state, not that of England. The date that happens will be truly Australian Day.

Grputland, that is a great idea to hold Reconciliation Day should be on May 27th.

Australia Day - January 1st
Heritage Day - January 26th
Reconciliation Day - May 27th

To those that say Australia Day was not a fully independent - you are correct. You have to bear in mind that there is a difference between political independence and legal independence.

I believe Australia, as a new nation, was politically independent on January 1st, 1901, it just took another 85 years for the legal paper work to catch up.

Sense, it has not fully caught up yet.

Flo,

The Australia Acts 1986, was missing a word in the middle called 'Independence'. It should have been called 'the Australia Independence Act 1986.'

The key phrases in the act are virtually the same as the key phrases in the Indian Independence Act 1947. The Queen is totally powerless since the signing of the act on March 3rd, 1986.

The only role she has now is to sign a commission letter drafted by an Australian PM to appoint our Governor General.

http://vrroom.naa.gov.au/records/?ID=24841

Sense, you are right, but we still do not have an Australian Head of State. The GG represents the Queen. Whitlam found out that the GG can act without the PM giving directives.

Flo,

Absolutely correct.

But, we cannot move to a republic until we celeberate things that have real meaning in a proper fashion. If you land on a desert island and you have no other points in of significance in your history, then the only reference point you have is the day when you first landed.

Imagine a proper re-enactment of the first fleet's arrival on January 26th in Sydney harbour. In a single boat, coming to shore would be Kevin Rudd and say 30 other people of purely anglo-irish descent all smiling broadly, this is our day!

On the shore to greet them would be a mixture of aborigines and Australians of every other race on earth. January 26th is a day of exclusion.

Whereas, celebrating Australia Day on January 1st, would be about the setting up of a system of national government. Happy New Year - Happy Australia Day!

Sense, I agree with you re 26 January. The day does represent our origins’ but should not be Australia Day. The nearest we have is 1 January.

For decades - albeit quietly, have been celebrating Australia Day on January 1st, as it is the day Australia became an independent nation.

From January 1st, 1901 our legal decisions and political decisions have been decisions made by persons selected by Australians.

Those selected including HM's like QE2 as our nominal head of state.

Polpak, good on you! You're much smarter than the rest of us. I just woke up to the fact.

If Australia was born as a nation on January 1st, why on earth do we celebrate our nationhood 25 days later?

The only time I know of when a British PM tried to interfere in our affairs, was when Churchill attempted to turn one of our troop ships around in WWII. But PM Curtin put a stop to that quick smart. Roosevelt and Churchill then continued to beg him for more Australian troops - he said no!

So, you're right we made all of the decisions from the January 1st, 1901.

Why don't we move it to February the 29th, that way we only have to worry about every leap year.

Sense wrote, "If Australia was born as a nation on Jan 1st".

But the thing is - - - - it wasn't, according to some.

It was only "born as a nation" if one accepts certain criteria. You've accepted that criteria. And good on you.

But, many people don't accept that criteria. Some people see history quite differently, many of our indigenous people being among them.

Jockey,

When in your view did we become a nation?

Australia was a colony when the British establish European settement in the country. And become a nation on January 1st 1901, but also Anzac day and the 26th is a holiday.That is part of our heritage.

I've thought long and hard about January 1st, 1901. Were we a nation or weren't we? Legally, on paper we were still a colony within the British empire. But, politically and physically we became our own nation on January 1st, 1901. How many colonies have their own navy, army and national government. We made our own decisions from that very first day. Our heritage and that of the aborignal people and all other Australians should be celebrated on January 26th as 'Heritage Day.'

Our 110th birthday as a nation will be coming up in a little over 3 months - I for one will be celebrating it.

“We made our own decisions from that very first day.” Did we, I was under the impression that we still made appeals to the British Privy Council. We did not have our own passports. If was many more years until we had our own flag which still has the Union Jack on it. Aboriginals were not counted. Most of the above stayed in place until the sixties and seventies. There were other things as well that still tied us to England. We still have a foreign head of state.

Flo, you are absolutely right in everything you say. But, let's have a look at what would have happened if Federation had not ocurred on January 1st, 1901.

I look to New Zealand, like all of the Australian States prior to January 1st, 1901 it was a self governing colony. How did New Zealand become a country? A sitting Premier of New Zealand simply changed his title from Premier to 'Prime Minister.'
They ceased to be a colony after applying for dominion status in 1906 or 1907. The Governor of New Zealand was eventually renamed Governor-General by 1917.

A similar path would have been taken by all the separate Australian colonies. Each colony would have become a separate nation, probably at different time scales, with a Prime Minister and separate armies, navies and separate titles for each of its citizens.

Sense, agree with you 100%. What I am saying is that we have not finish the job yet. I believe the last few weeks prove we have a very good constitution.

Sense, we became a nation when this Land took possession of the aboriginal occupiers: Many thousands of years ago. Think about it.

History deniers think we became a nation on Jan 1st 1901: Nothing could be further from the truth. We walk on stolen Land.

Flo,

You are absolutely right, we have a great Constitution.
It is also wonderfully written. It is so easy to read, it is so economical in its use of words.For example, compare the original Section 15 'Senate Vacancies' to the amendement in 1977.

The original text had only 204 words in it, the amended text in 1977 had 851 words and was verbal garbage. In the original text the word Senator or Senators occurs only 3 times. In the 1977 amended version, the word Senator or Senators occurs 18 times!! It also introduced the word politcial party into the constitution. It needs to be repealed.

Jockey, you should read about Andrew Inglis Clark, if he had more authority during the convention debates and wasn't so sickly a person, he would have enshrined a bill of rights in our constitution.

Jockey I appreciate your reading of history as it's spot on. But the problem is we can't undo history, no matter how shameful and wrong it's been. At the best all we can do is make amends, and I think only a minority of people in Australia wish to make amends because they perceive it will be at a cost to them. Saying sorry is one thing, but DOING sorry is a different ball game altogether.

I think it's best to move on and make the best of what's left over from history. Yes it's unfair, but that's life. Never, ever forget "true" history, but move forward nonetheless. Most people believe in a "fabricated" history of this country, a history that primarily presents only certain points of view. Aboriginal history is not properly recognised and respected. That's life. That's to be expected. it's what people are like. We must move on though, as there's no future in dwelling too heavily.