Dear Josephus,

Australia Day for millions of Australians means
barbeques, lamingtons, and being proud of your
country. All of those things are great. Celebrating
Australia Day is not the problem, just the date that
it currently falls on. Many Indigenous people feel
their ancestors suffered badly the consequences of
colonisation. That's why 26th January is a hard day
for them.

Changing the date I guess is an opportunity for Australians
to own the wrongs done in the past and take another step
in making things right.

This is what we need to discuss and decide what if anything
we are going to do.

I suggest that we make ON 27 MAY 1967 Aboriginal Peoples Day & have a Public Holiday to celebrate everything Aboriginal. As we do with Paddy's Day, Burns Day, etc. We leave the 26th Jan as Australia Day to be celebrated by all Australians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RmvMbbvI28&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQWBy0GyFU There are more than 5 million people have become citizens since Australian citizenship was introduced in 1949. New Citizens of Australia remember they received their certificate of citizenship on 26th January. They have reason to celebrate on that date. We all born before 1949 known as British subjects on the 26th January became Australian citizens. More people have become Citizens on 26th January than disaffected aboriginals.

Dear Josephus,

I guess changing the date is an opportunity for
Australia to own the wrongs done in the past and
take another step in making things right for our
Indigenous People.

Australia Day should be celebrated
on a Day that would include everyone and - apparently
January 26th is a date that some of our Inidgenous
People object to because they have suffered badly the
consequences of colonisation - and they assume that we
are celebrating the colonisation of Australia on that
day. If we're not - (and many of us are not)
then there should not be a problem in changing the date.
But it is something we all
need to agree on. And I can see that this is not going to
happen quickly.

At a recent dinner-party it was suggested that
the date of Australia Day should be flexible each year
and adjusted
to correspond with a Friday or a Monday on the calendar - creating
a long week-end. This situation is demonstrated by the changing
date of Easter each year. With a locked in date of January 26th,
which shifts through the week - this is disruptive to the economy.
People do tend to take extra days off to gain a longer
week-end. This could be something for the government to consider.

Hi Josephus,

Not quite accurate: Aboriginal people (including women) who had the vote at the time of Federation (Jan 1, 1901) continued to have the right to vote. But it's true that Aboriginal people turning 21 after that date couldn't register or vote until the 1960s. They had the vote at the time of the Referendum.

And Aboriginal people became citizens, like other Australians, on Jan 1, 1949. They were citizens at the time of the Referendum. At the time of the 1967 Referendum, they had pretty much all the rights of other Australians, but were not specifically counted in the Census (although they were, in State reports), nor could the federal parliament make laws in relation to Aboriginal people, that was still a State prerogative. But of course, they came under federal law like anybody else, regardless, in practice.

Joe

Josephus,
I checked my citizenship certificate. 'Twas June, not January, when I became an Australian Citizen.

But even if it had been on January 26th when my citizenship was granted, I still wouldn't object to a change of date for Australia Day.

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Loudmouth,
Though I agree with your basic point about land ownership in conquered countries, you should be aware that Russia seized some islands from Japan, and Königsberg (which subsequently became Kaliningrad) from Germany. In both cases the land was seized from the original inhabitants. I think a similar thing happened in the parts of Germany that were absorbed into Poland.

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Foxy,
I think the real question is: when should Australia Day be moved to?
January 1st seems to be the leading contender, but there are many others.