What’s so great about Australia Day anyway? What is it we’re actually celebrating? And what should we do with Australia Day?

Dave Hodgman
4 min readJan 26, 2021

On January 26th, 1788, the First Fleet of 11 ships arrived at Sydney Cove carrying over 1,000 people, including 778 convicts. They had arrived in Australia at Botany Bay six days earlier but decided it wasn’t such a great spot. It wasn’t until February 7th of that year that a formal ceremony of annexation was conducted in which they “took possession of the colony”. At that stage, they only laid claim to the Eastern half of the continent, a claim that would have been found illegitimate under international law had anyone bothered to press the point. And remember that Australia was actually discovered separately by the Dutch and Spanish in 1606 but had been settled by the indigenous peoples somewhere between 40,000 to 70,000 years earlier.

So, what is Australia Day actually celebrating? It seems to be a more significant event in terms of British imperialistic achievements rather than Australian history. A day on which they commenced the process of stealing a land from the previous inhabitants and turning it into a penal colony. Perhaps not the nicest or most noble of ventures. Did you know that January 26th wasn’t established as a national holiday for Australia Day until 1994? A mere 27 years ago! Doesn’t seem like much of a history worth celebrating. Many people have some fond memories of having a day off in the sun around a barbeque getting drunk with friends and family but that seems more important to them than actually acknowledging or celebrating any historical event or achievement.

Here’s my three-part suggestion on what we should do with the day.

1. Australia should become a republic on January 1st, 2026*

We can adopt a minimal-change model in which we continue to have a Prime Minister and a Governor General who is still appointed by the Parliament. The Governor General continues to perform the key function as a safety valve in the event that the government of the day becomes dysfunctional. The only key change is that the Governor General becomes accountable to the Australian public rather than the Queen. The model we have today is not perfect but it is pretty good and we haven’t yet seen a better alternative so I don’t see a need to overhaul the whole thing. I’m sure some conservative purists would complain that republics can’t have prime ministers and governors but hey, we’re adults now and we can make up new stuff to suit ourselves. Ideally, we should remain a part of the Commonwealth as part of our key alliance with the U.K. and the other 53 members, but that would be up to them.

2. January 1st becomes the new Australia Day

Australia Day then becomes a day in which we celebrate Australia having become a nation on the 1st of January 1901, and then an independent republic 125 years later in 2026. This is a day in which we celebrate the contributions of all the people who have helped to build Australia and the proud nation we are today.

* I suggest 2026 being 125 years after Federation but substitute the earliest year that is practically doable.

3. January 26th remains a national public holiday but is renamed and re-themed as Respect Day.

Respect Day would be a day in which we spend a large part of the day learning more about the indigenous people and cultures of Australia along with their ancient and more recent history as well as celebrating the traditions, knowledge and values they bring to our community. It is a day in which we acknowledge the wrongs that were done to them and their suffering past and present. It is a day in which we remind ourselves of the injustices that were done and the need to re-focus our efforts on addressing the inequities and problems they continue to face.

Respect Day would also be a day in which all of us, indigenous peoples included, spend in part on honouring all the peoples and cultures from around the world who have contributed to creating the wonderfully multi-cultural place that Australia is today and continue to contribute to making it a even better place.

Importantly, January 26th should become a day in which we all focus on improving our understanding, acceptance and respect for other people from all walks of life. I believe this combination of changes is the only way in which we can finally start all moving forward together.

In writing this, I don’t mean to diminish or discredit any peoples who have contributed to Australia as it stands today and the current Australia Day event. I don’t see why we can’t honour and pay respect to their contributions in new and better ways as we continue to learn and mature. Indeed, I would say that to remain stuck in past practices and to cease to grow and improve would do them a dishonour. After all, wasn’t breaking free from the past and creating something new exactly what they were doing? They would be disappointed if we didn’t continue marching forward in the directions they started upon.

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