#ChangeTheDate for Australia Day

Gregory Andrews
Jan 23, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Jan 26

26 January is toxic. It doesn’t represent the diverse, tolerant and kind Australia I know and am proud and grateful to belong to. Let's #ChangeTheDate.

Australia is founded on much more than a date when New South Wales was colonised by Britain 235 years ago. 26 January does not represent our beginning. Australia's post-colonisation history represents less than one per cent of human habitation of this continent. Australia has been here since the Dream Time.

For a nation that prides itself on equality, 26 January is deeply flawed. It insults First Australians. I want to celebrate our national day. But as an Aboriginal Australian I can’t. And so many non-Indigenous Australians feel the same. Nastiness is not an Australian value. It’s not something we pride ourselves on. Celebrating Australian Day on 26 January kicks First Australians in the teeth. No wonder Woolworths, BHP, Telstra, the University of Wollongong, the Australian Public Service and many other employers are giving staff the choice to work this 26 January and celebrate on another day.

Australia rejects classism and our national day should reflect this. The Australia of today and the future is not an insecure and Anglo-centric outpost. We have long grown up into a diverse, sophisticated Asia-Pacific democracy. Although we are a unique multicultural society, 26 January disregards the more than 50 per cent of Australia’s population who come from non-English backgrounds. It devalues these Australians by saying that they are less important than citizens of English descent.

If we care about our future, we should be tuning-in to our youth. My teenagers don’t see Australia as a British outpost. They have no interest in the United Kingdom beyond the ridiculousness of the Royal Family. They haven’t even visited the UK. But they have been to Ghana, Cambodia, Dubai, the US, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. They’ve also crossed the Tanami, collected bush tucker in the Gibson Desert, swum with whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef and walked in awe around the base of Uluru.

The blood running in the veins of Australia’s youth comes from every corner of the globe. This is what our national day should celebrate. An inclusive Australia. A confident Australia. An Australia that celebrates its diversity and reconciles with its Indigenous peoples.

The date for Australia Day has changed before. It can change again. Let’s choose a day we can all celebrate. One that unites us. #ChangeTheDate this 26 January and celebrate Australia on another day if you can.

10 Comments

Christine

Jan 26

Yes, we must change the date to an inclusive day for all of us to celebrate: Australians' Day. A day chosen by First Nations people, whose land we all live on and enjoy! Nothing much has changed since the Royal Commission in 1991. The UN has been calling for Australia to wake up to its responsibilities. I call for SOLIDARITY. It's beyond time to SPEAK UP for CHANGE. Let's do it ~ let's make 2026 the year to write to your local and Federal MPs and make a difference.

Gregory Andrews

Jan 26

Replying to

Christine - thank you. I am with you on the need for an inclusive day, and it makes sense that First Nations people should lead the choice of date and what it stands for.

You are also right that inquiries and commissions only matter if governments act on them - and too often Australia has treated them as a substitute for change rather than a mandate for it.

I really like your call to solidarity and to practical action. Writing to local MPs, asking where they stand on changing the date and on implementing UN recommendations, and keeping the pressure up through 2026 is exactly how momentum builds.

Thanks for speaking up 🙏🏽

Guest

Jan 26

I wonder how much of those parts of rural Australia with mainly Anglo Saxon residents have the same multi cultural view of the world?

How many see the need for collaboration in dealing with the escalating climate crises, that will catch them flat-footed.

On the other hand, i have recently been struck by the politeness of many of the now elderly immediate post WW2 generation, to which I belong.

At the dame find as a UK expert-pat. I was struck by the mateship and lack of the English class system and stuffiness, although that does exist,.

Is the majority of the population now too removed from the natural world. Indeed white settlers have a history of limited respect for our…

Gregory Andrews

Jan 26

Replying to

Thank you - there is a lot of wisdom and honest uncertainty in this.

I would be careful about assuming rural communities are uniformly less multicultural in outlook. Some places are, some are not - and plenty of regional Australians live collaboration every day, especially when it comes to drought, fire, floods, and looking after neighbours when things go wrong. But you are right to ask whether our national politics - and some of our media - have widened the gap between “us” and “them”, when climate risk is pushing us in the opposite direction: towards cooperation.

I also really hear what you say about the post-war generation. That everyday politeness, mateship, and practical decency is real, and it is…

Guest

Jan 26

Great post!

Gregory Andrews

Jan 26

Replying to

🙏🏽

Meggsy

Jan 26

Great post, Gregory. As an 84-year-old, second- and third-generation Aussie with English and Scots ancestors I am proud to live in a multicultural country like Australia has become in my lifetime. Our various immigrants have added immensely to the joy of living here. But even more joy comes from the love of Country which has been fostered by our First Nations people over the more than 60,000 years in which they have cared for country. The clear blue skies, brown earth, blue seas and multi-hued bushlands celebrate the place we have known since we we able to get out of our urban areas.

Australia federated on 1st January. If that's what we want to recognise, that's a day we could…

Gregory Andrews

Jan 26

Replying to

Meggsy - thank you for this. I love how you hold both truths at once: pride in the multicultural Australia you have watched grow, and deep respect for the 60,000-plus years of care for Country by First Nations peoples. That's the grounding we need - love of place, and honesty about its story.

And yes: the Australia Day date choice is the heart of it. If we want to mark Federation, 1 January makes more sense. If we want a long weekend before school goes back, let’s do that too - but with a name and purpose that unites rather than divides. I really appreciate your generosity and clarity here.

PS: mum is 84 turning 85 too, and she'd share…

Guest

Jan 26

🖤💛❤️