Australia’s national holiday, Australia Day, is celebrated every January 26. It is a public holiday throughout Australia, and when it falls on a weekend like this year, the following Monday is nonworking. There are many celebrations across the country (concerts, fireworks, naturalization ceremonies, Australian of the Year Award …). The Australian colors and flag are displayed everywhere.
Behind this date, like all those commemorating a national holiday, there is an important part of the history of Australia.
This date is celebrated from the 19th century. It corresponds to the arrival of the First European Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788. In the days that followed, the crown flag was planted and British sovereignty proclaimed on the coast of what at the time was called “New Holland”.
This date commemorates the beginning of colonization and the installation of the penal colony, a date which therefore marks, for the aboriginal population, the beginning of the invasion of their aboriginal lands by the Europeans. They have also repabtized it “The Invasion Day”.
Every year, the debate is revived concerning the name of this date, or even the change of its day of celebration.
For many Australian historians, the national holiday should be January 1, 1901, when Australia truly became a nation.
Today, Australia Day is celebrated more as a “vacation” day and less as a patriotic day. For some, the historical meaning of this date has been somewhat lost.
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