Australia is a young country on an ancient land – and we are having an identity crisis.
We argue about dates, flags, names, and labels because we have never done the harder work of agreeing on what it actually means to be Australian.
Until we do, Australia Day will remain a proxy war – not the real issue.
Here’s a very compressed timeline we rarely hold together
• 1606: Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon lands; later called New Holland (followed by many other convoys of Dutch origin)
• 1770: James Cook claims the east coast for Britain under terra nullius
• 1788: First Fleet arrives – a penal colony is established – 26 January
• 1901: Federation
• 1938: Aboriginal leaders protest, demanding equality and citizenship – 26 January
• 1949: Australian citizenship legally created – 26 January
• 1967: Referendum passes with over 90% support for our First Nations rights
• 1994: 26 January fixed as a national public holiday
All of this is true. And all of it matters.
For some, 26 January represents citizenship, belonging, and national pride.
For others, it represents dispossession, exclusion, and unresolved grief.
Both realities exist at the same time.
Pretending otherwise – on either side – is intellectually lazy and socially dangerous.
But here’s the part we keep avoiding: a nation cannot survive if every shared symbol becomes untouchable, and every disagreement is framed as moral failure.
Why are we turning on each other?
This is not really about a BBQ, a date or a flag.
It is about people asking – loudly or quietly – “Do I belong here?”
I personally have been told:
• “Australia is for Aussies.”
• “You clearly are not one.”
• “Go back to where you came from.”
I have lived and breathed Australian all my life. My family built lives here. This is where I come from.
I am generations away from India. Some of my ancestors settled here from about 1830.
At the same time, I have seen people – of all backgrounds – reduce themselves to grievance, entitlement, or permanent victimhood. That helps no one.
Blame does not build nations.
Entitlement does not heal trauma.
Pandering does not create unity.
We are all products of pain – are we not?
Every ancestry carries persecution: colonisation, genocide, war, famine, forced migration, religious violence.
Australia is made up of:
1. people with convict ancestry (mainly “white tribe”)
2. early free settlers (also mainly from the “white tribe”)
3. skilled migrants
4. refugees
5. First Nations peoples
Pain is not a competition.
The question is not who suffered more – it is what we do with the inheritance of that suffering.
Australia Day does not need erasing. Nor does it need blind celebration.
It needs maturity.
No government can give you pride.
No date can take it away.
Recently, through our Conversations at the Crossroads forum on Facebook, we brought together a diverse group of Australians, including respected First Nations elder Uncle Gene Blow, to sit with the discomfort and complexity of Australia Day.
We spoke honestly about pain, history, pride, and belonging.
The conclusion was clear and unanimous: we do not erase the date (at least until such time as Australia becomes a republic), but we reframe it.
We propose an approach similar to Anzac Day in its tone and structure.
The day would begin with a Morning of Mourning -dawn services, yarning circles, smoking ceremonies – where we acknowledge the ancient custodianship of this land, the atrocities committed, the lives lost, and the enduring pain carried by First Nations peoples.
This is not about guilt; it is about truth and respect.
As the day unfolds, it transitions into citizenship ceremonies, Australia Day Awards, and civic recognition, honouring contribution, service, and shared responsibility.
By midday, the nation moves into celebration – BBQs, sport, community gatherings – embracing what it means to be Australian today.
The evening culminates in harbour and beachside concerts, reflecting unity, diversity, and national pride.
This is not contradiction. It is maturity.
It is how a confident nation holds grief and gratitude in the same hands – and chooses to walk forward together.
Truth be told – Australia is not broken. But it is unfinished.
And finishing it requires courage, honesty, and a willingness to live together – not shout past one another – on this remarkable land we all call home.
