Thousands are taking part in marches in major cities as debate grows over holidays once known for barbecues and beach trips.
Thousands of Australians have gathered in rallies against Australia Day, which marks the arrival of British colonists in 1788 and has become increasingly controversial.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), protesters gathered for Invasion Day rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and other major cities across the country on Friday.
There was once a time when Australians would have barbecues and go to the beach to mark the end of the summer holidays. Today, the debate about the meaning and purpose of the holiday celebrated on January 26th has become more and more intense. on the day a fleet of 11 British ships arrived in what is now Sydney in 1788 with a human cargo of convicts.
Indigenous peoples refer to it as Invasion Day or Survival Day because it marked the beginning of a sustained period of discrimination and dispossession of Indigenous peoples without the negotiation of a treaty. The lack of such a treaty puts Australia out of step with other countries, including the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
On the eve of this year's holiday, protesters damaged two monuments to the country's colonial past in the southern city of Melbourne, named after a former British prime minister.
Thousands took part in rallies in cities such as Melbourne as disagreement grew over the merits of commemorating a day of colonization [Diego Fedele/EPA]A statue of Captain James Cook, who charted the coast around Sydney in the 18th century and first claimed the area for Britain, was sawed off at the ankles, while a monument to Queen Victoria was doused in red paint.
Images posted on social media showed the Cook statue lying on the ground with the words “The colony will fall” spray-painted on the stone plinth where it had previously stood.
In January 2022, protesters threw red paint at the same statue.
“This type of vandalism has no place in our community,” said Victoria state premier Jacinta Allan.
At Friday's rally in Melbourne, organizer Tarneen Onus Browne said the holiday had to be scrapped.
“We believe there is not a day on the calendar where massacres and violence have not occurred,” Browne, who represents the Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, told the ABC.
“That is what we express every year and we also want to dispel the myth of this colony and its discovery.”
Hundreds of people also attended the morning service on January 26th.
“If you break it down, it basically means peace, unity and coming together and acknowledging the past so we can move forward,” Jason Briggs told the ABC at a We-Akon Dilinja, a grief reflection ceremony, in Melbourne.
Workers remove the rest of the Captain Cook statue from its base in Melbourne after it was vandalized on Thursday [Diego Fedele/AAP Image via AP Photo]He said such activities were designed to bring Australians together.
“We need to look forward to a path that takes us to a place where we can have better dialogue about resolving issues, differences, resolving outstanding issues and saying, hey, we're all in this together “We are one nation, we have this country, we are all fellow Australians,” he said.
Polls show the majority of Australians would like to keep the holiday and name the same, but disagree about changing the date, often for political reasons.
Cricket captain Pat Cummins, perhaps the country's most prominent sporting figure, suggested this week that a more inclusive date could be found.
“I absolutely love Australia. It is by far the best country in the world,” he said.
“We should have an Australia Day, but we can probably find a more appropriate day to celebrate it.”
Last October, Australians rejected changes to the 1901 constitution that would have recognized the country's first inhabitants and created an Indigenous advisory body called Voice to Parliament.
About 3.8 percent of Australia's 26 million people are Indigenous.
They are among the most disadvantaged people in the country and face problems such as poor health and education outcomes and high incarceration rates.