For some, 26 January is a day to celebrate the founding of the country we now call Australia. For others it’s an excuse for a barbie and a day off. But for many Australians – especially Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders – 26 January is a day of mourning, marking the European invasion of Australia and a subsequent history of dispossession, oppression and intergenerational trauma.
Australia Day concerts, festivals and fireworks will take place around the country on Thursday but there will also be events commemorating the tragedies of colonisation and celebrating the survival of the world’s oldest continual culture – in spite of the trauma and disruption caused by white settlement.
