AMELIA MOSELEY: On Australia's calendar,
there are quite a few special dates,
like New Year's Day, the Queen's birthday, Anzac Day
and my birthday.
Just jokes!
But there's one special date
that's been causing a lot of controversy,
and that's 26 January.
It was on that day back in 1788 that the First Fleet,
led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in Sydney Cove.
Phillip raised a British flag
and took possession of the land for England,
even though it already belonged to hundreds of different groups
of Aboriginal people.
Over the years,
January 26 became a day for celebrating New South Wales,
and it was often called Foundation Day,
First Landing Day or later Anniversary Day.
It wasn't actually until hundreds of years later, in 1935,
that all states and territories
started calling the date Australia Day.
Decades later, in 1988,
Australia marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet
on January 26 with massive events in all major cities,
but it still didn't become an official national public holiday,
in the way it is today, until 1994.
But let's stop there
and go back to look at this period in Australia's history
from a different perspective.
For Aboriginal people, January 26, 1788
was the date when the land they'd been living on
for at least 50,000 years was claimed by someone else,
and it started hundreds of years of mistreatment and discrimination.
On 26 January 1938,
many Indigenous leaders held what they called a day of mourning
to protest against hundreds of years of terrible treatment
by white Australians and their lands being taken away from them.
They also wanted the same rights as other Australian citizens.
Then, on January 26, 1988, there were big protests
held at the First Fleet anniversary event in Sydney.
GIRL: Well, I'm very proud to be Aboriginal,
and I'm glad I could take part in the march and be here today.
200 years from today,
white man came and started to destroy the people of this land.
ALL: (CHANT) Always will be Aboriginal land!
Around then, some Indigenous Australians
started calling Australia Day Invasion Day,
and protests like this continued to happen each year
on January 26 all the way up to this year.
Because of this, there's been a lot of discussion lately
about moving Australia Day celebrations to a different date.
Officially, that would need the OK
from the federal and state governments,
but some local councils have been making their own moves.
All those in favour?
Two Melbourne councils have already voted
to stop calling January 26 Australia Day,
and it looks like an Adelaide council could hold a vote on it soon.
But the idea of changing Australia Day
has made some people angry.
Some say the tradition's really important.
Others reckon January 26
isn't actually about the First Fleet anymore,
but coming together to celebrate our country as it is now...
ALL: Happy Australia Day!
..which includes welcoming new citizens
and celebrating all the different parts of our culture.
The PM said he's disappointed by the push to change it
and that Australia Day will stay as it is while he's in charge.
So, what do you think?
I reckon it would be a good idea to move it to a day
that the Aboriginals actually like a bit better, maybe,
or, like, a day that's happier for them.
I think it's a good choice, because then it can be a day,
rather than being celebrated about
when people first arrived and colonised Australia,
it can be a day about celebrating everyone having equal rights
and being given the same opportunities.
For years, it's been an Australian tradition
to have Australia Day on this day,
and I think, if we move it,
then it might lose a bit of its charm that it's had.
We need to all just come together and unite in unity
and be happy with Australia, and not just part of Australia.