Few countries in the world treat their national day with such ambivalence as Australia. National days in the United States, France, India, for example, are celebrated with universal acclaim.
In Australia, though, we continue to argue over the appropriateness of the day. Many indigenous Australians say that January 26 marks invasion day when Europeans came to Australia and dispossessed them. That argument has emotional appeal, but no logic. There are very few full-blood indigenous people living today. Nearly all owe some of themselves to the gene pool that arrived after 1788. Still, logic is not the issue. The question of a National Day is an emotional and spiritual one. If a significant portion of the population reject the day, then either the day must change or at least the marking of it must change.
Aside from indigenous objections, January 26 marked the founding of the colony of NSW, so the other states, particularly Western Australia which was never part of NSW, might felt left out.
And then January 26 might be seen more as an Anglo-Australian celebration in that it marks an extension of the British Empire. The convicts, particularly the Irish convicts, who resented authority leave a legacy that does not actively celebrate January 26.
The fact that defenders of January 26 as the national day have to defend it so actively indicates there is something amiss. Surely, the questioning and defence of the day would be unnecessary if it were a truly unifying day of celebration — in the way that no-one questions the role of Anzac Day.
There is much to celebrate about Australia. Unfortunately, January 26, at present, does not capture all that is to celebrate. January 26, like our head of state and our flag are not unequivocally Australia; the British ties in them are too strong for them to be truly representative of the national character. When Australians today think of what it is to be Australian, they should think about the symbols of nationhood and whether they serve their purpose.
The defeat of the republic referendum scotched a possible day for the National Day, the day of the vote. Anzac Day is not an appropriate national day. It has its own separate function and character.
January 1, the day of federation, would have been an ideal day, but that, unfortunately is New Year’s Day. Federation is the unifying event that created Australia. It was achieved through the most democratic of methods, the referendum. There is an argument that January 26 does indeed celebrate federation in 1901 as well as the arrival of Europeans in 1788. In 1902 it was legislated that there should be a public holiday for federation, Commonwealth Day, but a specific separate date was not proclaimed because January 1 was already a holiday. When the subject was revisited in 1915, it was legislated that January 26 be specified the holiday in lieu of Commonwealth Day.
But arguments of logic do not overcome arguments of emotion.
The emotion of national pride and unity is sadly not complete at present. It may become complete in time, when, for example, the Federal Government does more symbolically for indigenous people, particularly saying sorry for the stolen generation.
Until then, and in the absence of another suitable day, many Australians will temper their celebration. It is a pity for we should have an occasion of unequivocal celebration — a day that is more inclusive and participatory. January 26 is not that day and may never be. It lacks inclusive, popular, emotive appeal.