In light of the failed October 2023 referendum to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, many are now asking “Where to from here?”.

There has been a growing discussion for a number of years to change the date of Australia Day from 26 January to a neutral date so that Indigenous Australians can feel included in celebrations, and in recognition of the traumatic events suffered by the First Nations peoples since the landing of the First Fleet on January 26, 1788 and the subsequent colonisation of the country.

Various reports post-referendum state that many who voted No did so not along racial lines, but simply because they felt that the Voice was not the way forward and it would do nothing to improve the lives of Indigenous people. We’ll never know if they were right. But perhaps for these voters, a new date on which ALL Australians can celebrate our nation would be a step in the right direction to unifying our country and giving Indigenous Australians the respect they deserve.

Around the world national days are important annual events to celebrate and reinforce unity and a sense of belonging. However, for a great many Indigenous Australians, the 26^th of January is associated with invasion, dispossession, oppression, and alienation.

If we are truly honest as a country, we must admit that we have not dealt openly and fully with our history post-1788. While many Australians see 26/1 as the founding of Australia and therefore the date that is historically “correct” (one could also argue for Federation day, but that’s another discussion), this position downplays the atrocities brought against Indigenous peoples across the country since colonisation.

This limited and limiting view of history continues to divide us because it ignores or denies the historical facts of violence and dispossession that followed. To expect Indigenous people to lay aside their grief and sense of injustice and join the 26/1 celebrations is at best unrealistic and at worst, cruel.

By sticking to 26 January, we continue to tacitly condone these past wrongs and to exclude Indigenous people today from the opportunity of joining in national celebrations as a united people who are proud to call ourselves Australians.

Throughout the modern history of this country, Indigenous people have contributed greatly to our achievements and progress. For example:

• In early times, some acted as translators and guides to colonisers who would not have survived without Indigenous knowledge and assistance.
• Indigenous people across Australia served willingly as soldiers in active combat in the World Wars and beyond.
• The Indigenous people of the Tiwi Islands and northern mainland coastal areas were instrumental in defending our northern borders when the Japanese attacked during WWII; one group captured a crashed Japanese pilot.
• Untold numbers of Indigenous people helped explorers and pastoralists open up vast tracts of the interior.
• One group in the Western Desert, on finding the body of explorer and gold hunter Harold Lassester, gave him the respect of a burial. A painting by women at Warakurna and Docker River depicting this story, shown below, is now in the permanent collection of the NGV. Lasseter’s body has been given a traditional burial, covered in branches, circled, in the centre of the painting.
• In recent decades, Indigenous people have contributed enormously to our cultural life in the areas of visual arts, theatre, cinema, television, journalism, literature, fashion and sport.
• Indigenous healers and elders have shared their traditional knowledge to help advance medical science.
• They have helped mining companies with surveying.
• Indigenous people throughout our history have been graciously patient with our dunderheaded attempts to fix what we broke in the first place.