The history of 'Australia Day', from 1788 to today

On 26 January 1788, British marines and convicts arrived in Port Jackson and raised the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.

They were led by Captain Arthur Phillip and established the first permanent European colony on the Australian continent.

The fleet included 11 ships and carried around 1,420 people, of whom approximately 775 were convicts.

It was to be the beginning of a vast imperial experiment. Known as the foundation of New South Wales, the day was the beginning of British colonisation and the extension of the British legal and social system onto indigenous land.

The local Gadigal people, one of the clans of the broader Eora Nation, watched the landing of the First Fleet, an event that would later have serious consequences for First Nations Australians.

At the time, no official celebration took place. The priority remained survival and establishing the penal colony. 

During the early decades of the colony, 26 January was not widely recognised or observed as a public event.

Celebrations only began to emerge among the free settlers in New South Wales during the early 19th century.

By 1808, Sydney’s residents held dinners and drinking parties to honour the colony’s anniversary.

In 1818, Governor Lachlan Macquarie authorised a public holiday for government workers on 26 January to commemorate the colony’s 30th anniversary.

He also ordered a 30-gun salute at Dawes Point, one for each year of European settlement.

The celebration continued only in New South Wales and carried no official recognition across other Australian colonies. 

As the 19th century progressed, the idea of a shared colonial identity gained momentum.

By the 1830s, newspapers occasionally referred to 26 January as 'First Landing Day' or 'Foundation Day'.

The Sydney Morning Herald published reflections on the colony’s growth, which linked the anniversary to progress and efforts to bring British culture to the new land.

In 1838, the 50th anniversary of British settlement brought a larger scale of public celebration, which included regattas and ceremonial events.

However, that same year, Aboriginal communities remembered the date with sorrow.

The Gunditjmara and others in Victoria engaged in sustained resistance, particularly during the Eumeralla Wars of the 1840s and 1850s. 

By the time of Australian Federation in 1901, each colony had retained its own public holiday to celebrate settlement.

Victoria had a 'Separation Day'; Western Australia observed 'Foundation Day'; and South Australia celebrated 'Proclamation Day'.

New South Wales continued to commemorate 26 January as its state holiday. A unified national celebration of 26 January had not yet taken hold.

The term 'Australia Day' did begin to appear in print during the late 19th century, but it referred broadly to expressions of national pride rather than a fixed annual event. 

The national adoption of 26 January as 'Australia Day' happened over time during the 20th century.

In 1935, all Australian states and territories began to use the term 'Australia Day' to describe their 26 January celebrations.

The anniversary of the First Fleet had now become the official day of national remembrance, but it attracted complaints.

On 26 January 1938, while government officials marked 150 years of European settlement with a re-enactment of the landing at Sydney Cove, Aboriginal leaders held a 'Day of Mourning' in Sydney.

It was organised by William Cooper, Jack Patten, and William Ferguson through the Aborigines Progressive Association and the Australian Aborigines League, and the protest began with a gathering at Australian Hall in Elizabeth Street and included a march to a meeting with Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

It called for full citizenship rights for Aboriginal people and rejected the celebration of colonisation. 

During the post-war decades, the Commonwealth government worked with state authorities to encourage more people to observe Australia Day.

By 1946, the federal and state governments agreed to promote 26 January as a public holiday across Australia, and by 1994, all states and territories marked the date with a public holiday on the actual day, regardless of the day of the week.

Public events included fireworks and ceremonies, and the day featured awards honouring community achievements.

The Australian of the Year award, which was launched in 1960, became a key part of Australia Day traditions.

The first recipient, Nobel Prize-winning medical researcher Sir Macfarlane Burnet, showed a wish to associate the day with community success. 

Opposition to 26 January as the national day continued to grow, particularly among Indigenous Australians.

From the 1980s onwards, large-scale protests on 26 January highlighted the historical and continuing wrongs of colonisation.

The term 'Invasion Day' gained use among activists who challenged the idea that the arrival of the First Fleet should be cause for national celebration.

Protests in capital cities drew thousands of people; for instance, Melbourne’s 2018 and 2023 Invasion Day rallies each drew over 50,000 people.

Some advocated for changing the date of Australia Day to a less controversial day, while others called for the day to be ended completely.

Meanwhile, governments increased efforts to include Indigenous culture in official ceremonies.

These events featured Welcome to Country ceremonies and flag-raising ceremonies, which displayed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. 

In recent years, public opinion on Australia Day has become more divided, as surveys such as the Australia Talks National Survey and Guardian Essential Polls have shown differing views across age groups, with younger Australians more likely to support changing the date.

Councils in places such as Fremantle, Yarra, and Moreland have held alternative events or refused to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January.

In 2023, because the Albanese government had introduced a policy in December 2022, councils were allowed to hold citizenship ceremonies at any time between 23 and 29 January.

However, debates have continue over what the day should commemorate, who it includes, and what values it represents.

So, while official celebrations continue, major protests and campaigns for change continue too.