saw the SJ Patterson post and learned a lot on there

Haha yeah.

What isn’t exactly made explicit in that thread (it’s sorta just understood by everyone, so while hints towards it are there, nobody needed to make it explicit), 26 January is associated with the arrival of white people on this land, and thus it’s symbolic of the start of oppression towards the Aboriginal population. Among progressive and Aboriginal circles, you’ll often see it called “invasion day” for that reason.

That’s why people think it should be moved, though agreeing on when to move it to is a much harder proposition.

Some people want it to stay around this time of year because it’s summer and people like barbies and outdoors. Others say we have enough holidays already between late December and early May (Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day, Labour Day) and would like to see something in the back half of the year, between September and November. Then there’s the question of whether or not it should be a day that has meaningful symbolism, and if so what that symbolism should be.

I’ll re-share my proposed alternatives in case anyone else wants to see them:

3 March as the day of commencement of the Australia Act (1986), which saw the last vestiges of Australia’s status as a British dominion ended.

3 September as the day Australia adopted the Statute of Westminster with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, which removed the United Kingdom’s ability to legislate over the Commonwealth of Australia and making Australia truly a legally independent nation in a de jure sense.

9 July as the date the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 became law, enabling the constitution to actually take effect on 1 January 1901.