Radical solution to Aussie Day drama

News.com.au - 02/01
Moving Australia Day away from January 26 could be the only way to resolve the day’s tensions, two historians have warned, as the country continues to splinter over the meaning of the date.

Moving Australia Day away from January 26 could be the only way to resolve the day’s tensions, two historians have warned, as the country continues to splinter over the meaning of the date.

Multiple local councils will hold citizenship ceremonies outside of January 26 in 2025, with some flagging Indigenous sensitivities for the move, while others vote to restore key ceremonies to the national holiday.

“There won’t ultimately be any resolution between people who have fundamentally different concepts of January 26,” CQUniversity historian Dr Benjamin Jones told NewsWire this week.

“There is a greater sense of awareness that there are at least conflicted views.”

January 26 marks the date the British flag was planted in Port Jackson, or what is now modern Sydney, in 1788, setting in train the development and foundation of modern Australia.

ANU historian Professor Angela Woollacott said the now annual blast of controversy around the day had developed alongside a “growing awareness” of the country’s disputed history.

“I’m old enough to rem...
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