Pride and Pain

January 26 is a day of both pride and pain: there’s so much to celebrate about Australia – but for many, “Australia Day” is a difficult day.

Let's find out why

How it works

Explore the Timeline

Our story doesn’t start on January 26, 1788

Indigenous people have called Australia home since ancient times, making them custodians of the world’s oldest living culture.

When Captain Cook arrived, Australia was home to over 500 Indigenous groups

1770

More than 500 Indigenous groups inhabit the Australian continent - about 750,000 people.

1770

Captain Cook declares Australia terra nullius - nobody’s land.

1788

The First Fleet anchors in Sydney Cove on January 26.

Colonisation was not a peaceful process

1800s

1800s - The Indigenous population is diminishing: mass shootings, people driven off cliffs, food laced with arsenic, frontier wars and the introduction of disease.

1900

It’s estimated the Indigenous population has been reduced by 90%.

In 1901, politicians wrote Indigenous Australians out of the story

1901

Australia officially becomes its own nation. Parliament introduces the White Australia Policy.

1901

Indigenous people are referenced twice in the Constitution: to state they won’t be counted in the census and that they need “special laws”.

1910 - 1970

Many Indigenous children are forcibly taken from their families.

January 26 protests are not new – they started almost 90 years ago

1930

The Australian Natives Association (white Australian men) campaigns to make the Monday closest to January 26 a public holiday for Australia Day.

1938

A ‘Day of Mourning and Protest’ is organised as Sydney celebrates 150 years of colonisation.

Australia had its own civil rights movement

1965

Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) organises a bus tour of outback NSW, uncovering racism in rural communities.

1967

90% of Australians vote “Yes” to amend two parts of the Constitution that exclude Indigenous people.

1972

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is established on the lawns of Parliament House.

Our national symbols came late in the story - and they don’t embrace Indigenous culture

1971

The Aboriginal flag becomes widely adopted.

1984

Australians cease to be British subjects. Advance Australia Fair replaces God Save the Queen.

1988

First Fleet is re-enacted for the bicentennial in Sydney. This is labelled as offensive and has not been allowed since.

Australians march together in Sydney to celebrate the survival of Indigenous people and culture.

Illustration of black and white shaking hands

January 26 became a national public holiday only 24 years ago

1994

The first national Australia Day public holiday.

2017

Certain local councils try to change the date of their citizenship ceremonies. They are forced by the government to change them back. Some are even stripped of their rights to hold citizenship ceremonies.

Record numbers of people attend Invasion and Survival Day protests around the country.