Townsville holds a Survival Day Concert at Perfume Garden Park.Alternatively you can join the Cooee Festival in Sydney's West at Regatta Park, Emu Plains. The event is held in Victoria Park ( map). It means "song with a beat" in the language of the Eora, the original people of the Sydney region. Survival concerts have been held in Perth since 2000. Perth has an event called Birak Concert (Birak is the Noongar season for December and January previously called Too Solid) in the Supreme Court Gardens.New South Wales celebrates the Saltwater Freshwater Festival at 10 rotating locations (Coffs Harbour, Taree, Karuah and others).Newcastle might offer an Invasion Day march starting at Civic Park.Melbourne holds the Share the Spirit festival in the Treasury Gardens (since 2002 map), and another Survival Day celebration in Borthwick Park, Belgrave.Hobart might have a march starting from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre on Elizabeth St.Fremantle celebrates One Day on 25 January on the Esplanade in Kidogo Arthouse Precinct.Darwin holds an Invasion Day March in Civic Park.Canberra invites you to learn about Aboriginal culture and storytelling with dance and music in Commonwealth Park and at Australia Day Festival at the National Museum of Australia.Brisbane Check if there is an Invasion Day gathering in front of Parliament House and a protest march (this is sometimes advertised on Facebook).Adelaide organises Survival at the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Tandanya, at Semaphore.#January26th, #SovereigntyDay, #InvasionDay, #DayOfMourning, #SurvivalDay Where can I celebrate Australia Day with Aboriginal people? On the fun side are BBQs, contests, parades, performances, fireworks and more.Ī National Australia Day Council, founded in 1979, views Australia Day as "a day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation" and a "day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the generations to come". On this day ceremonies welcome new citizens or honour people who did a great service. Since 1994 all states and territories celebrate Australia Day together on the actual day. (This tells you a lot about Australian priorities!) Since 1994, Australia Day has been a public holiday throughout the country. In 1946 the Commonwealth and state governments agreed to unify the celebrations on January 26 and call it 'Australia Day'.īefore 1994 Australia Day was the closest Monday to January 26 to ensure a long weekend. In 1838, 50 years after the First Fleet arrived, Foundation Day was declared Australia's first public holiday in New South Wales.īy 1935, January 26 was known as Australia Day in all states except New South Wales where the name 'Anniversary Day' prevailed. Initially, it was only New South Wales that celebrated the day (for obvious reasons), and it was known as 'First Landing Day', 'Anniversary Day' or 'Foundation Day'. In 1818, on the 30th anniversary of the founding of the colony, the Governor of New South Wales gave all government employees a holiday (but only in that year). How 26th January 1788 became Australia DayĬaptain Arthur Phillip took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788 and raised the British flag for the first time in Sydney Cove. Their worlds might touch but their views can be worlds apart.