Solving the problem of Australia Day

I think this approach has some advantages.

First, we really do celebrate the achievements of the British and subsequent immigrants.

Second, it is hardly a small thing to push such a celebration back a day, being silent on the actual day of settlement. Is there any other country in the world that does this?

Third, those who feel both regret for dispossession but also gratitude for the achievements of settlement can express both sentiments in perhaps a less conflicted way. It would be like the solemnity of Good Friday - Christ's torture and execution - (the 26th) followed by the celebration of Resurrection Sunday (the 27th). The former always looking forward hopefully to the latter, and the latter never losing sight of the former.

Finally, no – the 26^th will not be a public holiday. To make both the 26^th and the 27^th holidays would be excessive and unrealistic, and to take holiday status from the 27^th under this proposal would be equivalent to cancelling Australia Day. If we can manage to work on 11/11 – Remembrance Day – and still remember, then I think we can on the 26^th too.

Australia Day is here to stay, and I for one celebrate that. The achievements of Australians – indigenous and non-indigenous – in building and preserving the national institutions and character that have provided remarkable peace, prosperity, and fairness in Australia ought to be celebrated. And yet the existing tensions cannot be swept away with cries of “Get over it!”

Shifting Australia Day to one day later than actual Arrival is definite acknowledgement of the many wrongs inflicted on indigenous Australians, and an annual opportunity for all proud Australians to do their bit to achieve further healing.