Letters to the editor

February 3 2017 - 3:00pm
We are one: Changing the national celebration day from January 26 is important for all Australians, writes one reader.
We are one: Changing the national celebration day from January 26 is important for all Australians, writes one reader.

Change national day

The 1992 historicals item (The Standard, January 28) on changing the Australia Day date is timely.  Everything about 26/1 is inappropriate.  Surely Federation Day 1/1/1901 when the states were finally persuaded to surrender their independence to enable creation of one nation, Australia, is the obvious choice; Federation Day. January 26 celebrates our inhumane beginning, where the first people, convicts, were so brutally treated, many sought death even by judicial hanging and all were actually slaves. It wasn't until 1988 and I was nearly 60 that I became fully aware of aboriginal history running beside ours and realised 26/1 was obviously an invasion, to add to the date’s infamy, so I suspect it was chosen to avoid clashing with New Year’s Day, so pathetic are we at getting things morally correct.

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