2. AUSTRALIA DAY
Australia Day is celebrated every year on the 26th of January. It is a
national holidays which lands in the Australian summer. People
commonly spend the day off getting together with friends, having
barbecues and enjoying the sunshine.
While many celebrate, there are some Australians who view this
national holiday with negativity.
2
3. BRIEF HISTORY
BEFORE 1770 - Aboriginal peoples had been living for more than 60 000 years on
the continent we now know as Australia. At least 1600 generations of these peoples had
lived and died here.Europeans from the thirteenth century became interested in details
from Asia about this land to the south. From the sixteenth century European cartographers
and navigators gave the continent various names, including Terra Australis (Southern
Land) and New Holland.
1778 - Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from
Great Britain, and the first Governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove on 26
January and raised the Union Jack to signal the beginning of the colony.
3
4. INVASION DAY
Many Aboriginal communities consider Australia Day as "Invasion
Day", or the day when the British came to take their land and destroy
their communities and cultures. They believe the day "commemorates
the original invasion of the continent by the English colonisers, and
the continued oppression of Aboriginal people since that time."
4
