Change The Date

January 26: It’s one of Australia’s most divisive days.

Gold plated metal & enamel

Size: 15x15x0.2 cm

More and more Australians continue to change their minds over whether this date is an appropriate time to celebrate ‘Australia Day’.

The 26th of January was chosen as the date of Australia Day because it was the day the first of the British ships arrived in what we now call New South Wales. As such, for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders this date represents the beginning of their dispossession.

For many of them, and many other Australians, that date can't be seen as anything other than a day of mourning for the First Nation's Peoples.

A move to change the date would have to be made by a combination of the Australian federal and state governments, and has lacked sufficient political and public support.

These letters have been sent to the Prime Minister and Senators as an invitation to reopen the debate over the date, what the day means, or even the symbols and slogans used to promote it, that are important to the process of defining how we want to celebrate into the future.