Australia Day: The 'quiet rebranding' of a controversial national holiday - BBC News

The national day causes pain to Indigenous people - will new approaches future-proof it?

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, York FestivalImage caption, In the town of York, Dennis Kickett is combining Australia Day celebrations with Indigenous storytellingBy Hannah RitchieBBC News, SydneyOn 26 January every year - which marks the 1788 landing of Britain's First Fleet in Sydney Cove - two competing stories about Australia are told.

One is of nation-building and achievement; the other is of the displacement and dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

While many Indigenous Australians protest or sit the day out, this year Dennis Kickett is co-hosting a celebration like few others.

"I imagine I'll cop some flak," says the Noongar elder. "But I don't see the date as a barrier."

For the first time, his community of York near Perth will combine three days of Indigenous storytelling with the annual Australia Day festivities. It will include a BBQ with traditional bush tucker and the raising of Australian and Aboriginal flags to welcome new citizens.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68014555?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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