January 26 is rapidly approaching again, and with it, the conversations around change the date. Every year, we like to remind people what this date actually marks. Let's get the facts:

January 26 1788 is the day Sir Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Warrane (Sydney Cove) to claim the land as a British Colony. This day thus marks the beginning of a long and brutal (and ongoing) colonisation of people and country.
This is why choosing this date as 'Australia Day' is controversial, painful and traumatic for First Nations people.
January 26 wasn't always a national holiday - It wasn’t until 1994 that this happened.
Way back in 1888, on January 26, the centenary of British colonisation, First Nations leaders boycotted celebrations, but the protest went unreported and unnoticed by the wider community.
On 26 January 1938, on the 150th anniversary of Arthur Phillip’s arrival, Yorta Yorta man William Cooper and other members of the Aboriginal Progressive Association held the Day of Mourning and Protest. Since this first Day of Mourning, First Nations people and allies continue to mark this day as Day of Mourning, Survival Day or Invasion Day.

Learn more about January 26 and the history via Common Ground.

See below for our top learning resources for this time of year: