Rallies, smoking ceremonies and concerts are among dozens of events planned across the country for 26 January calling for Australia Day to be abolished or celebrated on a different date, celebrating First Nations survival and reflecting on reconciliation.
After a failed referendum to give Indigenous Australians a voice to parliament that left many feeling bruised and rejected, and months of protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and expressing solidarity with dispossessed people everywhere, the themes of this year’s events take in both Indigenous and Palestinian dispossession.
Here is a list of what is planned for each state:
New South Wales
Sunset cultural ceremony
Presented by local elders, the Sunset cultural ceremony on Thursday 25 January will start from 5pm at Burnum Burnum sanctuary in Woronora, southern Sydney, to provide “a solemn and respectful way to engage with the profound significance of this day” for First Nations people.
Vigil: The Future
Also on Thursday, at 8.30pm a vigil at Barangaroo Reserve on Sydney Harbour will feature a choir of First Nations young people “as they sing of their dreams, realities and hopes for the future”.
Dawn reflection
The Sydney Opera House will be illuminated with projections of Aboriginal artwork from sunrise at 5.20am on Friday.
WulgulOra morning ceremony
A reflective ceremony for “inclusion, understanding and reconciliation” will be held at Barangaroo Reserve from 7.30am.
Eora Invasion Day rally
Meet at 10am at Belmore Park in Haymarket, central Sydney, for a march to Victoria Park, Camperdown. Alongside a call for abolishing Australia Day, the rally will call to “end occupation everywhere” and “cut ties with and impose sanctions on colonial, apartheid Israel until Palestine is free”.
Invasion Day bushcare, Dharawal land
People are invited to “bring gloves and any garden tools” to Gilmore Park, West Wollongong, to work in the Fairy Creek Catchment corridor from 9am to 11am, in acknowledgment that “Aboriginal people have cared for this land for over 60,000 years”.
Bermagui Survival Day
Performances by Gahdu Dreaming band and Mudjingaal Yangamba choir will feature at Bermagui Survival Day, which starts at 11am on Dickinson Oval.
Yabun festival
This year’s theme for Sydney’s Yabun festival is “Surviving, Guiding, Thriving” in celebration of “the resilience and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities”. The festival starts at midday and will go to 10pm at Victoria Park. It will also be streamed on the Yabun festival website.
Australian Capital Territory
Sovereignty Day rally, Ngunnawal land
Marchers are meeting 9.30am at Garema Place before a rally highlighting “236 years of unfinished business; land rights – restitution – justice – liberation”.
Victoria
Dawn service
A 5am dawn service will be held at Kings Domain Resting Place, Linlithgow Avenue, Melbourne.
Day of Mourning dawn service, North Geelong
A Day of Mourning dawn service will also be held on 62 Morgan Street, North Geelong, from 5.30am to “mark the survival of ongoing traditions and cultures, and the strength and resilience of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people”.
Pilk Purriyn Truth Telling, Wadawurrung land
The truth-telling event at Cosy Corner Beach, Torquay, will welcome deep listening and reflection at sunrise from 5.30am.
January 26 service, Abbotsford
From 9am at Collingwood Town Hall Reserve, Abbotsford, a service will “honour the history of pain and suffering endured by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a direct consequence of European invasion and colonisation”.
Change the Date gathering, Hastings
A smoking ceremony and yarning circle followed by morning tea will be held at Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association, Pound Road, Melbourne, from 9.30am.
Naarm Invasion Day rally
The rally – an “annual reminder of invasion, occupation, genocide and the ongoing impacts of colonisation that continues to destroy our lives, our lands and our waters” – will start from 10am at Parliament House, Spring Street, in Melbourne.
Mount Alexander Survival Day
In Victory Park, Castlemaine, from 10am, a joint Australia Day – Survival Day event will welcome new Australian citizens, announce winners of the Mount Alexander shire Australia Day awards and include a Survival Day concert.
Share the Spirit festival
From 11.30am at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, the free community festival is honouring the survival of First Nations people.
Survival Day ceremony, Portland
A survival day event at noon at Old Playground, Portland foreshore, will offer food and entertainment.
Our Survival Day, Boonwurrung land
A lineup of local artists, food and market stalls will create “a safe space for you, your family and friends to be” at the Briars, Mount Martha, in the Mornington Peninsula, from noon to 7pm. The event’s 2024 theme is “Keep Surviving”, after 2023 saw “racism at an all-time peak, hate speech normalised by politicians and media-villainising mob”.
Survival Day celebration, Hamilton
A celebration for Survival Day start at 3pm in the barbecue area of Hamilton Botanic Gardens.
Northern Territory
Smoking ceremony, Darwin
At 7.45am a smoking ceremony will be held at the Darwin waterfront lagoon, featuring storytelling by First Nations performers.
Invasion Day protest, Gulumoerrgin, Larrakia land
Protesters will gather from 8.30am at Darwins Civic Park Square.
Queensland
Meanjin Survival Day ceremony
A 7.30am ceremony at the waters of the Benarrawa will “celebrate the survival of the First Peoples”, especially those who “cared for the waters and lands along the banks of the Brisbane River and Benarrawa (Oxley Creek)”. People will begin gathering at the bronze canoe, near Simpson’s Playground, from 7.15am.
Meanjin Invasion Day rally
Protesters will meet at Brisbane’s Queens Gardens from 9am before a march to Musgrave Park. The event calls for people to “show up for Indigenous peoples of these occupied lands as we collectivise towards liberation, freedom and the end of all occupation”.
We Have Survived! Gubbi Gubbi Invasion Day rally
On the Sunshine Coast, people will gather at Foundation Square at 9am for a procession to Cotton Tree Park.
Townsville Survival Day, Bindal and Wulgurukaba land
Dance, poetry and storytelling will commemorate Survival Day from 6am to 3pm at The Strand, Townsville.
South Australia
Mourning in the Morning
A cleansing smoking ceremony is being held at Adelaide’s Elder Park from 8am, where attenders will hear from First Nations young people about their “aspirations in the post-referendum era”.
Survival Day rally
A rally “to celebrate the oldest Living continuing culture on Planet Earth” will start from 11am at Tarndanyangga (Victoria Square) in Adelaide.
Western Australia
Day of Mourning ceremony
Senator Dorinda Cox will “acknowledge the past” in a Day of Mourning ceremony from 9am at Victoria Gardens Foreshore in Perth.
Boorloo Invasion Day rally
From 12.30pm, protesters will meet at Forrest Chase, Perth, before a march at 1.30pm. “We want Truth and real understanding about the ongoing settler colonialism in ‘Australia’ that started with the gun and is just as powerful today with the use of the legal system and institutional structures,” organisers say. A list of demands the march will call for include: “implement the Bringing Them Home report,” “protect sacred sites,” and “stop the genocide in Palestine”.
Birak Concert
The Birak Concert will celebrate the First Summer, with performances starting at 3pm at the Supreme Court Gardens, Riverside Drive, Perth.
Rubibi Survival Day
An evening concert at the Goolarri Amphitheatre will feature a lineup including Barkaa, Electric Fields and Fitzroy Xpress.
Tasmania
Putiya Kanaplila Invasion Day rally
A rally departing from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in Elizabeth Street, Nipaluna (Hobart) will march across lutruwita from 11.15am in a campaign to change to date.
Limilinaturi March and rally
Another march will take place from 11.30am, starting at the Tulaminikali Health Service in Devonport, before a rally in Market Square at 12.
Cygnet Invasion/Survival Day rally
From 9.30am at Burton’s Reserve, Cygnet, people will gather to rally.
