January 26, Australia day, or Invasion day, depending upon your perspective. In 1788 a contingent of poms landed in Botany Bay, a somewhat desolate place unsuitable for a colony, and took possession of the place, there being no objection from the locals who would have been glad to get rid of it. However these wanderers moved on to Sydney Cove and repeated the exercise, much to the consternation of the locals, who have been complaining ever since. I don't know why they are complaining, since the poms brought marvelous innovations such as forced labour and buildings. They made roads through what was a trackless waste and finally found some arable land, a concept lost on the locals, some miles away. The newcomers also brought animals with them that didn't run away and so were easier to spear. This was not appreciated by the poms who had no taste for kangaroo and wanted to keep the good tucker to themselves. The poms were a smelly, unwashed lot and soon disease spread to the locals.
Anyway this is what we are commemorating the birth of a nation. More than two hundred years ago these invaders started it all, and it seems that is the way the history of most nations goes, so why should we be different? Just because a few "locals" object? I don't think so.