Generational war erupts over Australia Day: Baby boomer issues scathing message to Aussies who oppose January 26  – as Gen Z woman pushes ‘change the date’ and cuts off her mates who voted No to the Voice

It’s a celebration of all that is best about Australia or a day of deep national shame, depending on who you ask.

Australia Day, observed each year on January 26, marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 when the first governor of the British colony of New South Wales, Arthur Philip, hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.

But, for many First Nations people, it is regarded as ‘Invasion Day’ or the ‘Day of Mourning’.

This publication canvassed everyday Australians about their views, ranging from members of Generation Z who called for the date to be changed to a baby boomer who demanded people ‘suck it up and get over it’ – and everything in between.

The growing polarisation around the national holiday is perhaps best summed up by the government-owned National Australia Day Council.

‘For some, Australia Day is a day to celebrate all the opportunities provided by living in a free, multicultural society,’ it wrote in its 2022 annual report.

‘For others, it is a chance to reflect on their own citizenship and what it means to be Australian. And for many, 26 January represents a day of sadness, mourning and reminder of colonisation.’

The annual Australia Day stoush started early this year when Anthony Albanese’s high commissioner to the UK scrapped the annual black-tie fundraiser, citing ‘sensitivities’ over the public holiday.

Then, over 80 councils across the country decided not to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 this year because of perceived negative connotations, with one councillor even blaming the heat. 

Anthony Albanse was accused of a ‘cop-out’ in burdening council’s with the politically-sensitive decision after his government scrapped a rule forcing councils to hold Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.

And then this week the fall-out reached corporate Australia when the Woolworths Group, which owns both Woolies and Big W, announced it would not be stocking Australia Day merchandise, blaming a ‘gradual decline in demand’.

The decision sparked uproar, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton calling for a boycott of the store.

‘I would advise very strongly to take your business elsewhere and go to IGA or Coles or Aldi,’ Mr Dutton said. 

A few hours later, Aldi announced it would not be stocking Australia Day merchandise this year. 

Prominent Indigenous leader and businessman Warren Mundine said the decision was ‘disgraceful’ and accused corprorate Australia of being ‘completely out of touch with the Australian public’. 

‘It’s about time these corporates actually pull their head in … Do your job, you are a retail store for Australia,’ he said.

‘If Woolworths isn’t proud of this country they can pack up and bugger off.’

But what do the Australian public think? 

Over 60 per cent of Australians agree Australia Day should be celebrated on 26 January, according to a poll conducted last year by the right-leaning Institute of Public Affairs. 

With the increasingly controversial day just around the corner, Daily Mail Australia took to Sydney’s beaches and streets to ask proud countrymen and women what they think of their national holiday – and whether they would be celebrating it. 

‘I’d love them to change the date but don’t hold out much hope’

Bonnie, 20, whose father is from the Bundjalung tribe near Lismore in NSW’s Northern Rivers region, said she would ‘love’ the date to be changed out of respect for her fellow Indigenous Australians.

But she thought there was slim chance of that following the Yes campaign’s resounding defeat at the Voice to Parliament referendum. 

‘Realistically, I don’t think the government is going to change it but in a perfect world I think that we should have another day out of respect,’ she said.

Bonnie, who grew up in Petersham in Sydney’s inner-west, said she was disappointed by the Voice defeat and had cut some friends off who voted No. 

‘Half of them don’t have reasoning and it pisses me off because it doesn’t impact them as non-indigenous people,’ she said.

Bonnie, a soon-to-be nursing student who works at Ivy nightclub in Sydney’s CBD, said she would not be celebrating Australia Day and would most likely be working.

‘I wouldn’t be going to an Australia Day event or festival,’ she said.

‘If I’m not working me and my sister would probably go to a protest with my dad.’

‘Suck it up and get over it’ 

Ian Rowlands, 62, who lives in Wahroonga on Sydney’s Upper North Shore, was stridently against the idea of changing the date of Australia Day. 

‘Once upon a time I used to sleep through Australia Day, have a barbecue and then suddenly it’s become this big political thing,’ he said. 

‘I’ve got friends who now, say: “Oh, Ian, you’re such a colonist”. I mean, what the f*** are you talking about? I didn’t colonise s***. I was born here.’

Mr Rowlands lay the blame for the debate on out-of-touch Australians who were preoccupied with ‘fashion-type’ issues rather than the ‘real world’. 

When pressed on how it might feel from the perspective of Indigenous Australians, Mr Rowlands said he was sympathetic. 

‘I can totally understand how you would feel that suddenly once upon a time you had a 60,000 year old culture and everything had changed,’ he said.

But he was unapologetic about celebrating the day itself.

‘So suck it up. Get over it,’ he said. 

Mr Rowlands said he would ‘funnily enough’ be spending Australia Day with a ‘whole bunch of lefty friends’.

‘They’ll just jump on board and do what they’re told,’ he said.

‘That’s how I view it. They’re just obedient f***ing sheep is how I view a lot of goddamn people these days.’

Mr Rowlands, who works in the renewable energy sector, said he was pleased with the referendum result but was hoping it would be more like 70 per cent No and only 30 per cent Yes.

‘I’m too old and too bored with all of it,’ he sighed. 

‘I grew up in the eighties. You’d go to the pub. You’d have a smoke, you’d drink your beer out of a glass. And nobody gave a s*** about much. The music was better.

‘But now, I don’t know, it just seems rule upon rule upon rule. It’s like we’ve been taken over by my mum.’

‘Change the date out of respect’

A trio of friends – one born-and-bred in Australia and two originally from England but now citizens – sharing coffee on a bench above Mona Vale Beach were all in favour of changing the date.

Anna, 55, who lives near Bateman’s Bay in NSW’s south coast, said she didn’t think it was ‘really appropriate anymore’.

‘Even if we lost the public holiday, it wouldn’t really change my life,’ she said.

‘But I think it would change a lot of other people’s lives if we didn’t celebrate Australia Day on that date.

‘It’s not that I’m un-Australian. There’s actually quite a large Indigenous population down where I live and a lot of people do call it Invasion Day.

‘My partner calls it Invasion Day but she’s really woke.’

However, Anna recognised that her position would likely be at odds with other people in her generation.

‘I definitely think older generation probably wouldn’t share our views, but the younger generation would be more likely to,’ she said.

Becky, 58, from Warriewood, agreed, revealing that her 22-year-old daughter refused to celebrate the public holiday. 

‘Our kids don’t celebrate it anymore and that’s not come from us,’ she said.

Her husband added: ‘I think that there should be a National Day but I see no reason why it shouldn’t be moved’.

‘At this point it’s just overtly saying “we don’t care about the feelings of first nations people”. But I’m not from here. I’m English. 

‘I’ve been here 20 years so I feel it hard to talk on behalf of Australians, particularly around the northern beaches where you’ve got to be here a hundred years before you’re considered a local.’

He added: ‘It wouldn’t hurt anyone just to move it and say, “you know what, it’s a day for everyone, not just for us”.’

‘Go woke and go broke’ 

Shelley, 47, a mother-of-three from Mona Vale, was staunchly against the date being changed, claiming we shouldn’t ‘touch what isn’t broken’. 

‘I think it’s really important and I don’t think it should be touched,’ she said. 

‘I think it should be left the way that it is. I know that they’re trying to cancel it, whatever. You go woke, you go broke, that’s my opinion.

Shelley, who is originally from Victoria, said she would be donning a green-and-gold jersey to celebrate the day.

‘I try to celebrate it every year,’ she said.

‘Beach, barbie, ocean. Because I’m proud to be an Aussie, I guess. I love this country. I think we’re very blessed to where we live here.’

‘It should not be celebrated’

Matthew, a 59-year-old photographer living in Mona Vale on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, was stridently opposed to the national holiday. 

‘January 26 should not be celebrated,’ he said. 

‘Australia Day is not inclusive. We’re a land of immigrants. Where’s the reflection of our multicultural richness? Clearly it’s, it’s a trash for First Nations people. It’s a disgrace.’

He added: ‘I’m Anglo Australian and I understand that it should be called Invasion Day. There’s no treaty. There’s no recognition of the people that lived in this land before 1788.’

‘I’d be ditching Australia’s national anthem. I’d 100 per cent be ditching the flag. Imagine England or Great Britain had, I don’t know, Denmark’s flag in the top left corner – it doesn’t make sense.

Matthew half-jokingly suggested moving it to a day when Australia beats England at the Ashes. 

‘The actual day should be shifted, then it will be fair and equitable and will represent more Australians,’ he said.