Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are marking today as Invasion Day, or Survival Day, as one of the nation's largest Indigenous organisations urges the Government to change the date of Australia Day.
Eighty years since Aboriginal people first began protesting on January 26, the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council said the feedback from its members indicated that Aboriginal people overwhelmingly supported a date change.
"We are the largest [Indigenous] member organisation in the country, it's very clear from over 25,000 of our members that the date needs to be changed," chairman Roy Ah-See said.
"It's a day of mourning for Aboriginal people, whilst it's a celebration for non-Aboriginal Australia, it is a day to reflect for our people."
Mr Ah-See, who also serves on the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council, said changing the date would unify all Australians.
"Why not the fourth Monday in January as an option to celebrate? It gives business certainty, it gives non-Aboriginal people a chance to celebrate with us," he said.
"Change the date, and we'll be the first one to RSVP, because it's about celebration and we want to celebrate together. But unfortunately it's just not the right day for Aboriginal Australia."
Queensland's Australian of the Year and NRL star Johnathan Thurston said he thought non-Indigenous Australians needed education about why celebrating on the anniversary of the First Fleet's arrival was hurtful.
"It is about the stealing of land, the misplacement of the Stolen Generation, the injustices that were done all through the years, so there is a lot of hurt that is still there," he said on Thursday.
Neither the Federal Government nor the Opposition support changing the date of Australia Day. Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge said it was a "great unifying day".
"To those people who want to protest, protest about the country on every other day if you like, but let us enjoy Australia Day for what it is," Mr Tudge said.
Melbourne councils the City of Yarra and the City of Darebin will not hold citizenship ceremonies today after deciding the date was an inappropriate one for celebration, while Flinders Island, off Tasmania's north-east coast, stopped its official Australia Day celebrations five years ago.
The campaign to change the date, which has no central organisation at the helm, has increasingly been led online by young Indigenous people.
Kuku Yalanji woman Lalatuai Grogan said she had always seen Australia Day as Survival Day or Invasion Day.
"I love being Australian, as much as there are problems in Australia, I'm very proud to be an Aussie, but the fact that the day that typifies what it means to be Australian is the day that marks white invasion, for me is very problematic," Ms Grogan said.
Ms Grogan said she was optimistic the date would be changed, and had noticed community attitudes shifting.
"I have a lot of faith and I do see the change, even if there are a lot of people who don't see the importance of changing the date," she said.
"I think it all comes down to education and connecting with people to have difficult conversations."
Will Austin, a Gunditjmara Kerrie Wurrung man from Daylesford in Victoria, said Australia Day stirred "mixed emotions" as his non-Indigenous mates celebrated the day he chooses to shun.
"Being a young Indigenous person myself, and growing up in a small country town with predominantly non-Indigenous mates, it's been a bit of a journey for me," he said.
"I describe it as a day of celebrating the survival of our people. It's confusing, there are mixed emotions. Mourning my ancestors and what they went through, but then it's confusing seeing people celebrate around you.
"It is a day to remind us of our survival, to remind us that our culture is thriving and really strong."
