"We should change the date of Australia Day, as it doesn't truly celebrate all Australians"

It is true that Australia Day is when we celebrate what's great about Australia, but we neglect the terrible actions we did when we arrived in 1788 to the Aboriginal people and we shouldn't neglect this past because our country is shaped based on our history and the progress we have made over the many decades, but throughout that history we have committed many unfortunate acts such as murder and displacement that has destroyed the lives of many Aboriginals who Aboriginals mourn on this day. We must reflect on our past actions because they have affected many people today and created much sorrow and loss for many indigenous people and families. Then there was the period of the "Stolen Generation" when Australian Aboriginal children were snatched/taken from their families and raised in institutions or fostered by white families but in the early days of European settlement, these children were used as guides, servants and farm labour and until 1969, removing children from their families was official government policy is some states. (Carrodus, G., Delany, T. and Howitt, B. (2012) Oxford big ideas history 9 Australian curriculum student book + Obk/as MULTI. Australia: OUP Australia and New Zealand) Many Aboriginals today are scared to leave or move out from their societies because some still believe that their children will be taken from them, or that Australians still pose a danger to them and may harm them. These acts show how the events from the first fleet have damaged and the trust between Aborigines and Australians and has divded us, instead of uniting us together. Australia day for Aboriginals is a day of mourning for the thousands of lives lost and families destroyed/torn apart by the white settlers, and it is in remembrance of all of the children taken away from their families, and each year these terrible tragedies and effects of the white settlement are forgotten or unknown by thousands of Australians. Each year Australians celebrate ANZAC Day to commemorate the lives that are lost to war in service of our country, yet there is no day that allows us to recognise the deaths of the Aborigines were killed or the children that we stole that we all celebrate in respect for the Aboriginals. Why do we mourn our own, but not the lives of those that we killed? We are blinded to the truth of the effects of that day, and in the words of Martin Flanagan "...January 26, the date of white arrival in this country, [is] an event which began a chain of disastrous consequences for the indigenous population of our land." To conclude, Australia day should be changed from the 26th of January to another date because it is unfair and bias as it commemorates the supposed revelation of this country when the first fleet arrived and discovered this land in 1788, however each year on this day the Aboriginal descents are neglected and as is the reality of that day and the devastating impact it had on the Aboriginal inhabitants is forgotten. Australia day reflects the suffering, pain, loss, cruelty, injustice of the Aboriginal inhabitants, and so it fails to celebrate all Australians each year on this day and the scars from the past are still embedded in many Aboriginals today which has created division between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians as there are no trust and belief problems between us, caused by the terrible way the white settlers treated the aboriginal inhabitants when arriving in 1788. Australia day should be changed in respect to our indigenous inhabitants whose ancestors suffered greatly as a result of our arrival.