Australia Day celebrations on Sydney Harbour in 2004 (Image: Wikipedia)

Australia Day is being celebrated by many in the southern nation today as debate intensifies over the appropriateness of the festivities.

Australia’s national day will be marked with cultural parades and exhibitions in cities across the nation. Melbourne will host a parade of Australian multiculturalism along Swanston Street and St Kilda Road in the morning, while in Sydney the Australia Day Regatta will take place on Sydney Harbour. The MS Colour Run will also take place today, bringing its rainbow riot to four cities in eastern Australia. In the evening, fireworks displays will take place in Melbourne’s Docklands at 9:30pm, while Sydney’s Darling Harbour fireworks kick off at 8:45pm.

Melbourne’s Australia Day parade (Image: australiaday.vic.gov.au)

For more information about Melbourne’s Australia Day celebrations go to this website, or for Sydney’s festivities go to this website. Australia’s national day coincides with India’s Republic Day, and is marked by the Indian community in Australia as well as the small Australian expatriate community in India.

Celebrating the 1788 invasion and subsequent colonisation of the continent by British settlers, Australia Day is seen by many as the starting point for the modern Australian nation state.

While 26th January is often considered the logical date for a celebration of modern Australian society, debate has intensified in recent years over whether the history of this date negates the celebratory atmosphere. Numbers of Indigenous Australians refer to 26th January as “Invasion Day”, and relatively small-scale protests take place on this date annually.

Graffiti on Cooks’ Cottage in Melbourne earlier this week (Image: The Australian)

In developments this year Melbourne’s Cooks’ Cottage has been covered in graffiti proclaiming 26th January as “Australia’s shame” according to a report in the ABC. Meanwhile in Sydney eight kilometres of the Botany Bay foreshore, the place where the British Captain James Cook landed, has been covered with graffiti referring to Invasion Day. Additionally, a provocative piece on The Hoopla by comedian Corinne Grant has roused debate over the current state and future direction of Australia society.