‘Invasion Day’ seeks to reclaim what Aboriginal Australians lost

For many indigenous people in Australia, the country’s national day represents the brutal colonisation, including massacres, the removal of their children and dispossession of their land more than 200 years ago.

Likened to Columbus Day in the United States, the day commemorates the landing of the first Europeans on the continent, now known as Australia, in 1788.

But on Sunday, January 26, thousands of Aboriginal Australians and their allies rallied across the country to protest the annual Australia Day.

Since 2015, protests have been growing every year, supported by many non-Indigenous Australians.

Aboriginal activist Meriki Onus, who ganisers of the protest in Melbourne, said the day has “always been quite a painful day for Aboriginal people.”