• Thousands of Australians participate in protests in support of Indigenous people.
• Many refer to the anniversary of the day a British fleet entered Sydney Harbor as “Invasion Day”.
• The nation’s Indigenous people were honoured by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

On Thursday, thousands of Australians participated in protests in support of the country’s Indigenous people on Australia Day, many of whom refer to the anniversary of the day a British fleet entered Sydney Harbor as “Invasion Day.”

Social media depicted a sizable crowd assembled during an “Invasion Day” event in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia, where some people wore Aboriginal flags and an Indigenous smoking ceremony took place.

Similar protests were planned for other Australian state capitals as well, including Adelaide in South Australia, where the Australian Broadcasting Corporation estimates 2,000 people showed up.

The nation’s Indigenous people, who have been on the continent for at least 65,000 years, were honoured by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a flag-raising and citizenship ceremony in Canberra, Australia’s capital.

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“Let us all recognise the unique privilege that we have to share this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture,” Albanese said.

Nearly two-thirds of Australians, largely unchanged from a year ago, feel January 26 should be recognised as “Australia Day,” according to a yearly poll conducted by market research firm Roy Morgan and released this week. The others think it ought to be “Invasion Day.”

Some businesses have adopted flexibility about the holiday’s commemoration amid the controversy. Telstra Corp Ltd (TLS.AX), the largest telecom provider in Australia, this year provided its employees the choice of working on January 26 or taking an additional day off.

On economic and social metrics, many of Australia’s 880,000 or more Indigenous people lag below the 25 million inhabitants of the nation, a situation the government refers to as “entrenched inequity.”

The occasion falls during a time when Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government is planning a vote on including Native Americans in the constitution and requiring their input on important decisions.

The Indigenous people of the nation are not mentioned in the constitution, which went into effect in January 1901 and cannot be changed without a public vote.

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