Australia’s national day marks the beginning of its colonisation. There are better, more meaningful dates that reflect Australian nationhood and democratic choice.

The day a nation celebrates as its National Day should be the anniversary of something significant which the nation or its people achieved, such as storming the Bastille, or signing the Declaration of Independence – 26 January has no such significance for Australia.

It is the day that the British moved their embryonic convict colony from Botany Bay to Sydney Cove, hardly a cause for celebration.

And this was not even something Australians did, it was something the British did. Australia is the only nation on the planet whose National Day celebrates another country’s achievement.

Moreover, many nations, including the USA, Greece, Finland, India, and Indonesia, celebrate their National Day on the anniversary of the day they stopped being someone else’s colony. Australia is the only nation on the planet that celebrates the time it started being someone else’s colony as its National Day.

With respect to First Nations peoples, 26 January is not even ‘Invasion Day’. That was 18 January 1788 when the First Fleet began to arrive in Botany Bay to take possession of New South Wales and found a convict colony.

We need a better day.

The most logical day on which to celebrate our nationhood is the anniversary of the day we actually became a nation: January 1, 1901. The founding fathers thought they were doing the right thing by hitching Australia’s creation to the ‘First Day of the New Century’. While they may get brownie points for neatness, they failed dismally in practicality. They bequeathed the nation a “foundation day” impossible to celebrate on, because everyone is too hung-over from New Years’ Eve. There were attempts in the first couple of years of Federation to celebrate Australia Day on 1 January, but the observance soon died out.

One possible alternative is 31 July, which is the anniversary of the last of the referendums finally establishing our Federation. The Commonwealth of Australia became the first nation on the planet created by its people agreeing to a proposed constitution by popular vote. That’s something to celebrate.