26 January: Clashes between police and protesters at Australia Day rally – as it happened
7.02am GMT
This is where I’ll leave the blog. Thanks for joining me for the final hours, and enjoy your afternoons. Before I go, a quick check in at Waneroo.
The Perth suburb has today hosted Australia’s largest citizenship ceremony for the fourth year in a row, with 800 residents from 49 countries becoming citizens.
Here’s the Chambers family, who arrived from Wales 10 years ago.

On the right is Waneroo councillor, Hugh Nguyen, attending the citizenship ceremony.

Agam Benipal’s parents, Preet and Harman, moved to Perth from India. They were all at Waneroo’s citizenship ceremony today.

6.58am GMT
Hottest 100: #40-31
This is the final Hottest 100 update on the blog today. We won’t be counting down the final 30 as the blog is about to close, but you can follow it on triple j’s website and stay tuned for our analysis in the morning
A fairly dude-heavy batch of songs brings us to the top 30 of this year’s poll, with two songs in a row from Brisbane band Dune Rats at #33 and #34, and the second spot for Sticky Fingers, who went on indefinite hiatus in December after a controversial year.
Of the 70 songs so far, only 15 have been performed by bands that feature women or by female solo artists, and seven more have featured women as vocalists. But there are a few more women expected to place higher than usual in the top ten this year.
One of them is self-taught 21-year-old Tash Sultana, who has just made her Hottest 100 debut with Notion at #32. But it’s her track Jungle, built around loop pedals and her powerful voice, which is expected to get her into the top ten. The video has been viewed over 1 million times.
Here’s #40-31:
#40: Kid Cudi – Surfin (Ft. Pharrell Williams)
#39: DMA’s – Step Up The Morphine
#38: Glass Animals – Youth
#37: Flume – Smoke & Retribution (Ft. Vince Staples/Kucka)
#36: Sticky Fingers – Sad Songs
#35: Client Liaison – World of our Love
#34: Dune Rats – Scott Green
#33: Dune Rats – Bullshit
#32: Tash Sultana – Notion
#31: Drake – One Dance (Ft. Wizkid/Kyla)
Updated at 6.58am GMT
6.40am GMT

This afternoon I sat down in Darwin, on Larrakia land, with Larrakia elder June Mills. She says changing the date is not enough.
“But it is a start of reality.
“If I was going to change the date it would be June the 3rd, which is the day when terra nullius was struck down. That’s a day worth celebrating. Because all the lies we’ve suffered from begin with terra nullius – that this was nobody’s land – which was a doozy.
“To me that’s the day, I know there are a lot of days being put up but to me that’s the day, when we smashed the lie that has been killing our people.”
But Mills recognised there was not majority support for changing the day yet, and said people weren’t going to go along with it until they were educated about Australia’s history and the impact it still had on Indigenous people and communities.
“People don’t know. But we’re only 3% of the population, we can’t do this job. It’s up to the government to really show leadership and sincerity, honesty about the reality of this country and tell the truth, put it in the schools. It’s not going to happen without education.”
Mills said there wouldn’t be enthusiasm about Australia Day from Indigenous people until this happened.

Updated at 6.53am GMT
6.26am GMT
The newly appointed New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, would like people to not debate changing Australia Day on Australia Day.
Speaking to reporters after police and protesters clashed at the Invasion Day march in Sydney, Berejiklian said the violence was “disappointing”, and that while everyone had a right to protest, Australia Day was about unity.
“I’m so disappointed people couldn’t express themselves in a more appropriate way on such an important day,” she said.
AAP reported Berejiklian said there were 364 other days of the year to debate changing Australia’s national day.
It seems people were not listening, though.
The number of tweets mentioning #ChangeTheDate has grown 850% since 2016.
The number of Tweets using #InvasionDay grew 200% from 2014-2017.
The number of Tweets using #SurvivalDay grew 200% from 2014-2017.
Updated at 6.43am GMT
6.12am GMT
Belief is a thing you have when you don’t have actual facts.
.@PaulineHansonOz says she believes "true Aboriginals" don't care about changing the date of Australia Day #auspol #qldpol pic.twitter.com/bx9EVN9wZH
— Sarah Elks (@sarahelks) January 26, 2017
If only there were some facts around for Pauline Hanson.
6.02am GMT
Hottest 100: #50-41
Violent Soho have become the first act to ever get four songs in the first half of the Hottest 100 countdown, and the Amity Affliction are still sitting pretty with three apiece. Safia, Dope Lemon, the Avalanches, DD Dumbo and Frank Ocean each have two. Like a Version has gotten a fairly good look-in so far too, with covers by Paces, Halsey and AB Original making the list.
The Indigenous hip-hop duo of Briggs and Trials, AB Original are expected to feature again later today, tipped for quite a high listing for their Australia Day protest track January 26, featuring Dan Sultan.
Late last year, as pressure mounted on Triple J to move the Hottest 100 to a date that was less divisive and offensive to Indigenous Australia, a Facebook page began circulating encouraging listeners to vote for the track in solidarity. It’ll be interesting to see how high the song places this year.
In other news, this could be one of the most commercially viable Hottest 100s of all time, with Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, Guy Sebastian and Kanye West all featuring so far – and a Justin Bieber cover thrown in to boot.
BEYONCE, GUY SEBASTIAN, BIEBER
GUYS
THIS IS A GREAT #HOTTEST100
— COOL MEGA (@coolmega) January 26, 2017
Here’s #50-41 – featuring Paul Kelly’s Hottest 100 comeback, after a break of 16 years.
#50: Gang of Youths – Strange Diseases
#49: Hilltop Hoods – Higher (Ft. James Chatburn)
#48: Kingswood – Creepin
#47: D.D Dumbo – Walrus
#46: Mac Miller – Dang! (Ft. Anderson .Paak)
#45: A.B. Original – Dumb Things (Ft. Paul Kelly/Dan Sultan)
#44: D.D Dumbo – Satan
#43: MØ – Final Song
#42: Broods – Heartlines
#41: The Weeknd – I Feel It Coming (Ft. Daft Punk)
Updated at 6.06am GMT
5.41am GMT
Good afternoon everyone, this is Helen Davidson checking in to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
I hope you have spent your day well, and if you’ve been somewhere a little out of the ordinary please share your pics on Twitter (@heldavidson).
In the mean time, down on Sydney’s famous Bondi beach, some lifeguards are having official pillow fights, which to be fair makes way less sense than the Darwin Ute Run which Guardian Australia’s Paul Farrell was so rude about earlier today.

And then at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Rebecca Matthews rugs up.

At the Australian Open in Melbourne people are sportingly patriotic as other people play tennis. Guardian mate Russell Jackson has filed this report on how the tennis is going.

Updated at 5.44am GMT
5.19am GMT
That’s all from me on the live blog today. Stay with reporter Helen Davidson as she continues our coverage of Australia Day celebrations and protests, and the pointy end of the Hottest 100.
5.13am GMT
Hottest 100 halftime – the gender count so far
For the past few years, the Hottest 100 has been the springboard for an ongoing debate about gender and Triple J, with women vastly under-represented in the national poll and on the station’s playlist more broadly. In last year’s poll, the only women who made the top 10 were featured vocalists, and only 24 songs were by women – with four of them by Courtney Barnett. In 2014, of the 273 musicians featured in the countdown, only 34 were women.
As Erin Riley pointed out on Twitter and in a subsequent piece for Guardian Australia, in the history of the Hottest 100, more men from St Kevin’s College had won the poll than women.
This year could be different. Although no women featured in the top 10 of the station’s 2016 album poll, women are expected to make a much stronger showing in this year’s Hottest 100, with Amy Shark and Tash Sultana both predicted for the top 5 – and Shark has a chance at the #1 spot.

But we’ve been tallying the women count so far, and of the 50 songs that make up the first half of the poll, only 12 are performed by women artists or bands which feature women, with a further five featuring women vocalists.
Here’s #60-51. For the rest, click on this.
#60: Sofi Tukker – Drinkee
#59: Frank Ocean – Solo
#58: Ali Barter – Girlie Bits
#57: Catfish and the Bottlemen – Twice
#56: Paces – Keeping Score (Ft. Guy Sebastian) (Like A Version)
#55: Rufus – Say a Prayer for me
#54: Blink-182 – Bored To Death
#53: Violent Soho – Blanket
#52: Halsey – Love Yourself (Like A Version)
#51: Sticky Fingers – Outcast At Last
Read Erin Riley’s piece on gender, privilege and the Hottest 100:
Updated at 5.21am GMT
5.12am GMT
We’ve got a bit more detail to hand about the scuffle between protesters and police at the Sydney Invasion Day march earlier today. The clashes reportedly began after protesters attempted to burn a flag. Police say they tried to extinguish the flames.
Footage shows police officers and protesters shoving each other. Police later arrested a 20-year-old man and took him to Redfern police station, while a police officer and a woman were injured and taken to hospital.
The Sydney Invasion Day rally just turned violent. pic.twitter.com/F66rQIJ292
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
5.03am GMT
Martin Parkinson, the nation’s most senior public servant, was made a companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the community. My colleague Gareth Hutchens has this story on Parkinson, his career, his push to modernise the economy, and his warning that young Australian adults could be the first generation in modern history with living standards below those of their parents.
4.56am GMT
Reporter Paul Karp has filed this story on deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce’s comments on the Australia Day protests. Joyce said he was tired of people “weeping” about Australia Day when they lived in a nation that was democratic, has free education, basic free health, is well defended, and that looks after its poor.
Joyce had this to say about the protesters:
Today is a day about celebration. I’m just sick of these people who every time they want to make us feel guilty about it. They don’t like Christmas, they don’t like Australia Day, they’re just miserable … and I wish they’d crawl under a rock and hide for a little bit.
Updated at 5.00am GMT
4.45am GMT
The large Captain Cook statue in Cairns was redecorated for a short time this morning. It comes after a recent proposal by local Indigenous artist, Norman Miller, for a giant boomerang to be constructed and placed in the statue’s hand, according to the Cairns Post.
Iconic Captain Cook statue in Cairns wears a large sign that reads "sorry" #AlwaysWillBe pic.twitter.com/xxItbQkX6E
— NITV (@NITV) January 26, 2017
Updated at 4.56am GMT
4.33am GMT
At the speakout tent at Yabun festival, Rhoda Roberts – head of Indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House – introduced Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu: a book that challenges the understanding that precolonial Aboriginal Australians were hunter-gatherers who lived off the land.
Pascoe said this had been taught to suit European settlers’ purposes. Indigenous people’s perspectives were not heard in public discourse, said Roberts, “unless it’s something specific that’s about land rights”.
Asked why his and other Aboriginal people’s viewpoints were not sought on other issues relating to land management, such as climate change, Pascoe said:
“Because it takes a long time to unlearn 220 years of bullshit.
“Because everyone, including me went to school and learned that Aboriginal people were wanderers of the Earth, children of nature … The reason for that wasn’t because it was true but because the Europeans needed to tell that story, to justify taking the land.”
In Dark Emu, Pascoe writes that precolonial Aboriginal people across Australia were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing – all of which are inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag.
He told the sizeable crowd that the curriculum and the “kind of nonsense” taught in schools had not changed to reflect this new information.
Updated at 4.35am GMT
4.24am GMT
Hottest 100 catch-up time!
We’re 40 songs in and there’s been a few noteworthy placements so far. Violent Soho have scored three listings, at #93, #73 and #69. So have Australian metalcore act Amity Affliction at #76, #67 and #65 – with the latter following on from Beyoncé’s Hottest 100 debut for Hold Up, making for a particularly abrasive genre transition.
Glass Animals, Safia, Angus Stone’s new project Dope Lemon and the Avalanches have had two entries apiece, with Drake (featuring Rihanna), Kanye West, Radiohead, Empire of the Sun and Frank Ocean also appearing.
Flume has had his first showing at #95 – but it certainly won’t be his last, with the Sydney producer expected by many to win for his track Never Be Like You.
The countdown so far:
#100: Birds of Tokyo – Brace
#99: Drake – Too Good (Ft. Rihanna)
#98: Glass Animals – Season 2 Episode 3
#97: Alex Lahey – You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me
#96: Elk Road – Hanging By A Thread (Ft. Natalie Foster)
#95: Flume – Lose It (Ft. Vic Mensa)
#94: Vallis Alps – Fading
#93: Empire of the Sun – High and Low
#92: Violent Soho – How to Taste
#91: The Avalanches – Subways
#90: Luca Brasi – Anything Near Conviction
#89: Safia – Over You
#88: Childish Gambino – Me and Your Mama
#87: Dope Lemon – Uptown Folks
#86: Bliss N Eso – Dopamine (Ft. Thief)
#85: Safia – My Love Is Gone
#84: Frank Ocean – Pink + White
#83: Tkay Maidza – Simulation
#82: Thundamentals – Think About It (Ft. Peta & The Wolves)
#81: Desiigner – Panda
#80: Banks – Gemini Feed
#79: Radiohead – Burn The Witch
#78: Vera Blue – Settle
#77: Catfish & The Bottlemen – Soundcheck
#76: The Amity Affliction – This Could Be Heartbreak
#75: The Avalanches – Because I’m Me
#74: Camp Cope – Lost: Season One
#73: Violent Soho – No Shade
#72: Kanye West – Famous
#71: Broods – Free
#70: Golden Features – Wolfie (Ft. Julia Stone)
#69: Violent Soho – So Sentimental
#68: L D R U – Next To You (Ft. Savoi)
#67: The Amity Affliction – I Bring The Weather With Me
#66: Beyoncé – Hold Up
#65: The Amity Affliction – All Fucked Up
#64: Maggie Rogers – Alaska
#63: Glass Animals – Life Itself
#62: Dope Lemon – Marinade
#61: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Gamma Knife
Updated at 5.33am GMT
4.21am GMT
This can only end well.

Updated at 4.29am GMT
4.14am GMT
The crowds, and the flags, were out in force for Melbourne’s Australia Day parade on Swanston Street. The parade is a warming display of Australia’s cultural diversity. Participants from more than 90 community and cultural groups were involved.




4.04am GMT
Beyoncé has made her Triple J Hottest 100 debut at #66 with Hold Up, the third single off her game-changing sixth record Lemonade. The visual album, released with an accompanying film of clips, is jam-packed with discourse on race, gender and infidelity, and was lauded by the Guardian as the best album of 2016.
After the Taylor Swift/Hottest 100 furore of 2015, Triple J’s decision to add Beyoncé’s album to high rotation was a controversial one, which led to six songs being up for nomination in this year’s poll.
Triple J listeners are reacting as expected: split right down the middle.
BEYONCE JUST GOT HOLD UP ON THE #HOTTEST100 YESSSSS
— a cool ghost (@wetbreadvevo) January 26, 2017
You know Triple J is dead when Beyonce is in the Hottest 100.
— Cassandra (@cassandra_s_o) January 26, 2017
Hopefully making the #hottest100 is the shot in the arm Beyonce's career needs
— Kris Read (@DesignedToFade) January 26, 2017
Read Observer pop critic Kitty Empire’s review of Lemonade here:
Updated at 4.20am GMT
4.02am GMT
Our photographer Jonny Weeks is in the Top End, and took these shots of the Darwin ute muster at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip.



3.52am GMT
We’ve delved into the archives for this one. Here’s one of the earliest mentions in the Observer of the fledgling colony of New South Wales from 22 April 1792. The Observer, sister paper of the Guardian and the world’s oldest Sunday paper, was founded just three years after the settlement in New South Wales.

Here are the tall ships sailing into Sydney Harbour on Thursday.

Updated at 4.17am GMT
3.43am GMT
Sydney’s Invasion Day march eventually worked its way up Broadway to Victoria Park in Sydney for Yabun festival: the biggest one-day celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Australia.
At 2pm, Victoria Park was packed with families and groups of friends enjoying the warm weather, food stalls and music and dance performances. A tent set aside for elders, with seating and refreshments, and another for activities for children, reflected the all-ages environment.
Local organisations such as the Redfern Community Centre and larger bodies such as the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence and Amnesty International were not only represented, but being accessed by festival-goers.
With many people wearing the Aboriginal flag on their person, or T-shirts bearing slogans like “Grand Theft Australia” and “I See Deadly People”, the atmosphere was relaxed but engaged, and political – evidenced nowhere better than at the “speakout tent” of panel discussions.
At 2pm it was packed with people listening to group of elders, one of a number of discussions held throughout the day. One speaker encouraged the crowd, if they wanted to know something, to just ask.
Every Indigenous community had its customs and history, he said, singling out differences between “the saltwater mob and the freshwater mob”.
“One shoe will not fit the other foot … In our culture, you ask the questions, you get the answers.”
The elders tent – complete with refreshments and seating – is in high demand at Yabun festival. Great idea, should be more common at events pic.twitter.com/B0vrpRzYfv
— Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) January 26, 2017
Weaving lesson at Yabun Festival pic.twitter.com/edyu638EDk
— Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) January 26, 2017
"Grand Theft Australia" shirts for sale at Yabun Festival pic.twitter.com/Wztn91Q2Gk
— Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) January 26, 2017
Updated at 4.00am GMT
3.32am GMT
Speaking of the bizarre, Brisbane’s Story Bridge Hotel surely takes the cake for the oddest Australia Day event. It’s holding cockroach races, for reasons that escape me entirely. The pub’s hotel offers this by way of enticement:
And of course the iconic Cockroach Races! The first race scurries off at 12noon, launching a jam-packed program of 14 races, including a steeple chase. Read our race rules so you can be prepared for this awesome day and take part for your chance at victory. The last race is around 4.30pm and the music and fun continues into the evening.
Fittingly for this elite sporting event, we create dedicated stadium seating and even corporate boxes to watch the races in style!
Updated at 3.37am GMT
3.22am GMT
One of the more unusual events to take place on Australia Day. Dogs and their owners, including Ashley and her dog Muffin, pictured here, race for glory on stand-up paddleboards at Watsons Bay, Sydney.

Updated at 3.29am GMT
3.02am GMT
Sydney’s Invasion Day march has again brought a sizeable crowd this year. This shot from Mike Bowers shows the rally heading into Broadway before 2pm.

Shots are also starting to filter in from other Invasion Day marches across the country. Here’s the Brisbane march:

And Canberra:

And the latest images from the huge crowds rallying in Melbourne.

Updated at 3.32am GMT
2.56am GMT
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been kept busy at the official Australia Day proceedings in Canberra.




Updated at 3.06am GMT
2.41am GMT
Triple J’s Hottest 100 is 20 tracks in already. Thundamentals, Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino have all made appearances, as has Canberra act Safia, which has songs at number 85 and 89 in the countdown.
#89 @SAFIAmusic – ‘Over You’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/ST15xJYYTj
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
#85 @SAFIAmusic – ‘My Love Is Gone’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/FRxcgrLTyZ
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
Updated at 3.14am GMT
2.28am GMT
There are reports of violence breaking out at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney. This vision shows scuffles between police and protesters.
The Sydney Invasion Day rally just turned violent. pic.twitter.com/F66rQIJ292
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Several police sprayed the crowd with substance and tackled a young man trying to set the flag on fire pic.twitter.com/0R5PVRI6XA
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
2.25am GMT
The Invasion Day rally in Melbourne is now winding down. My colleague Calla Wahlquist is using the last of her phone battery to bring us some final vision.
And with that, we're done. 1% on the phone. #InvasionDay @FarrellPF pic.twitter.com/WDoCP3h8EN
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
2.22am GMT
An inflammatory Geelong Advertiser column, which we highlighted earlier this morning, appears to have been edited.
The Geelong Advertiser has removed the words "just one Aborigine-free day" from Peter Moore's anti #changethedate article. pic.twitter.com/bs1Y4jkWDO
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) January 26, 2017
This is not a satirical piece. https://t.co/MBxm8RUkHZ pic.twitter.com/TnJeo2lqMP
— Eliza Sum (@ElizaSum) January 25, 2017
2.15am GMT
Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers has filed some more images from the Invasion Day rally in Sydney.



Updated at 2.21am GMT
2.00am GMT
I’m handing over our continuing live coverage of the protests, honours and events occurring across Australia today to my colleague Chris Knaus.
We’re continuing our live coverage throughout the day with reporters at protests on the ground across the country.
1.58am GMT
My colleague Paul Karp has just sent through this latest update from Canberra:
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has addressed the date of Australia Day at a citizenship ceremony in Brimbank.
There’s a bit of a controversy: should Australia Day be today? Whatever one’s view about the date of Australia Day, I think we can all agree that we should remember our first Australians for whom this day actually carries some sadness.
The people whose ancestors saw the ghost-white strangers perform their strange rituals and raise their curious flag not knowing, on that Australia Day in 1788, what that moment would foretell to the first Australians: disease, dispossession and all too often death.
Too many long years of injuries and indignities, great and small.
So today, on Australia Day we honour them – and every day – the guardians of this ancient continent, the keepers of the world’s oldest living culture, our first Australians.
Updated at 2.18am GMT
1.57am GMT
My colleague Calla Wahlquist has been reporting from the Melbourne Invasion Day protests. Here are a few more of her updates from the event.
"We are here! We have survived! We are resilient!" Wongatha/Yamatji/Noongar/Gija woman takes the mic #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/gGaDPqsRQE
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
"The history books that I was reading when I was growing up, and I am only 29, glorified Capt Cook. There was 1 paragraph on Aboriginal ppl"
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
"Don't get angry here, mob. I know you are angry..it is not our desire to cause further division but it (we won't) keep lying." #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/LyZxzRXPWF
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
"Do not make #AustraliaDay on a day of mass slaughter of our people. It is about respect." #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Updated at 2.07am GMT
1.55am GMT
Here are a couple more updates from the Invasion Day march in Sydney, which has reached the city.
here in Sydney the #invasionday march enters the city pic.twitter.com/kY60YOwJae
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
Thousands of people are marching through the streets of Sydney. #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/s3jf1g2AE6
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Updated at 2.03am GMT
1.54am GMT
Sydney Festival’s first Indigenous artistic director speaks out about Australia Day
Sydney’s 26 January events fall at the tail-end of Sydney festival this year – and for the first time in its history, the festival is helmed by an Indigenous artistic director, Wesley Enoch.
Although a member of the NSW Australia Day council, Enoch is outspoken about the date of the national day – at least as we now experience it. “The date is contentious and needs to change,” he told Guardian Australia on Wednesday. “[It’s] an insult, an irritation, a celebration of colonialism … but this year, the date hasn’t changed – so what are you going to do?”
Enoch’s response has been to weave new rituals into Sydney’s Australia Day programming, including Baraya: Sing Up Country – a new song in Darug and Eora local languages, which was taught to the public and performed at the WugulOra ceremony at Barangaroo this morning.
We talk about commemorating Anzac Day, not celebrating it … whereas Australia Day still seems to be about fireworks, draping yourself in the flag, parking a warship in Sydney Harbour – a whole range of things that are somehow without ceremony. And that’s what annoys me more than anything else: that [most of us] don’t actually know what the day means.
Holding a national day on 26 January presents a unique opportunity for discourse and discussion which, up until now “really hasn’t been taken up”, he says – and moving it could risk losing that platform. “In 100 years from now, if we move it, do we stop talking about our colonial history? The date is such an irritation and an annoyance to me personally, but what it does is make me talk about it.”
He’s not the only one. Each year the issue of how we mark 26 January seems to arise with more force and volume than the year before, and Enoch points to the example of Fremantle council’s attempt to move the date of its citizenship ceremony to show that things could be changing.
“There might come a point where we actually surprise ourselves, and are able to transform this day,” Enoch says, illustrating his point with a story by the Indigenous writer Ambelin Kwaymullina:
There’s the story of the crow that drinks from the waterhole. The crow goes to the waterhole, and the water levels are too low. And he picks up one stone and drops it in, and the water level rises a little bit. Every time the crow drops a stone in, the water level rises and rises, until eventually you can drink. This is that story.
After a decade or two decades or even more of discussion, [the issue of Australia Day] has got such a public airing that maybe change is possible. Who knows?
Updated at 2.06am GMT
1.47am GMT
The world champion Australian surfer Mick Fanning is one of the many Australians appointed to the Order of Australia this year. Here’s how he reacted when he heard the news.
Updated at 1.52am GMT
1.42am GMT
Every year on Australia Day the great city of Darwin has a “ute run”. I don’t really understand why they do this, but here are some photos of large cars driving around Darwin if you’re into that sort of thing.
Darwin Ute Run kicks off pic.twitter.com/Qv1j6upwjX
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2017
Personal favourite entry in the Darwin Ute Run pic.twitter.com/9UUm9aslyt
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2017
Personally, if I had the day off I would prefer to go see La La Land than ogle utes but maybe that’s just me.
1.39am GMT
And more now from my colleague Calla Wahlquist, who is on the ground at the Invasion Day rally in Melbourne.
This is Flinders St right now. #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne @FarrellPF pic.twitter.com/ZSjS4il6Id
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Updated at 1.51am GMT
1.38am GMT
Here’s a video of the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Australia Day video message:
1.28am GMT
Back on to the subject of music, and some Australian artists have come together to make a call to change the date of Australia Day in their own way.
My colleague Steph Harmon has this take on the musical collaboration between 12 Australian hip-hop artists:
Twelve Australian hip-hop artists have collaborated on a new track calling for Australia Day to be moved, and released it with a 360-degree video in partnership with the Indigenous TV channel NITV.
The track – which features the Herd’s Ozi Batla and Urthboy, L-Fresh the Lion, Hau of Koolism as well as the Indigenous hip-hop artists Kaylah Truth, Nooky, Birdz (Nathan Bird) and Tasman Keith, alongside Tuka and Jeswon of Thundamentals and Erica and Sally of Coda Conduct – gives voice to a growing campaign to move Australia Day from 26 January.
Updated at 1.31am GMT
1.23am GMT
The Invasion Day march in Sydney is beginning to move from the Block in Redfern through to Hyde Park.
Sydney #InvasionDay massive. Tragic, inspiring stories. Best place to be on this day of stigma. pic.twitter.com/7cmrsmPPTM
— Senator Lee Rhiannon (@leerhiannon) January 26, 2017
Ahmed and Lydia and their son Noah have been invited to speak at the #invasionday march pic.twitter.com/e4kWSdRSKI
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
Updated at 1.28am GMT
1.21am GMT
My colleague Paul Karp in Canberra has just sent through this short update from Malcolm Turnbull on the possibility of moving Australia Day:
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has commented on proposals to move Australia Day from 26 January at an Australia Day barbecue with Zed Seselja in Canberra.
“I believe we should maintain the date,” he said. “Everyone is entitled to a point of view but I think most Australians accept January 26 as Australia Day.
“It is a day where we celebrate the rich diversity of all of our cultures from that from our first Australians as we saw, with Tina’s beautiful welcome to country on behalf of her people, the Ngunnawal people of this region here in the Canberra area, and to the new citizens, migrants who come from such diverse range of countries.”
Updated at 2.17am GMT
1.16am GMT
Triple J hottest 100 countdown begins
For the music lovers out there the Triple J Hottest 100 has just kicked off.
Birds of Tokyo, Drake and Glass Animals have started the countdown, which will descend from 100 to one as the day goes on.
#98 @glassanimals – ‘Season 2 Episode 3’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/9XrGbFTbxj
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
#99 @drake – ‘Too Good’ {Ft. @rihanna} #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/3BLQu6k4Kx
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
#100 @birdsoftokyo – ‘Brace’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/wDCOa26IbI
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
Listen in on the ABC here.
Updated at 1.26am GMT
1.06am GMT
#InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/B9C9XFjAAC
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Thanks for following along with our coverage of 26 January so far. I’m handing over to my colleague Paul Farrell now – you can share with him your views and news at @FarrellPF on Twitter.
12.59am GMT
Paul Daley writes of the calls to change the date:
If Australia Day is genuinely intended as a day of national unity and pride, then it must be so as a result of a process of truth and conciliation. We are not there yet. Not nearly. We won’t be until sovereignty is settled with treaties.
So, for the time being it remains a divisive and divided day – Invasion Day for an increasingly growing multitude of black and white Australians, a moment of profound, often ostentatious, sometimes aggressive, exclusive, nationalism for others.
Updated at 1.08am GMT
12.57am GMT
The Melbourne march has stopped at the corner of Bourke and Exhibition streets in Melbourne.
The march has stopped at Bourke x Exhibition. #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/fjB1oxQpkF
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
It's currently stretched across two city blocks. On Bourke, crossing Russell. #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/EQ6a7OXG9B
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
In Sydney, protesters are hearing from speakers.
"Australia day to me, signifies survival and the start of the war," says Laura Lyons #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/lRjR2VqK0o
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
"Join our fight" – #invasionday #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/1liowP8dZB
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
A Muslim Australian family have also shown solidarity.
A Muslim family pledge their solidarity to the Aboriginal community in the fight over past injustices. "We will walk with you" #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/AmHAdMj2Y7
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
"Australian Muslims acknowledge the ongoing struggle for justice that this country's First Nations people face". #invasionday pic.twitter.com/uFuoOHByZu
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
Ahmed and Lydia and their son Noah have been invited to speak at the #invasionday march pic.twitter.com/e4kWSdRSKI
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
12.53am GMT
A pairing of headlines on the Age makes a neat point about Australia Day, says writer Marcia Langton on Twitter.
The huge significance of #OrstrayaDay headline: Where to buy alcohol today; Youth escape from detention centre pic.twitter.com/VLUhhWBW81
— Marcia Langton (@marcialangton) January 25, 2017
Updated at 1.07am GMT
12.50am GMT
The Indigenous Social Justice Association’s banner at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney: “If I were to die in police custody, know this … I did not commit suicide.”
Black Lives Matter pic.twitter.com/eS3Jvjj69x
— Doc Tone Lock (@tloughland) January 26, 2017
Deaths of Indigenous people in custody have been under scrutiny owing to the coronial inquiry into the death of Ms Dhu. The findings, handed down in mid-December, stopped short of apportioning blame but chastised “unprofessional and inhumane” treatment of police officers and failures of key medical staff.
Days later, ISJA in Sydney staged a protest to call for a similar investigation into the death of David Dungay Jr, who died while being treated for a medical condition at Long Bay prison a year ago.
On New Year’s Day the former Indigenous affairs minister Robert Tickner used the release of the 1992-93 cabinet documents to urge leaders to “command the authority of the nation” to improve Indigenous incarceration rates.
Updated at 1.07am GMT
12.42am GMT
Guardian Australia’s photographer-at-large Mike Bowers has filed these photographs from the Invasion Day rally at Redfern.

