Last Post: Australia Day/Invasion Day and how to reconcile the two

We will celebrate today by flying an Australian flag on a jarrah timber pole supported by a BHP steel fence post kept especially for the occasion every year. As fourth-generation Australians living in suburban Western Australia we are very proud that such a small country should feature so prominently on the world stage in so many different spheres.

John Bain, South Bunbury, WA

It seems the negative connotations attached to celebrating Australia Day on January 26 have rendered it an impossible date on which the nation can come together. Perhaps we could treat January 25 as an alternative day for celebration and remembrance, being the date that marks the last day of exclusive Indigenous stewardship of the land and the beginning of a new era.

Alistair Minson, South Melbourne, Vic

I’m against changing Australia Day, or our flag, not keen on taking a knee, am happy enough with the number of voices we already have to Parliament, admire Margaret Court, am uneasy about abortion and euthanasia, and am too old to change gender. In today’s topsy-turvy world, I might even qualify as a rebel, or perhaps a white supremacist?

Rosemary O’Brien, Ashfield, NSW

Why has the ABC had to back down from its “Australia Day/Invasion Day 2021 events guide” banner? The two events do exist, they are real and they should both be recognised.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Vic

On May 27, 1967 more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to change the Constitution so that Aborigines could be counted as equals in our democracy. Surely this is the date of pride and unity as a nation that we should celebrate? Let’s move on to something better.

J. Waugh, Mountain Creek, Qld

To put it bluntly, for the original inhabitants of this land, the holding of our national day on January 26 is the equivalent of Japan, had it conquered Australia during World War II, deciding to hold a day of celebration annually on the day it completed the conquest.

A few of us, I believe, would struggle to celebrate.

John Queripel, Kotara, NSW

Every Australia Day the same debate. It’s like fighting over the colour of the curtains while the house is on fire.

Stuart Gunzburg, Fremantle, WA

I am a woman of my words. I am mother, wife, sister, daughter. I will not be erased by the linguistic legerdemain of those groups who seek to dismiss or devalue my lived reality (“War of words risks wiping women from our language”, 25/1).

Ann Rennie, Surrey Hills, Vic

I am and always will be a mother.

Penni Seignior, Mudgeeraba, Qld