KARACHI, Pakistan

Thousands of people attended "Invasion Day" rallies across Australia on Sunday, backing calls to abolish or change the date of Australia Day.

January 26 marks the anniversary of the day that Arthur Phillip hoisted the British flag at Sydney Cove in 1788.

But, indigenous communities refer the date as Invasion Day or Survival Day.

Invasion Day protesters took to the streets in the capital Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne, Darwin and other cities, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Indigenous speakers at an Invasion Day rally in Canberra reiterated pleas for the federal government to change the date of Australia Day.


Around 1,000 people gathered at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in front of Old Parliament House.

Some 5,000 protesters marched from Queens Park to Musgrave Park in Brisbane, demanding abolition of the Australia Day date.

In Far North Queensland, just south of Cairns, the Indigenous community of Yarrabah marked Survival Day.

Addressing the rally, Mayor Daryl Sexton said they preferred that name over "Invasion Day" because the former reflected the spirit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"It's about remembering the past but moving forward together," Sexton was quoted as saying by ABC.

Thousands gathered in Melbourne for an Invasion Day rally to celebrate "existence and resistance" of indigenous communities.

More than 2,000 people gathered in Victoria's coastal town of Torquay before dawn for Pilk Purriyn — a truth-telling event hosted by the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Corporation and Surf Coast Shire Council.

A survival dawn ceremony was held in Victoria's Central Highlands in Ballarat.

In Sydney, the Invasion Day rally kicked off in Belmore Park with a minute's silence followed by traditional dance and song.

Speakers, in their remarks, condemned what they said was a lack of action over Black deaths in custody and the over-representation of Aboriginal children in foster care.