Australia Day

noun

Aus·​tra·​lia Day ȯ-ˈstrāl-yə- 

ä-,

ə-

: a national holiday in Australia commemorating the landing of the British at Sydney Cove in 1788 and observed on the Monday of or next following Jan. 26

Examples of Australia Day in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In January, on the eve of Australia Day, an antipodean version of the Fourth of July, a bronze statue of Cook that had stood in Melbourne for more than a century was sawed off at the ankles. —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024

Like a good friend, three weeks later, Mr. Quintero showed up for Mr. Walters at his birthday/Australia Day open house in January where about 80 guests snacked on Vegemite, Tim Tams and assorted Aussie lollies at Mr. Walter’s Chelsea apartment decked out with Australian flags. —Rosalie R. Radomsky, New York Times, 5 May 2023

There are growing public calls to change the date of Australia Day, which is known to many Indigenous people as Invasion Day and Survival Day, because of the disastrous impacts on First Nations people of British colonists taking their land without a treaty. —Rod McGuirk, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Jan. 2023

Human rights organisation Amnesty International Australia spearheaded a 'Change the Date' campaign until 2018, which involved a petition proposing to move the date of Australia Day to a more 'appropriate date' that isn't associated with the violence of colonialism. —Alicia Vrajlal, refinery29.com, 25 Jan. 2023

Many argue that Australia Day should be changed to a date that isn’t painful for indigenous Australians. —Alice Uribe, WSJ, 3 Feb. 2022

And Happy Australia Day to all of our friends down under, who take this day to reflect on the diverse history of their beautiful country. —Aj Willingham, CNN, 23 Jan. 2022

Opposition leader Peter Dutton likened the move to changing the date of the national day, Australia Day. —Nick Perry and Rod McGuirk, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2023

Victoria has canceled its Australia Day parade. —Ben Westcott, Bloomberg.com, 25 Jan. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined above