"Invasion day" rallies

are again being planned by activist groups.
For those of you outside Downunder these activist groups consist of people who claim that we are celebrating the invasion of Downunder through acknowledging the country as a nation on the 26th January. They want the date changed.
I will quote my late friend R.... on the topic, "They don't want to recognise reality."
Personally I couldn't care less about the day itself. I am not a flag waving Dowunderite who wants to boast about being one. When I was living in London I actively avoided mixing with other Downunderites. It was not why I was there. If I returned there to live I still would not mix with Downunderites. My cousin, who does live there, also avoids them. It isn't that we don't like Downunderites. It is just that the world is a bigger place than Downunder. 
I do care if people want to protest against celebrating the day though.  I care because I think it sends the wrong message to other people. I care because I believe the vast majority of those who are protesting are doing so for the wrong reasons.
There was no "invasion". An invasion suggests something violent. One small fleet of ships filled with people who had no intention of fighting does not, in my book, constitute an invasion. Of course we can look on it as morally wrong. It could be considered "theft" - there was that "intention to permanently deprive" the previous owners of the land of that land. There was some violence but the First Settlers did not go in as an army or navy with guns blazing and shoot everyone they came across. What is more they did not, contrary to the belief of some, deliberately hand out "measles infested blankets". (It is simply a very sad and unfortunate fact that the indigenous population had no resistance to the diseases of the newcomers. Also people still had very little understanding of how such diseases spread.)
Many of those protesting now also have another problem. They are of mixed heritage. Some of their own ancestors would have been First Settlers. Others have come from all over the world. Many of them have Irish, Afghan or Chinese heritage as well. It is often the few who have no mixed heritage who wonder why these people are protesting.
And protesting like that simply encourages racial disharmony. It encourages division. It doesn't help to bring about any sort of reconciliation between the "opposing" sides.
Lastly the day is used for "citizenship" ceremonies for those who want to become a permanent and fully participating member of the country - with the right to vote in elections. For them to be told, "No, it's wrong. This is not what the country you have chosen to become a citizen of is about" is surely wrong? 
My friend R.... was angered by the attitudes of these activists. She knew that,although in a minority, they do more harm than good. She knew they had media connections which they could and still do use. R...was a very proud indigenous woman but she took the view that, without white settlement, life for the indigenous community would be very different today. For her these people are failing to face reality.  She knew that there are problems, that white settlement has brought problems but she saw it as an issue which had two sides.
"We've had many opportunities and we have wasted them, " was her view.
It won't be a popular view and I know at least one person reading this is going to strongly disagree with what has just been said. I would actually prefer we didn't have any sort of "national" day at all...especially when other people keep boasting about what a successful "multi-cultural" country we live in.
Do we really need a national day?
(This has been written with the permission and approval of R...'s son.)