Former Police Officer Says Jan. 26 Not a Day of ‘Invasion’: Calls for Better Education

First responder says Jan. 26 holds special meaning for returned servicemen.

A big crowd of patriotic Australians gathered in Port Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 26, 2025 to celebrate the country's national day. (Josh Spasaro/The Epoch Times).

When federal Parliament passed the Nationality and Citizenship Act on Jan. 26, 1949, it marked the beginnings of Australia Day.

It was the Act that created Australian citizenship and the rules for gaining it, where all residents born in Australia became citizens. They also kept their status as British subjects.

The Menzies immigration minister at the time, Arthur Calwell, said it symbolised not only the nation’s collective pride in Australia, but a willingness to offer a share in its future.

Calwell said it meant children could be taught they were fortunate enough to be British, but even more fortunate to be Australian.

Why its Significant for Diggers

The 1949 Act is what motivates Jason Bryant—who has 35 years of service combined in the Queensland, Victorian, and Australian Federal Police—to never stop fighting to keep Australia Day on Jan. 26.

Bryant is also proud of his extended family’s wartime service, and recently attended the “Celebrate Australia” event in Port Melbourne to mark the celebration in contrast to “Invasion Day” rallies around the country.

“Australia Day is on January 26 for many reasons. But one of the main reasons is because we got national citizenship on that day in 1949,” Bryant told The Epoch Times.

“And that was directly in protection of our servicemen. For instance, my great uncle Frank Bryant was surrendered by the British at Singapore.

“And then he got taken to Sandakan, and he got put on two death marches. Those death marches were purely designed to kill them.

“It was easier to do that than to shoot them. They just marched them to kill them.”

Frank Bryant survived both death marches, before has was eventually beheaded by Japanese soldiers.

“My father still cries when he talks about this—as an 8-year-old he used to go to the local railway station and watch the train come in everyday,” Bryant said.

“He’d be there waiting everyday for Frank to come back. No one knew where Frank was because he was gone.

“So he just kept going and waiting, until after a couple of years he gave up.

“Very sad story. So Jan. 26 is extremely important to me ... That’s because the date is so important to me. And I’ve served this country for 35 years, and I will not back down on that.”

Activists Continue Push Against Australia Day

Some activists have argued that Australia Day’s current date is a painful reminder to the Aboriginal Australians about the nation’s colonial past.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said Jan. 26 was “a day of mourning.”

“On this day, we recommit to truth-telling and justice for First Nations peoples, many of whom are hurting today,” he wrote on X on Australia Day.

“This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

“No one can change that.”

Tens of thousands marched across the country over the long weekend, with pro-Palestinian activists also joining the cause.

Indigenous activist and historian Gary Foley spoke to crowds in Melbourne saying the failed Voice referendum in 2023 was proof of “Anglo-Australian racism born out of fear and ignorance.”

“We need to gently educate those who are not here today about the true nature of Australian history and why it is every year we gather here on this occasion,” he told the crowd, in comments obtained by AAP.

Human rights organisation Life Without Barriers CEO, Claire Robbs, said Jan. 26 “marks the beginning of dispossession, and generations of trauma and harm that followed.”

“It is time we heeded the voices and preferences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise that this date is not the birth of our country,” she said.

Jan. 26 Not a Date of Invasion: Bryant

Bryant said those pushing to change Australia Day date needed to review the nation’s historical records.

“Jan. 26 is not the day that Captain Cook arrived, and it’s not the day the First Fleet arrived. Captain Cook first arrived on Aug. 29, 1770. He arrived 13 times,” he said.

“One of those arrivals was to a place called 1770 up near Agnes Waters, just south of Rockhampton. “1770 is named after Captain Cook’s arrival ... when they decided to expedite immigration to Australia, they decided to set up penal colonies.

“The First Fleet was the start of the penal colonies, which started in Sydney at Botany Bay on Jan. 18.

“After Jan. 18, they searched around and after eight days they found Sydney Cove, and said, ‘We’ll go here.’

“The reason for that was fresh water. So Jan.  26 is not the day that Australia was invaded, or so they say. It’s got nothing to do with it.”

Bryant said more needed to be done in schools to re-educate young Australians on the nation’s history.

“If there was an invasion, it might be Jan. 18. We should be arguing the date [of Jan. 26] saying, ‘Sorry, that’s not correct.’

Disappointed With Vandalism

The desecration of a war memorial in Parkville, 3 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD, brought widespread condemnation leading up to Australia Day.

The monument honouring deceased wartime soldiers was covered in red paint, with the words “Land back” painted on it, in a reference to the land Indigenous people lived on before Captain Cook’s arrival to Australian shores.

Victorian Nationals’ Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Tim Bull wrote on social media that the graffiti was a disgrace, with former Victoria Liberals leader and now Shadow Minister for Public Transport Matthew Guy calling the perpetrators “ferals.”

Bryant said the Allan government was not tough enough in punishing such acts.

“The government isn’t really knuckling down on it,” he said.

“If I was in government, I would be getting the Victorian Police to fine these people and I would be making sure that they go to jail.

“You cannot let people get away with things like that.”