Reflecting on what it means to be Djiringanj, Walbanga, Thua, Ngarigo and Yuin, local researcher David Dixon said the day can create a “sick feeling of despair, at how a nation can celebrate a national day connected to the ongoing destruction, and oppression, of peoples belonging to the world's oldest culture”.

”For me, and many original peoples, there is nothing much to be celebrated, except perhaps the survival of a brutal invasion and its remaining regime,” Mr Dixon said. 

“It's the only positive we can take from it as we have the world's worst socio-economic outcomes within one of the world's wealthiest nations.

“The relationship with the land that I've learned from my elders has always been extended to everyone living upon our ancestral lands.

“Now that's something I believe is worth celebrating.”

Mr Dixon said that while the holiday is seen by many as a day to be spent with family and friends, there are some who use the day to “drum up racist xenophobia”.

For many like Mr Dixon, the goal is to survive Australia Day by spending time with friends and family who also reject the notion of peaceful “settlement” or terra nullius.