Large numbers of people joined Invasion Day protests across Australia on January 26, making them the largest in recent years. Activists estimate that as many as 200,000 people marched in Melbourne, while more than 10,000 joined protests in Sydney and Brisbane, and thousands more protested in other cities and towns.
Invasion Day mobilisations have called for January 26 Australia Day celebrations marking the start of British colonisation to be abolished. In response, several local councils have begun holding alternative events on other dates.
Protests also raised the issue of Black deaths in custody, land rights, destruction of rivers and communities and opposition to mining projects on Aboriginal land.
The rallies were supported by a broad range of community groups, including School Strike 4 Climate and Extinction Rebellion, which marched in the Sydney protest with a banner that read: "No climate justice without First Nations justice".
Despite mounting protests against celebrating Britain's invasion and occupation of Australia, the federal Coalition government will spend $6.7 million on a replica of the Endeavour to circumnavigate Australia to "celebrate" Captain James Cook's 1770 "discovery" of Australia.
Elders from the Gweagal-Bidjigal community, on the southern side of Sydney near Botany Bay, issued a call for protests to take place on their traditional lands against planned events in April to mark the anniversary of Cook's first landing.
