Celebrations and protests mark polarizing Australia Day

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians have celebrated and protested the anniversary of British colonization of their country on a day officially known as Australia Day but considered by Indigenous activists to be Invasion Day. Argument rages over how history should remember a fleet of 11 British ships carrying a human cargo of convicts arriving at Port Jackson in present-day Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. Protesters on Wednesday highlight that a penal colony was built on land taken from Indigenous inhabitants without the negotiation of a treaty. The lack of any treaty puts Australia out of step with comparable countries including the United States, Canada and New Zealand.