Sydney celebrated Australia Day on a brilliant summer's day - but it was also a day when the impact of the arrival of the English on the country's indigenous people was put into harsh focus.
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The Australia Day Council's creative chair John Foreman told reporters he thought the nation was mature enough to hear perspectives from all types of people.
"Australia Day means different things to different people," John Foreman said, in front of Sydney Opera House where many of the day's events were taking place.
"We're celebrating the people whose families have been here for 60,000 years ... who have been Australians for two or three generations or had just become citizens."
Wiradjuri woman Yvonne Weldon at a Sydney harbourside morning ceremony began her welcome to country by noting Australia Day was a "sombre" day for first nations people.
"On this day 231 years ago it was the beginning of a devastating change in the lives of the first nations of this land," Ms Weldon told a crowd that included NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Governor David Hurley.
"A change that was the start of traumas never experienced before."
Ms Weldon said that had to be done so Australia could heal its past and create an inclusive future.
"It is right to stop, reflect and declare the atrocities that have taken place on this land. Not out of a guilt but to listen, learn, share and come together."
Ms Berejiklian said Ms Weldon's welcome contained "strong words that all of us needed to hear".
The premier said it was appropriate on Australia Day to "renew our commitment to working to protect, respect and celebrate this beautiful culture".
The governor used his address to call for indigenous languages to be taught more widely in schools.
Mr Hurley said too many people didn't know the language group of the traditional owners of the land on which they lived or the local Aboriginal names of the places around them.
Later in the day, thousands of protesters marched from Hyde Park to Victoria Park in Camperdown, arguing the term "invasion day" better described what happened in 1788 and the suffering that indigenous Australians had experienced since.
The mood was less formal on Sydney harbour where the aptly named vessel Expre3s took out the Ferrython race while the white sails of tall ships glided in their wake.
About 60,000 revellers are expected to attend the free Australia Day Live concert at Circular Quay headlined by crooner Kate Ceberano and band Yothu Yindi before a fireworks display will cap off the evening.
Australian Associated Press
