Just 15% of Australian population overall want the national holiday to be held on another date

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Most Australians feel positively about Australia Day but most Indigenous Australians feel that it celebrates invasion and should be changed to a new date with a different name.

That is the finding of a McNair yellowSquares national poll of 1,156 people conducted exclusively for Guardian Australia.

Respondents were asked if they felt very positive, somewhat positive, indifferent, somewhat negative, very negative or if they had mixed feelings about Australia Day, which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in what is now Sydney on 26 January 1788.

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The poll found that the majority (68%) felt positive about Australia Day, 19% indifferent and 7% had mixed feelings about the event while 6% of people felt negative about Australia Day.

Older people (over the age of 60) were more likely to feel positive about Australia Day (79%) while younger people (aged 18 to 39) were slightly less positive (61%) and more likely to be indifferent about Australia Day (22%).

But among Aboriginal Australians and people from the Torres Strait Islands, less than a quarter (23%) felt positive about Australia Day and 31% felt negative about it. A further 30% said they had mixed feelings about Australia Day.

When participants were invited to associate three words with Australia Day, Australians polled chose barbecue, celebration and holiday. But, for Indigenous Australians, the three most chosen words were invasion, survival and murder.

Asked about whether the date of Australia Day should change, 54% of Indigenous Australians polled were in favour of a change compared with a total of 15% of total Australians polled.

While those born overseas were slightly less likely to want to change the date (13%), the children of immigrants were slightly more likely to want a change (19%) than the total. Across the states, Western Australians were most likely (20%) to support a change of date and South Australians were least likely (9%) to support a change of date.

Late last year Fremantle council in Western Australia backed down on its plans to change its citizenship ceremonies – traditionally held on Australia Day – to a different, more “culturally inclusive” date after pressure from the federal government.

Fremantle wanted to hold the ceremonies on 28 January, which the council called One Day, out of respect for Indigenous Australians.

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But in the poll, conducted between 19 and 23 January, there was strong support for keeping the name Australia Day (83%), particularly among people aged 60 years and over (89%). Immigrants were also strongly in support of keeping the name (85%) though people with one or both parents overseas showed slightly less support (76%).

A majority of Indigenous Australians polled believe the name should change. Only 36% of those polled said it should remain as Australia Day. The Indigenous community was more likely to nominate Invasion Day (25%) or Survival Day (21%) as alternative names.

Those born overseas were similarly positive (68%) about Australia Day as the total population but it was different story for their children, who were less positive about Australia Day.

The poll showed that the children of immigrants born in Australia (where one or more parents born overseas) were less positive (61% positive) about Australia Day than people who were born overseas.

The children of immigrants were more likely to feel negative (10%) about Australia Day than those born overseas (6%), which was on par with the total number of Australians who felt negative about Australia Day (6%).