The date of our national day is an undercurrent in politics and society year round but peaks in the lead up to January 26.

The day symbolises how we see ourselves as a nation. It speaks to our pride in what have achieved, and what we hope to become. Ideally, it should speak to our unity as a nation.

It is unfortunate this year’s debate over the date involved political point-scoring and opportunism.

Millions look forward to the public holiday, seeing it as a last chance for enjoyment with family and friends before the year’s “real” business starts at workplaces and schools. That it was a Friday this year made it even better … a long weekend.

For many others, the day is a serious occasion with big ceremonies in the national and state capitals and similar, smaller functions in regional and rural communities. 

It is also when awards and recognition are given at a national and local level to citizens who have made major achievements benefitting the nation or their local communities. It is also chosen by many migrants as the day when they take up citizenship.

January 26, of course, marks the arrival of the First Fleet and the start of colonisation.

And contention and dispute starts there. Many Indigenous Australians find the anniversary "painful" and see it as "Survival Day" or "Invasion Day".

Suggestions are the date be shifted, including to January 1, the date of Federation in 1901, or replacing the Queen’s Birthday.

Opinion polls say a narrow majority would not mind if it was moved. Reconciliation Australia says it "is not a date that can serve as a unifying national day".

Prominent Dubbo Indigenous campaigner Joe Williams says changing the date would help heal the trauma that causes so many issues in Indigenous communities.

“We want to celebrate how great a country Australia is with everyone but we can’t do it on January 26,” he says.

“For me May 27 when the referendum [which in 1967 achieved an unprecedented 90.77 per cent 'yes' vote to recognise First Australians in the Census] happened to declare we were no longer categorised as plants and animals, as a date everyone can celebrate together.”

The debate should be held but must be respectful of different opinions … that should be our Australian way of finding solutions.