Many Australians will make a beeline for the beach or a barbecue on Australia Day while others will shun festivities or take to the streets in protest on the national day.
Mother Erica Kratz said Australia Day was a “tricky one” that was getting tricker each year.
“There’s benefits of celebrating Australia – whether it should be on that day is probably questionable,” Ms Kratz told AAP.
Public spaces will be decked out for celebrations and more than 15,000 people will take the oath of citizenship on Sunday while tens of thousands will join “Invasion Day” protests on the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet.
Demonstrators will draw attention to issues impacting Aboriginal Australians amid calls for the date to be moved.
Ms Kratz won’t be celebrating or debating the merits of marking the day on January 26 – she’ll be busy with her son’s birthday celebrations instead.
“I see that (argument) against it and I see that for it,” she said.
“I think if you just separated, it would perhaps create a better experience.”
International student Percy Jardine is looking forward to celebrating his home of more than a year on January 26 and plans to go surfing with mates.
“I love Australia Day. I will celebrate with all my friends,” he said.
“This country is an amazing country, no doubt.”
The PhD student is aware many people have different opinions about Australia Day and understands why some people protest.
He urged everyone to treat each other with respect.
While crowds at January 26 demonstrations have swelled in the past decade – along with the number of employers who allow workers to take off a different day instead – polling published by Nine Newspapers on Friday showed a shift in the nation’s attitude towards moving the date.
It revealed most Australians backed keeping January 26, with support for the current holiday rising from 47 per cent to 61 per cent in the past two years.
Almost four in five people aged 55 and older want to keep the current date, while just a third of people younger than 35 agreed.
Healthcare worker Jack is rostered on for the weekend but said he wouldn’t be celebrating if he had the time off.
“I, for one, have no issue with changing the day,” he said.
“I think it’d be a good thing to do because then it helps people to focus on the really difficult things that happened on the day and then also for people to actually enjoy a public holiday,” he said.
Optimism and courage were the themes of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Australia Day message.
He praised the nation’s “oldest and deepest” aspiration of wanting a better life for the next generation.
“Australia Day is an opportunity to celebrate everything we’ve built together and be optimistic for the future we can shape together,” he said.
“Whether you are someone whose ancestors have loved and cared for this land for 60,000 years or whether you are making the pledge of commitment as a new citizen today, all of us belong to the greatest country on earth.
“And all of us can take pride in a national story written by the courage of our people.”
