You misinterpret my post, my reference to history is not just about Australia Day, nor is it about James Cook, Arthur Philip, Australia becoming a federation, it’s about the fact that changing dates, changing names, knocking down statues does not change history or the lessons of the past, nor those that feel aggrieved by the past.
OK, I thought your post was in reference to the thread topic. But I understand what you're saying. At the risk of continuing off topic, my thoughts on that are
1. You can't change historical dates, if they are the correct date, that's just logic.
2. You can change names if they are offensive names. But that would depend of the degree of offense that could be taken. Certainly names of places with Ni...r in them should be changed as has been done.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/30/a-blot-on-the-landscape-queensland-calls-time-on-racist-place-namesAs for reverting names back to their original indigenous names, I find it strange that people take offense to that happening. It doesn't bother me either way.
3. Knocking down statues doesn't change history, you're right. But I don't think statues honoring perpetrators of crimes to humanity (Hitler, King Leopold, Idi Amin etc etc) are appropriate.
4. It's not "trying to change history" it's about not whitewashing over the crimes of such people. There are places that serve to remind us of mistakes made in the past, such as the various Jewish Holocaust Centres, The Shrine of Remembrance, Numerous Anzac memorials, and even a few Aboriginal Massacre Memorials
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/indigenous that acknowledge these "lessons of the past".
