Everyone will have their own opinions about this question and because Australia is a free country - we are all entitled to hold those opinions. 

For Goulburn’s Australia Day Ambassador Warren Brown, it means being welcomed by the warm, rural community that Goulburn Mulwaree is. 

He charmed the crowd in Victoria Park yesterday with his down to earth speech.  

“We came from Surry Hills,” Mr Brown said. “We wanted to come to a welcoming, warm, rural community and Goulburn has proven to be just that for us.”

“I see lots of familiar faces out there that I see all the time when I am trawling through the cheap CD box at Dimmeys or at the food court at Goulburn Plaza.”

But he also touched on the serenity of living in the bush and how it can act as a buffer to “terrible things that may be happening in Australia or in the wider world.”

Goulburn Mulwaree Mayor Geoff Kettle made some great remarks acknowledging the traditional owners of the land and paid respects, past, present and future to Aboriginal people who have been custodians of this land for many thousands of years before the British arrived in 1788. 

“Under the concrete and asphalt, this land is, was, and always will be traditional Aboriginal land,” Cr Kettle said.  “We recognise their long history on this land and the care that they gave it for thousands of years.” 

Good on him for saying that. 

Our Editorial on Monday went into the whole debate further about whether it is Australia Day or “Invasion Day” and whether celebrating the arrival of the First Fleet into Port Jackson in 1788 is really a sensitive celebration for our Indigenous counterparts. 

We will point out that there were no Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags on the official stage amidst the masses of other Aussie flags during the official ceremony yesterday.  

Maybe this was an oversight on behalf of the council, because these flags are on display in the Council Chambers for Ordinary Council Meetings?

These flags were also notably absent from Rocky Hill and in Belmore Park for the ANZAC Day ceremonies too. 

So maybe along with all rhetoric that gets trotted out on this day about what an inclusive country we are - we could actually demonstrate this by putting those flags out at public events. We are sure this would be appreciated by members of the local Indigenous community.