"I wanna pay my respects to the men women and children who lie dead on battlefield Australia..."
In Melbourne, a man commemorates the Aboriginal lives lost since colonisation.
A smoking ceremony follows - and then a solemn gesture:
People place flowers on the steps of Melbourne parliament.
"Always was, always will be Aboriginal land..."
Thousands of people marched across the country to protest Australia's national day.
About 200 gathered outside Adelaide's state parliament house.
Event organiser Latoya Rule says the number of non-Indigenous people turning up to survival day events is growing.
"There are a lot of more non-Indigenous people coming alongside as allies. I really do think we are waking the nation up. But at the same time, in saying that, I think we need to focus more on waking the government up."
Meanwhile others attended festivals celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
Many drawing attention to the ongoing survival of First Nations peoples.
The First Peoples Disability Network attended Sydney's Yabun festival.
Chief Executive, Damien Griffis, says they raise awareness of what survival means for Indigenous people living with disability.
"Fifty per cent of our people have some form of disability or long term health condition. It's an issue that's been overlooked for too long really and it's a really critical one. We say disability in our communities is one of the most critical social justice issues in Australia today."
Indigenous culture was also the focus of many official Australia Day celebrations.
And the theme of Google's homepage: a drawing commemorating the Stolen Generations.
The artist behind the drawing, Ineka Voigt, says her artwork is about reconciliation.
"The mother is sitting in an ochre desert, and she's dreaming of the childhood she never got to see with her children. And so it's a piece of reconciliation, to look at the trauma and tragedy of the Stolen Generation and how significant that is in Australia's history."
At the heart of it all is a debate about the nation's history.
More than 200 years ago the British flag was hoisted for the first time in this country.
For some the day signifies the birth of Australia.
But for others, it's a day far more tragic - it's when invasion and survival began.
Narungga elder, Tauto Sansbury, says given the opportunity, Indigenous people would like to discuss changing the date of Australia day.
"We're willing to sit down and talk about the changing of the date and what date it's going to be but at this stage that's not in our court to talk about at the moment because it's run by the non-Aboriginal community of Australia."
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