Ballarat's Picnic in the Park 2023 attendees reflect on what January 26 means to them

Josh Williams, who attended the event with wife Bree and their four month old, said "it was just another day".

"Everyone is relaxing, happy to be out of the house," he said.

"It's more time with your family and [the weather] is nice. Everyone just seems happy to be out and enjoying it.

"It just seems more like a family day than labelled as Australia Day."

Australia Day on January 26 became an official public holiday in 1994.

Increasingly, calls to abolish the holiday and recognise it as a day of mourning for Indigenous Australians have grown, propelled by campaigns such as #ChangeTheDate.

Event stall holder Toni Louise said she did not celebrate Australia Day and Picnic in the Park was about bringing people together and back into the "momentum of life" after the pandemic lockdown years.

"This is just a day for us to come out and be together with the community," she said.

"We believe that it should be the Indigenous Australians that decide what happens for Australia Day. Today is a day of mourning, essentially."

Another attendee, Claire Anstis, reflected that over time the way she viewed January 26 had changed and she was at the event for the "atmosphere".

"I don't know whether it's just with age, I don't seem to celebrate Australia Day like I used to," she said.

"Just enjoying the day off I think, you know, people choose to celebrate Australia Day and other people don't, which I understand as well."

READ MORE:

This year's Picnic in the Park was the second of its kind after the inaugural event in 2022.

It was once again held in Victoria Park and was free to attend, offering live music, arts, crafts and games for kids, and market and food stalls.

Event manager Sam McKeegan agreed the focus of the event was bringing people together and in his time working in events he had noticed changes about how Australians approached the day.

"It's definitely gone from the traditional celebration - what we would consider to be - 10 years ago," he said.

"It's more bringing the people from the community out no matter who you are, where you come from."

Attendee Sonia Lohan and her family came to Australia from India five years ago.

For them, she said, January 26 was about being part of something and Picnic in the Park was a way to participate.

"It doesn't matter where you are [from]," she said.

"Everyone has a red colour of blood ... and we just want to be a part of this community.

"We want to meet people and talk to them, [we] want to know that culture, Australian culture."

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.