Today could be a day for soul-searching. Instead we cling to a distant monarchy in denial of our racist past

‘The truth is such laudable institutional advances too often deliberately excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,’ writes Paul Daley. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Who are we? It’s the hardy perennial, but insufficiently parsed, question looming over this polarising day that ever more contentiously continues to mark the supposed birth of Australian nationhood. It demands a soul search.

But this day of imperial triumphalism, bunting and tall ships – and conversely, trauma and historical nearsightedness – is renowned for neither national self-awareness nor self-reflection.