Indigenous rights activists protest on Australia Day

Tens of thousands of Australians protested over the treatment of Indigenous people as the country celebrated a national holiday marking the 1788 arrival of British colonizers.

Crowds rallied in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities on Australia Day, decrying the high incarceration rates, poor health and historic persecution of Aboriginal people, whose ancestry stretches back 60,000 years.

The 26 January national day commemorates the arrival of a British fleet in Sydney Harbour to establish a penal colony.

For many Australians, it is a day to celebrate with friends and family at beaches and backyard barbecues.

But for rights activists "Invasion Day" marks a period of oppression of Indigenous peoples, including the dispossession of their lands, massacres, and the removal of children from their families.