A growing number of Victorian local councils are turning their backs on the respectful recognition of the dark side of January 26, choosing instead to celebrate the date marking the beginning of the colonisation of Australia as the country's national day.

Among them is the Greater Shepparton City Council, located in the northeast part of the state, changed its terms of reference for January 26 last Tuesday night.

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities strongly object to celebrating the national holiday on a date that is seen as a day of mourning and frequently called as 'Survival Day' or 'Invasion Day'.

Following recent council elections, eight of the Shepparton councillors voted in favour of reversing last year's decision that was in place for barely 12 months - reviving all celebrations of January 26 as Australia Day, including citizenship ceremonies.

However, this decision comes after another prominent regional Victorian municipality months earlier decided for the first time to call an end to hosting traditional commemorations on the same date.

The City of Greater Bendigo is set to host a citizenship ceremony on January 25 for the first time next year, and has decided to work with the region's active First Nations community, currently planning towards "more inclusive events" the following day.

Mayor Andrea Metcalf told the media at the end of July the decision showed the council's "increased understanding and leadership around the impact of January 26 on the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".

In Shepparton, Cr Sam Spinks was the only councillor that opposed an about-face on policy, strongly campaigning in the new term of council elections by urging residents to protest to their ward councillor not to make a grave error of judgment and land on the wrong side of history.

"This is a call to action – contact your councillors and share your voices," she said days ahead of the vote.

"The very first notice of motion coming to the new council is proposing to undo one of the most important steps forward we made last term – a step that was carefully and thoroughly considered for (more than) two years before a decision was made.

"Now, barely six weeks into the new term, we will be deciding whether to undo the small remaining detail of that decision without, what I feel is, full consideration and understanding of all voices in our community.

"This can't be a 'ward' decision, or a 'the loud voice is the right voice' decision – this has to be a whole of community decision that considers the many sides to the issue, and recognises this is a decision that impacts not just 2025, but well into the future."

Cr Spinks later addressed the number of Shepparton supporters on social media that fought the campaign to make their voices heard in a place through history known for its Aboriginal advocacy.

"We could not make a decision today without hearing those voices. And you raised them loud and clear and I am so sorry it wasn't enough," she said

Rapper come comedian, Adam Briggs, a Shepparton resident and outspoken advocate on issues that cause Indigenous people trauma and harm, was quick to remark that the council of his hometown has brought shame to many of its Aboriginal residents.

A statue of William Cooper, the man also from the Goulburn Valley who was a former secretary of the then Australian Aborigines League when he led the initial Day of Mourning protest on January 26 in 1938 – during the 150th year since the arrival of the First Fleet – is in Shepparton as a shining light of the power of his dissent.

"You can't make this up – Greater Shepparton City council is a joke," Briggs wrote on social media.

The fellow Yorta Yorta man said "Shepparton is once again undefeated in unsurprisingly and underwhelmingly cementing the town in an archaic celebration of British history".

"A moronic decision that will only embolden racism in the region," he said.

"One councillor actually quoted me in the same address she referred to Indigenous people with an outdated and often offensive term; then voted in favour of reinstating Australia Day celebrations.

"These are the people directing the cultural trajectory of the town? How confused and misinformed can one person be?

"Shepparton has always struggled with its relationship regarding Blackfullas. They'd prefer to not acknowledge us.

"This motion is a clear indication of that and the racism of the town. And for the record; I couldn't give a f**k who 'your mates' are or who you 'went to school with'. One councillor @samspinksgreatershepparton voted against the motion. Thank you."

The City of Greater Geelong is another council that just a week earlier reversed its stance on January 26.

In May 2023 Geelong council had passed a resolution to cease any reference to January 26 as Australia Day in all official communication and to scrap citizenship ceremonies on the date.

But 19 months later, a notice of motion had the newly-elected council to recognise the proclamation of the date for Australia Day was that of the Federal government.

The motion was passed seven votes to four after the council prior to the November election received 957 responses in favour of the City of Greater Geelong choosing not to publicly recognise Australia Day.

Councillors asked its chief executive to prepare a report to start referring January 26 as Australia Day again as mayor Stretch Kontelj wanted to "look at commemorating a date with these citizenship ceremonies and community events, (but) to advocate for the Federal government to change the dates (of Australia Day)".

"We are actually agnostic on that and that's what the community is overwhelmingly saying to me and others that ran for re-election or election most recently," Cr Kontelj told ABC Victoria radio.

Cr Jim Mason, months earlier this year, set out an emotional plea to councillors in which he said January 26 remains "a day or sorrow, a day to grieve a loss of culture, a loss of Country, spiritual and physical, and a loss of family networks".

"That is intergenerational trauma," Cr Mason ended his speech.

The 77-year-old announced in September this year that he would not contest the council elections after completing two four-year terms to retire from public life.