It was 2005 when a naïve, seven year old girl arrived in Australia with her parents and brother.

And oh did she have much to learn.

She learnt about how to make fairy bread, that the national food is vegemite, that people go out in public without any shoes on, and that Boorloo (Perth) drivers are in fact the worst.

But in the 17 years she's lived in Australia the one thing she really noticed is how proud Australia is of multiculturalism.

This pride is evident in Harmony Day at school, it's evident in the friends who love coming over to eat mum's chicken rice, it's evident in the number of migrants who continue to be welcomed to Australia.

And it's obvious in our political rhetoric.

Politicians love to call Australia 'the most multicultural nation on Earth' or something along those lines.

Just last year former Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Australia "the most successful multicultural and multi-faith nation on earth" in his Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony speech.

That little migrant girl is now an adult woman, and she is in fact me. And I have little to no problem with politicians being boastful about how multicultural Australia is.

But I do think there is a problem when these catchy phrases are used as a rug under which to sweep Australia's colonial past.

To use Australia's cultural diversity as an excuse to celebrate January 26 for example, is offensive to me as a migrant.

Why is multicultural Australia being used as an excuse for our nation to continue to celebrate a day which has its historical connotations cemented in the beginning of colonisation, genocide, and the widespread oppression of First Nations people?

I can't speak for all migrants, only myself.

I think it's problematic to expect all migrants to want to celebrate Australia, especially when celebrating January 26 is put on migrants as a way to be accepted as a true Australian.

I am proud to be an Australian.

But I am not proud to celebrate Australia on a day that carries so many distressing feelings for First People.

Australia is the only country to mark its national day on the anniversary of its own colonisation.

First Nations Australians have been protesting against January 26 since 1938, long before it became a public holiday in 1994.

It's not possible to go about our lives in Australia without being privy to the damage colonialism has done to Indigenous Australia.

It's evident in our curriculum, it's evident in the number of Indigenous deaths in custody which continues to rise each year, it's evident in the intergenerational trauma suffered by Stolen Generations survivors, and it's evident in the many gaps which have yet to be closed.

As a migrant, I am proud to live in Australia. It's afforded me a life I love, a career I could otherwise have only dreamed of, and friendships I am more than thankful for.

But celebrating my life in Australia on a day fraught with pain and suffering for First Nations people is not the way to go about it.

How can anyone expect multicultural and migrant Australians to be proud of our new lives when the First People are asked to celebrate their country on the anniversary day of their colonisation?

This January 26, I will continue to work rather than observe the public holiday. I'll attend the rally here in Boorloo and I won't celebrate 'Australia Day' until the date is changed.

Even if that means I'll be waiting a while.

And I hope the date does change. One, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. And two, so other migrants like me can finally celebrate an Australia Day we're proud of.

Emma Ruben is a half Chinese, half Indian, Malaysian born immigrant who migrated to Boorloo in 2005. She is a journalist at the National Indigenous Times.