Sydney - Most Australians don't know that Australia Day marks the arrival of white settlers from Britain on January 26, 1788, an opinion poll published Tuesday showed.

Only 44 per cent of those asked were able to say the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney was what was commemorated.

A quarter of respondents to the Essential Research poll said Australia Day marked the federation of the states on January 1, 1901.

The poll came out as debate raged over a call by an aboriginal activist to pick a new date because it was offensive to have the nation's most important public holiday marking the start of white colonization.

"To most indigenous Australians (Australia Day) really reflects the day on which our world came crashing down," Mick Dodson said after being awarded Australian of the Year. "Many of our people call it Invasion Day."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who presented the award to Dodson, said there would be no change of date.

Bob Carr, a former premier of New South Wales, said the date should be kept and that few among the 21 million Australians would accept that Australia Day should be a sad affair.

"Instinctively, we want to honour our achievements as a nation," he said.

Gerard Henderson, head of private think tank the Sydney Institute, noted that Dodson was partly descended from Irish settlers and that many of the 500,000 Australians who claim an indigenous heritage "have ancestors who were both invaders and the invaded." (dpa)