If we adopt the Trump lexicon of alternative facts, only a three-legged lama, Harold Holt, two Ukrainian backpackers and a Sasquatch in a gardening hat turned out to the One Day in Fremantle event to see a Korean Bon Scott impersonator murder Highway to Hell on a kazoo.
If we just step back into reality, 15,000 people rocked up for the City of Fremantle's alternative shindig to its traditional Australia Day celebrations.
![More than 15,000 people turned out for the One Day in Fremantle event.](/web/20170130082809im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/1/m/0/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu1mdn.png/1485760998079.jpg)
Fremantle's ballsy and brave decision to move its Australia Day celebrations to January 28 for a more "culturally sensitive" event could easily have been dismissed as a study of noxious nonsense if only a few thousand people bothered to descend on the Fremantle Esplanade last Saturday.
Any attempts to ignite a conversation around changing the date of Australia Day would have come to a horrifying grinding stop.
![Not on a high horse but on a crane overlooking the massive crowd at One Day in Fremantle.](/web/20170130082809im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/1/m/1/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu1mdn.png/1485760998079.jpg)
I'm not going to pretend for one moment all of the 15,000 people were part of some turbulent and teeming celebration for our Indigenous brothers and sisters.
Despite my hairy exterior, I don't believe in mystical coincidences and my spirituality extends to praying the Eagles beat the Dockers twice a year, but I was utterly entranced by what can only be described as an outpouring of love towards the port city council.
Even Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt – a man accused of having a rampaging ego and Trump-like populist agenda appeared overcome by the inexhaustible stream of punters pouring into the port city.
"We're proud to have contributed to the emerging national conversation around how we might be able to create a day of celebration that's inclusive for all Australians in the future," he told the massive mob.
Even the harshest critics of Fremantle council would be hard-pressed not to see the event as the unacknowledged starting point for changing the date of Australia Day.
In reality, the feverish babbling about whether or not we should change the date will rage on around water coolers and BBQs for years to come.
And despite a hilarious video calling for Australia Day to be on May 8 (maaate) no one has come up with a logical date.
But the narrative has shifted dramatically over the past few months.
And as I have bleated on about in previous pieces, all Fremantle council wanted to do was start a discussion, not steal the day away from anyone.
Rohan Mead, the Managing Director of Australian Unity, whose organisation back in the late 1880s was responsible for creating what would become Australia Day, recently said it's time to look at an alternative date.
Even WA Noongar elder Robert Isaacs – a vocal critic of Fremantle council's decision - wants a referendum on whether the date of Australia Day should be moved.
Noble, but Australia has a history of monumental failures when it comes to passing referendums.
Of the 44 referendums put to the Australia people, only eight have passed.
Ironically, one of the most successful referendums ever was in 1967, which saw more than 90 per cent of people vote in favour of changing the Australian Constitution to allow Aboriginals to vote.
If the decision to change the date does go to the people it will ultimately fail.
But over time, as the argument leaps from the left and right of politics to the centre, the date will be changed without a whimper.
I'm not declaring some self-created paradise will emerge if Australia does change the date, because you only had to glance at the fringes of One Day in Fremantle to see the social issues that confront indigenous Australians.
It would be foolish and idiotic to suggest the scars of the past could be erased by the flick of a pen.
But as I said previously, Fremantle council has propelled Australia down a path towards a moment of history nobody saw coming.
In the end, Dan Sultan eloquently summed it up Saturday night: 'From Little Things, Big Things Grow'.
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Disclaimer: These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.