Australia Day
Today is Australia Day, as it was on this date in 1788 that the first fleet landed at Port Jackson (now Sydney Harbour).
Whilst this is a day of patriotism, ceremonies and celebrations, I do have to wonder about the logic of two things.
Why is the “Australia Day Live” concert held on January 25, the day before Australia Day?
Why is the Australian Of The Year announced the night before Australia Day?
Thankfully I managed to completely avoid the unusual noisefest which is “Australia Day Live”, and will continue to do so for as long as it keeps going.
I am glad though, that Professor Ian Frazer has been named Australian Of The Year for his work in developing a vaccine for cervical cancer.
Whilst I consider myself to be patriotic, I don’t really have a huge amount of interest in Australia Day or the related activities. Sure, it is nice to know that today marks the date when Australia was first settled, but it is mildly disturbing that it is also a celebration of the arrival of convicted criminals, the killing of people who already inhabited the country, and mass drunkeness on the part of the officials.
I love this country, I love its democratic principles and the “fair go” attitude, but I don’t think January 26, 1788 is the most prestigious day in our history. If it weren’t for New Years Day, I would suggest January 1 as our national day, as a celebration of federation, January 1, 1901.
I suppose the question now is, what will I be doing today? Well, I will be doing much the same as I do most days. Today is just another standard day for me, and I will take Nattie for a couple walks, possibly buy some groceries, and probably install Linux on a computer.
For some reason that reminds me that voting for the Australian Blog Awards ends shortly (although at least one website is reporting that voting has already closed), and the winners will be known soon. I will keep an eye on this and congratulate the winners. If I win an award I will be declining it. I do hope that none of you voted for me, as I have absolutely no desire to win those awards, and fail to see the importance of them.
Samuel
4 comments January 26th, 2006 at 12:56am