the troubadour

Happy Australia Day everyone for tomorrow. The Perth mayor expects some 300,000 to attend the riverside fireworks here in the City of Perth, and a platform of Aboriginal music, as usual, will precede the event earlier in the afternoon. I've witnessed some good music as former events and hope tomorrows will be presenting some class acts.


For the first time, that I'm aware an alternative 'Invasion Rally' will be held I think outside the GPO from 1pm. This will be the case across Australia and seems to be gathering momentum.


The agenda is to change the day from 26 January to some alternative.
I've heard a date in June I think mentioned. That is winter here and just wouldn't have the same significance as high summer, at least in weather stakes, meaning Aussie blue skies, bbq's, beach and the like.


Any opinions on the subject of changing the date?

GarryP

Pointless and stupid.

A lot of people need to grow the F.... up.

BritInParis

I can see both sides of the argument; I suppose it depends on what is being celebrated.

Simply put Australia, as we know it, didn't exist before the arrival of the First Fleet. The land was there, the indigenous peoples were there, but not the country that was to be created by successive waves of immigration from the UK, Europe and the rest of the world over the next two centuries. From that perspective it makes sense it have Australia's national day on 26 January as the arrival of the First Fleet marked the birth of the nation. I can also understand why some indigenous people feel it's inappropriate to have a national day that also marks the beginning of the end of their way of life and the start of a long fight for survival, against persecution, to even to be recognised as citizens in their own country.

To that end Federation Day could be a more appropriate option but since New Year's Day is already a public holiday that isn't really going to work. Constitution Day (when the law was passed rather than enacted) on 9 July is not currently a public holiday but it's in the middle of winter and rather clinical. Other legal options such as the Statue of Westminster or the Australia Act are also rather too obscure and prosaic.

I do also worry that by simply changing the date that the uglier aspects of Australia's past can be more easily ignored. By keeping the date on 26 January it forces all Australians to recognise it as not only a day of celebration but also commemoration.

moneypenny20

I honestly don't think it would make any difference. Regardless of date, there are some who will always see Australia Day differently to the majority and find issue with celebrating the day. I'm a fan of 8th May if we're going to change it. Makes as much sense as any other date on offer.

Beoz

Well said.

I mean FFS, no one alive today was here in 1788.

Beoz

Might as well make it Jan 2nd. Add another day to recover from New Years Eve.

May can be chilly in parts.

Or perhaps the day after Easter Monday. Make it a 5 day weekend. oh wait, Easter will be given the flick soon.

the troubadour

If it must be changed, as the ground swell may well determine at some future time, why not a completely neutral day? Say Feb 1 as an example? Still summer. Not an offensive date to anybody and celebrate everything Australian, from Aboriginal identity to all multi cultural aspects of the nation to the traditional Anglo based tradition.


There was something very much along these lines, back in the mid nineties, until the Conservatives got into power and Howard, more at home in the fifties, with picket fence and Sunday roast, went about dismantling and reintroducing assimilation to host culture, rather than celebrating diversity.

old.sparkles

Australia day used to be in July for most states until 1994 when it was moved to Jan 26 - http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201507/r1454294_21151506.jpg Mail headline two days before the first Australia Day on 30 July 1915. ()&width=1500

Whilst Jan 26 might have been the landing date of the first fleet, Cook first landed on 29 April in Botany Bay. 26 Jan to me seems like the day the UK opened a large prison!

old.sparkles

Plenty of people alive from pre-1994 who know that the change in date for Australia Day is a relatively recent one though

spouse of scouse

Yes. the date of Australia Day should be changed. I join the debate on BE every year but as it's usually only we 'old timers' who participate, you know my views and I know yours so there's not much point in rehashing.

GarryP

Kevin07 saying sorry was supposed to make it all OK and let bygones be bygones. Now it's Australia Day that's supposed to be the big 'insult' that needs to be rectified. And if that moved, pointlessly, what would be the next thing?

The reality is the outrage machine has to be kept stoked so that every non-aborigine is supposed to feel guilty, so the money keeps flowing - without anyone stopping and thinking "I've nothing to feel guilty for" and "where is this money going to no purpose?"

Need to stop enabling the warped dependency culture and start treating everyone equally.

the troubadour

No it has only been celebrated officially from 94 but long before called Australia Day but was more of a long weekend with sporting events and the like.

the troubadour

Not that recent. I was born on Australia Day and it far oversees me. A long, long time before 1994 ........I hasten to add.

moneypenny20

In my limited experience of tbis debate there are far more non Aborigine people complaining about the date than Aborigines. A fair amount (my %) couldn't care less. And hiw many Australians celebrate the date anyway? It's a day off not long after NY to get hammered and drag the national flag over sweaty bodies. It's dumb really.

Beoz

1946 was first declared Australia Day, but who cares. The date represents 1788 and the gripe is translated to invasion day for a small minority who have a bone to pick for no reason. Simply they weren't alive in 1788. There is no reason to change it so a small few feel like they have had a power fix.

Instead they should be celebrating the day Australia become a union of 2 cultures, and soon to become many cultures.