Yesterday, 26th January, was Australia Day.
I believe that historically this was the day in 1788 when the first fleet landed at Botany and decided it wasn’t a good place to land and they went up to Sydney Cove. The government website claims that “On January 26, 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales and became its first Governor.”
Apparently a history teacher on the radio said it commemorates Federation, when the states and territories combined to make a nation. That’s just not true, that happened January 1st 1901.
After the 150th anniversary of the landing there were official celebrations commemorating Arthur Phillip’s landing, on the same day Aboriginal activists had a day of mourning for what to them was an invasion.
In 1946 an Australia Day was agreed upon by the Commonwealth states and territories and there were re-enactments of the landing. Probably similar to those done at Thanksgiving in America where they eat turkey and invite the Indians for tea. Instead of the real history which probably involved a lot more killing of humans rather than Turkey (I’m sure they didn’t eat the humans though).
It seems that the history of the day isn’t well-defined, probably because people find it non-PC, along with skid-pans and witches’ hats. Ironically the government website also claims “On Australia Day we recognise the unique status of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The National Australia Day Council is committed to playing a part in the journey of reconciliation through helping all Australians move forward with a better understanding of the past and how it affects the lives of Indigenous people today.” That sure didn’t happen yesterday, I’m sure. Instead it was the “Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian. It’s the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation.” Well, I don’t know if that happened either – yay for public holidays though. :sheepish:
Update: I was wrong – it’s actually the date of the landing at Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), and it wasn’t a history teacher it was Carmel Tebbutt, NSW minister for Education and Training, who didn’t know what Australia Day was for. Goes to show, we’re really good at teaching Australian history huh? Ironically we all complained at school because we were the year that had all the new syllabuses tested on us and when changes were implemented we got the brunt of it; as a result we got Australian history about three years running. I think most of it was Australian women’s history though.
The history student wishes to correct you! the landing at Botany Bay and Sydney Cove did not happen on the same day. Australia Day is when the fleet landed at Sydney Cove. The fleet landed at Botany Bay progressively from the 18th to 20th January 1788. After a survey of the area they moved north to Sydney Cove the Fleet Arriving on the 26th where the colony of New South Wales was declared.
As for the teacher who said it commemorates federation, that person needs to be shot.
As a side note: I can trace my ancestors back to the first fleet. Convicts Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes. For all the talk about celebrating diverse culture… I should point out that that is when my family arrived in Australia so I choose to celebrate it. (Though I don’t forget the people it displaced).
Sorry, I didn’t think I was implying that they happened on the same day – I know it didn’t.
I actually edited the post in between writing it and getting your comment.
I have ancestors that came in the first bunch of settlers but not convicts… to be honest I celebrate the day as a public holiday and a good chance to get together with mates for a barbie. History is important in some ways and in other ways people need to get over it and move on. There comes a point when people need to stop blaming other people for things that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago.