Tag Archives: Australia Day

It really is Australia Day today

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Well, that’s the date we are currently stuck with

Nice post on our ABC this morning.

Uncle John Delaney is reflecting

Not many First Nations people can imagine themselves swinging a golf club at almost 90 years old. But that’s what Kamilaroi elder, Uncle John Delaney, plans to do on January 26. 

“I’ll probably just go for a game of golf, I’m feeling very despondent about the result of the referendum,” he said. 

For Uncle John, the day has “been on our conscience all my life.” 

“Australia Day was always a black mark for us,” he said. 

Looking back on the years, Uncle John’s earliest memory of January 26 was in 1938, the year Indigenous rights campaigners declared it a  ‘A Day of Mourning‘.

Uncle John went with his family to the bustling city of Sydney, to witness what became a landmark event in Australia’s history.

Reflecting on the years, he says Jack Patten – civil rights leader and organiser of the protest – inspired him to take on a career working to improve the lives of his people. 

“It’s been the seed that Jack Patten, William Temper, Bill Ferguson and Aunty Pearl Gibbs set in 1938 that will stay with me forever,” he said. 

Uncle John has fought for recognition and Indigenous rights, and has marched in January 26 protests — rubbing shoulders with pioneers like Arrernte and Kalkadoon trailblazer Charlie Perkins, Bundjalung justice campaigner Sol Bellear and Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri leader, Dr Naomi Mayers.

“Just being there marching in ‘67 holding the placards up, and ‘88 doing the same thing was so self-inspiring. I was so pleased again to be in such illustrious company of our people,” he said. 

While he can no longer march in January 26 rallies, he has a message for First Nations people and allies. 

“Keep the flame burning,” he said. 

Source

Uncle John now enjoys spending time with his puppy Yarrin (ABC News: Marcus Stimson )

Australians of the Year 2024

The next one makes The Gong proud — Wollongong born and bred…

Reflect and rejoice

It’s Australia Day — 4

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Media groaning under the weight of outrage….

Is this the High Priestess of Piffle?

‘Sky News host Peta Credlin says Australians are going to have to suffer “outbursts” on Australia Day from the “perpetually outraged”.

”“Whose grievance … is less about the day and more about their growing hatred of our country,” she said.

‘Ms Credlin says she will be “making the most” out of Australia Day on Friday to “celebrate this great country”.

‘“It’s insufferable, this year it seems to have reached fever pitch.”

‘The Sky News host was joined by former prime minister Tony Abbott to discuss the calls to change Australia Day.’

What is insufferable is the perpetual outrage coming from the likes of Credlin because some of us have matured in the way me understand and express our love for this country — those of us who acknowledge and embrace the truth about it — the glories and the horrors….

Change the date?

My grandfather Christison always referred to it as Anniversary Day. And it was more a NSW thing. WA, for one, has little connection to 26th January!

Goulburn NSW — 26th January 1942

See also Australia Day wasn’t always on 26 January. Why is the national holiday on that date now? I have to say though that the often mentioned WW! “Australia Days” are irrelevant as they were just fundraisers for the troops. The name is sheer coincidence.

Here’s something else that was happening that week in 1942…. This is the world I was born into, and even more pertinent the world my Jewish classmates in the Sydney High Class of 1959 were born into: my childhood companions because of whom I have been historically sympathetic towards Israel, much as I despise Israel’s current government but also have no time at all for Holocaust denial or any conspiracy theory that invokes Jews….

Indeed…. Now to the present and one idea for a more suitable date I find appealing, and it is not one I had ever thought of until yesterday!

Australian independence did not come as a result of a dramatic struggle or revolutionary war. Instead, it was a gradual evolution. Queen Elizabeth II commented that “surely no two independent countries could bring to an end their constitutional relationship in a more civilised way” (though, we would continue to share the same head of state).

Despite the significance of the occasion, the passage of the Australia Acts had only limited public interest. The various developments were noted in newspapers in Australia and Britain but usually in the back pages.

For example, when the British legislation passed the House of Lords in December 1985, The Age informed its readers that “the sun sets today on the shreds of colonial bondage” on page 24, next to the daily crossword and a cartoon.

Why we should celebrate Australia Day on March 3 – the day we became a fully independent country

All hell broke loose after these perfectly reasonable comments from the Oz Cricket Captain.

Whatever, I will watch Australian of the Year tonight with pride and pleasure

It’s Australia Day — 3

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A more musical take today

The matter of our National Anthem

As I have said before, easy when I was 8 years old — and we sang it every Monday morning while saluting either the Union Jack or the Australian ensign (red or blue). And swore this in unison:

I honour my God, I serve the King, I salute the flag!

Yes, still George VI when I was 8 years old.

There was a poll in 1974 to decide what our National Anthem should be.

  • In 1973, the year before the poll was conducted, the Australia Council for the Arts held a national competition to find a ‘distinctively Australian national anthem’. The competition attracted more than 1400 entries for lyrics and 1200 for music. However, the judges felt that none of the entries matched the quality of traditional songs such as Waltzing Matilda, Song of Australia and Advance Australia Fair, and recommended that the choice be made from these three songs.
  • In 1974, Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced that Advance Australia Fair would become the national anthem. In 1976, the Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser reinstated God Save the Queen for royal and certain official occasions. In 1977, Fraser held a full national poll and a referendum. The poll, conducted by the Australian Electoral Office, confirmed Advance Australia Fair (at 43.2 per cent) as the most popular song—ahead of Waltzing Matilda (28.3 per cent), God Save the Queen (18.7 per cent) and Song of Australia (9.6 per cent).

Here is one attempt to make Waltzing Matilda — notoriously about a suicidal sheep stealer — into an anthem. The tune could be said to be one already, informally. It certainly has high recognition. The 1961 lyrics by Jack O’Hagen have maybe not aged well, but this video is excellent.

Some prefer either of the next two. They both can make me tear up, that’s for sure! I love them both.

A touch of piffle from the Right Wing media

With all due respect to the Vietnam vet, this so prevalent tub thumping is really silly….

Vietnam War Veteran and Military Cross recipient Michael von Berg says it “very sad” young people are being taught to “hate” Australia.

“I’m a German-born Australian, I’m very proud Australian – I’m a patriot and I find it very, very sad where young people in particular are being taught to hate this country,” Mr von Berg told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“A country that’s given my family and myself great opportunities.

“I think there is a much deeper problem and that is – if we ever had to fight for this country, how could you fight for this country if you hate it?”

Mr von Berg’s comments come as Waverly council announce a dawn service to take place on Australia Day to recognise the resilience and survival of Aboriginal people.

What a good idea! If I lived in the Waverly area I would be down at that beach at dawn for sure, absolutely brimming with pride that my country was mature enough to do this…. Just as I felt way back in 1988 when I went into town on 26th January and joined these people….