Skip to main content

Australia Day - which date?

Art Doll - Wilma Simmons 

Happy Australia Day... Although there is some controversy over when "Australia Day" should be celebrated. ( see this ABC commentary) , for this year, Australia Day remains 26 January, with its official holiday tomorrow, 28 January.  Generally, I am fairly politically outspoken, but on this matter, I am still undecided. However, like many Australians, I am leaning towards the movement for changing the date...  I feel for indigenous Australians for whom this date is very hurtful.
Whatever the date, we will most likely celebrate Australia Day in our usual way -  very quietly - either doing something in our community or just enjoying our native garden.

 Anigozanthus Big Red - Kangaroo Paw 

Grevillea juniperina - Pink Lady 



Corymbia ficifolia -Summer Red 

Syzygium ( possibly Resilience) 

Chamaelaucium uncinatu - Gerladton Wax 

Labels:

Comments

  1. LeslieJanuary 28, 2019 at 12:12 PM

    Hi Wilma
    Just read an interesting article by Luke Pearson who had a "Change the date" mind and now has changed his mind to a "Change Australia first". It can be seen at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/16/i-no-longer-support-changethedate-we-must-change-the-country
    I am inclined to agree with him
    Leslie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wilma Simmons (Empress Wu Designs)January 29, 2019 at 9:06 AM

      Thank you Leslie for the reference - very thought provoking article... I am inclined to agree too, with an addition. " and a country that does not treat Indigenous people as a threat but instead recognises and respects the unique status of Indigenous peoples ... and migrants/refugees.... ( my addition) in Australia, and strives to weave that in to the national identity, decision making processes, and day-to-day life

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

#SeptTextileLove26 Day 7

  #SeptTextileLove #STL26Day7 ‘Historical’ ... Family history is often a source of inspiration and information for my work. This stitched work featuring a photo of my great grandmother also acts as a commentary on the Chinese historical practice of foot binding, hence the inclusion of an x ray photograph of a female bound foot. It looks painful and undoubtedly was , but it was considered 'beautiful". What contemporary body shaping practices do we still engage in for the sake of ‘beauty’? Historical body shaping practices included tight-lacing corsets, foot binding, and neck elongation , all used to mould the human form into culturally defined ideals of beauty. (AI overview) Foot Binding in China Starting from Song elites and eventually popularized and ended in the Qing dynasty, foot binding was seen as an idolized representation of women's petite beauty, and the practice was referred to as "三寸金莲" , 'three-inch golden lotus' Wikipedia . This practice...
Post a Comment
Read more

#SeptTextileLove26 Day8

    SeptTextileLove #stl26day8 ‘Inspiring Exhibition’ … earlier this year , the Wednesday Makers Group at Timeless Textiles ( Newcastle, Australia) celebrated International Women’s Day with their exhibition, “Inspiring Women in Stitch’ - congratulations - inspiring women honouring inspiring women .   link to video   
Post a Comment
Read more

#SeptTextileLove26 Day 4

 #septtextilelove  #stl26day4  … Story-telling … making ‘art dolls’ gives wonderful opportunities to tell stories … This matriarch’s story  is intertwined with the cicadas which form  part of the soft sculpture  and emphasises what appears to be a contradiction about nurturing life and inevitable death... Cicadas spend years underground as nymphs feeding on root sap, emerging en masse as winged adults for a few days, perhaps a week, to mate and lay eggs in tree branches, then die, leaving the eggs to hatch into new nymphs that burrow underground to restart the cycle.  The dormant underground phase of the cicada’s life can be from 2-17 years! In my interpretation, this forest matriarch offers a safe place for cicadas to lay eggs, only to cause their own demise … but the continuing life cycle is ensured. 
Post a Comment
Read more