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 

Comments

  1. 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. 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 Anonymous comments will not be published.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

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...

Christmas Firsts #11: Penguins

This year, I fell into the sentimental trap of making some penguin softies for Christmas .... and I am not the only one - penguins seem to be everywhere at the moment dressed in Christmassy costumes, with trees, bells, and all kinds of Christmas paraphernalia.   Should penguins really  be associated with Christmas?   Probably not  and not as Santa's helpers as they often depicted. Penguins inhabit the Antarctic region in the South Pole, while Santa Claus it has been established has his home in the North Pole. The theory is that somehow penguins are associated with snow, then Winter, then Christmas, but what about us in the southern hemisphere. Perhaps they are just cute?  Whatever the reason, when were penguins first seen as part of the Christmas scene ?  While there is no verifiable answer, it would seem that Monty the Penguin in the John Lewis Christmas advertisement in 2014  popularised  the trend. (If you are not famil...

Christmas Firsts #18 : Where in the World?

Where in the world will FIRST  experience Christmas Day? Because of the time zones and daylight saving , the first places will be   Samoa,    Tonga  and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) . They   are the first places to welcome Christmas. New Zealand and Australia see in Christmas Day soon after,  while American Samoa and Baker Island in the United States of America are among the last. These statistics are more often quoted in relation to New Year's Eve, but I think it seems appropriate that Christmas Island is one of the first to celebrate Christmas in the world.  Kiritimati,    or Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name "Kiritimati" is a respelling of the English word "Christmas" in the  Kiribati language   The island has the greatest land area of any  coral atoll  in the w...