Well, I am supposed to say Happy Australia Day I guess, but I really don't feel like it. The day no longer instills any pride in me for my country on the day I may have once quietly be very glad to be born in. It has become such a divisive day, I just don't want to hear any more about it.
Without doubt it needs to be moved to a day that's agreeable to most of our indigenous population To those who will never accept a celebration of the day, I don't blame you. It was an invasion, the general mistreatment, the massacres, yes, I know all about it but it was quite a long time ago now and now I can only say, tough titties. We are here and we don't belong anywhere else.
I am certainly not going to speak to my jingoistic Tradie Brother today. He may well be hosting a barbeque to celebrate, where people will drink too much.
Thankfully I've only heard of two of the deplorables on the radio, and the second one was a conservative politician, declaring we are the greatest country in world. The former who said the same may be ignorant and needs to travel more to see what the rest of the world does better than we in Australia do, and the politician was just being a politician.
Happy Republic Day to India.
Meanwhile in Melbourne some have made there displeasure at the day of 'celebrations known by public vandalism.
Queen Vicky's visage must have been extra grumpy looking after she was spray painted with metaphorical blood.
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It was quite an achievement to chop down Captain Cook at the ankles with an angle grinder, even if they had the wrong culprit. Blame Governor Phillip of the Colony of New South Wales who led the First Fleet from England with ships full of Prisoners of His/Her Majesty.
And as one wag described it on Twitter, what could be more Australian on Australian Day than being passed out and flat on your face in a public park
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Happy Divisive Day indeed. As you know I will be happy when/if this day is changed.
ReplyDeleteEC, as YP suggests below, maybe we just do away with it.
DeleteWe all have difficulty being patriotic in our respective countries right now. Does war loom? I fear, I despair, and even my husband, who knows more than he lets on, has admitted that there is concern.
ReplyDeleteJB, I suppose war does need some patriotism. What a country is defending has to be important to the citizens.
DeleteThe current human condition is a weight on all our shoulders, for sure. I did appreciate the video, a song I'd not heard. Best wishes to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Darla. It is old classic.
DeleteAustralia is such a great country why does it have to have a named national day? Maybe it's best just to forget it out of respect for those who still hurt because of colonisation and all that that entailed.
ReplyDeleteNot have a day for barbecues, piss ups and jingoism? Wash your mouth out.
DeleteYP; would you suggest America gives up it's July 4th celebrations? Does any part of the UK have a National Day? Would you give it up because a few didn't like it for some reason?
DeleteYP, that idea warrants thinking about I'd be happy enough for that to happen, but to abolish the day might cause even more division.
DeleteRiver, I am trying to think and I am not sure England, Britain or Great Britain does have such day. Canada of course has such a day too but I've forgotten the name.
DeleteKylie, such days have past for us as have higher penalty rates at work, so I don't really care.
DeleteYeah, I feel the same way. The red paint on the Queen Victoria statue looks kind of artistic though.
ReplyDeleteBrightens the old grump a bit, hey Roentare.
DeleteStalker
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan either, when I was working it was generally the day before school went back so it was a prep day. I hate seeing flags waving from cars and people wrapped in flags at the beach. When we were in Lisbon there was a prominent statue of De Gama an explorer who chopped off peoples ears and sewed dogs ears on to them in the colonies he claimed. All statues of people like that should be disappeared
I love Australia and we are fortunate that we live here. I am fed up though with the way politicians use our Indigenous people for their own political gain. I lived and worked on a number of communities in the NT in the 1970s and 80s and the people were better off then than they are now. I think remote communities had more opportunities and more control over their communities than they have now. Maybe I remember the past with blinkered eyes
Anyway we don’t eat meat so no lamb on the bbq, don’t have Australia Day memorabilia but we are bathing and clipping the German dogs today
Stalker, Vasco De Gama? Didn't he land here? That's an awful story, for the dogs too if not dead already. It doesn't seem to how money, effort and goodwill goes to the indigenous, especially in certain towns, nothing seems to improve and as you say perhaps goes backwards. I truly despair and I don't have any answers. I had bacon and eggs for brunch, left over curry and rice for a late lunch and we are having home made pizza tonight for dinner...that's pretty Aussie I think.
DeleteI don't mind people opposing Australia Day as a national holiday, as long as they ruin their own property on their own homes. If they destroy public parks or cover public statues with paint, they should be tied up by their short and curlies, and covered with paint themselves.
ReplyDeleteHels, tar and feather them hey.
DeleteI wish I had the option of working today
ReplyDeleteMy dear, you need the rest. Your nerves, you know.
Deletereferencing articles in pur newspapers lately, if the British hadn't arrived and settled, some other country would have. We allow other races living here to celebrate their own festivals etc so why why all the fuss about Australian celebrating Australia.The date is totally irrelevant in my opinion. Other countries the world over were invaded or taken over at some point during history, yet no one hears about those particular dates. A couple of centuries have passed and "we" are not the ones who did any of the invading, certainly not any immigrants whose origins are not British. The few who are stirring up old memories, anger and hate are free to NOT celebrate, but they shouldn't be allowed to stop the rest of us. And "we" now, should not be made to feel guilty over something that happened by others so long ago. I also don't see the point in ruining statues, what good does that do?
ReplyDeleteRiver, as you would imagine, I don't approve at all of public vandalism. If moving the date for Australia Day pleases more people, then why not. It is just a day and rather meaningless to me. I don't like all the flag waving and overt behaviour. I don't know if you will see it on your tv news but apparently the city here was pretty well under lockdown today because of huge protests. That isn't what they day should be.
DeleteFestivals? I hear you ask. Well, annually there is the German Schutzenfest, there are Greek and Italian festivals, there is a day when Russian foods are celebrated with many stalls selling yumminess. And this is just my city, I am sure there are others in other cities.
ReplyDeleteYes River, we have so many I don't keep track of them all now.
DeleteIt sounds as if the controversy surrounding your day is somewhat like our controversy around Columbus Day. We cannot expect the minds of yesterday to meet our ideals. We can only acknowledge the errors and move forward.
ReplyDeleteNicely put Debby. On our behalf, out parliaments have apologised to our indigenous for the wrongs of the past and boy, there were heaps, but we need to move forward.
DeleteHappy Whatever Day, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteI like it Kirk. Whatever Day is how I now think of it.
DeleteI say leave the past in the past. I'm with River. All the shops are closed here as we went for a drive, only a couple of food shops open and supermarkets.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, most shops seemed to be open here, certainly the larger ones. We do need to move on now.
DeleteI’m not entering the ‘should we - should we not- debate but I’m with Hels on vandalism. As you mentioned where poor James Cook was concerned they didn’t even get the right man.
ReplyDeleteDoing away with the day won’t solve the problem. There’ll always be another one (or one will be found)
Cathy, yes of course I hate public vandalism, but I am fed up with it all. Just someone make it all right.
DeleteWe are not going away. We can work to include everyone in the the community, to empower everyone to contribute to a civil society.
ReplyDeleteThat's the ideal to work towards TP.
DeleteThank you for the wishes but we too are wary of the regime who wish to redo our secular state to a religious state.
ReplyDeleteME, you have a good reasons to be concerned.
DeleteWe have Canada Day July 1 each year. Low key compared to the July 4th stuff in the wild country south of us. Neither of us colonies will every correct the wrongs inflicted on aboriginals. But I certainly would be in favour of a separate day honouring all First Nations peoples everywhere.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
It's a fun day for you WWW. We were in Whistler some years ago for the day and it was a great atmosphere. I'm afraid your First Nation people were not noticeable in the town that day.
DeleteGreat idea! A world wide First Nations day! Everyone celebrates. Just pick a day that everyone is happy with and then continue as before with the Canada Day, July 4th, Australia Day, Bastille Day etc.
DeleteThese are battles among the younger people to which I am by age delf-granted neutrality. Of course I have opinions. But my battling and convincing days are over. I live in a high-rise in Honolulu! Lovely to meet you. Saw your comment on Deepak's page. Aloha
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome Cloudia. Haven't I seen your comments at Sami's blog, and Roentares? Yes, leave the big battles for the young. I only battle in small areas now.
DeleteI read about the statue vandalism. It sounds a lot like our Columbus Day in the USA, which has become rather polarizing.
ReplyDeleteSteve, when such days become so divisive, I really believe they should be changed.
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