WE have got this the wrong way around.
In American terms what we do in celebrating January 26 as a day of nationhood would be like excising July 4 from the calendar and rendering United States’ history to little more than a chronological trudge from October 12, 1492, the date known as Columbus Day. Incidentally, Columbus Day is not observed as a public holiday in all 50 States. In Vermont, South Dakota, Alaska, Hawaii and Oregon October 12 is a normal working day.
Ask yourself, why is Arthur Phillip (a good and decent fellow but an Englishman sent to establish a British penal colony) so well known but if you asked Australians to name our own founding fathers, you’d be hard pressed to get one name?
Commemorate European settlement by all means but my view is a genuine celebration of nationhood should take place.
It’s not as if we are stumbling around in the dark with no precedents from elsewhere to follow. Every nation that was once a European colony celebrates a day of nationhood and that date will fall on a significant point in the calendar where the nation became self-governing and independent. In Australia we are blind to it.
Full column here.
If Reese Witherspoon has three legs, does that mean…you know? I mean, it suggests that Donald Trump would have his hands full.
I bet you spent all night doing that post sweetie bless you honey so many mentally challenged these days.
I am not so sure, Jack. There are certain issues that follow a trajectory from ‘impossible’ to ‘inevitable’, and I have a feeling this may be one of them. Currently we are probably at the point of ‘very unlikely’. As I have said before, from my perspective January 26 is New South Wales Day. But if you talk to people under 30, I think those in favour of changing the date are quite a reasonable percentage. I suspect it will continue to increase. I don’t expect the date to change in a hurry, but possibly within 30 years.
fuggetaboutit….doomed
https://undark.org/article/books-alanna-mitchell-spinning-magnet/
We were talking about this a couple ofyears ago. It fascinates me. What will happen to birds that migrate, for example? They’ll be flying in reverse
Interestimg from an ex-nazi and government grant beneficiary.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/george-soros-calls-facebook-and-google-obstacles-to-innovation/news-story/dcd6e41697ccd1809781f57c290ffa97
I think Soros is truly past his use-by date.
SHY and Soros at the same shindig, hmmm.
What on earth is SHY doing there?
I’ll go with my post from the previous blog in answer to Milton’s ‘Black Lover’ comment and how I, perhaps mistakenly, seem to feel he generalised about the left. Whilst I have had a fantastic day to day with Mrs Razor (
Pen), away camping and fishing I still cannot help but feel it is a day which doesn’t unite. To be honest JTI I don’t see how a Federation day does either. Let’s be honest almost nobody knows the date or what it means. My vote would be for, once Lizzy goes, we declare a republic and that’s our date.
On Milton’s comment I’ll just say this; Milt there is much work to be done. Many many aboriginal people know this and are trying. There have been policy mistakes in the past, all made with good intentions, which have exacerbated the situation. I’ve toned this down to my original reply Milt. Please look outside the square.
Move the day so ALL Australian can feel part of the Nation. Hanging onto something that became a National holiday in 1994 and only first celebrated in 1944 is ridiculous just like right whinge and conservatives.
Are you home or on the boat?
What’s she up to?
Don’t you just ask for it eh?
With that line of logic we’ll have to cancel xmas to appease the atheists etc.
No more Valentine’s Day because 35% of Australians are single.
Get off the grass Milton, that simply doesn’t follow at all. While cancelling the celebration of the birth of a fictional character is a fine idea in and of itself, many Australians think the celebration of the day marking the beginning of the destruction of an ancient culture and what amounts to genocide is insensitive and offensive.
Following something illogical with something just as illogical is at least consistent Jean. And Jesus wasn’t a fictional character Jean; even Nietzsche acknowledged JC.
Santa is quite “ancient”, he’s got a white beard.
Milton you dont know what logic is do you. Get an eleven year old to help you. If you ever understood logic you would recant every comment and belief you have spewed here. Stop stealing oxygen a productive member of society could use.
On the sea of life Dismayed you are an hideous, hilarious and odious floater. Just bobbing along with the occasional splutter and waffle.
Flotsam & jetsam?
Dismayed = polly waffle. The eternal floater. Waffling and spluttering. Long live his cut and paste and his words/sayings of the month. This village would be incomplete without our favourite idiot.
Well, it’s a pagan festival which has basically become a 90% commercial operation so…
Best news of the day so far is Denis Ryan getting a gong.
Well deserved, and thanks to him and to you Jack and a few others who have put the yards in to support him. I hope he gets a decent bit of compo to go with it.
Yes, very satisfying, mate. I have an article in tomorrow’s Aus about this. It’s in the mag but I assume you will only have the online version. Our mate, BJ, gets a mention.
You can still get the mag articles online.
It’s up there now.
I am not sure 9 May will gather steam, mainly because it celebrates a parliamentary occasion and Aussies have been a bit reluctant to give too much credit to their elected officials.