Thursday is Australia Day and I will be out celebrating the day at festivities in Mount Isa.
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That isn’t to say I support the date, but rather the concept of having a national day.
Australia has much to be proud of, and it is right that we set aside a day to recognise that and recognise those that have made a great contribution to the nation and the region.
It is also a day of great fun as the events across the north west will testify: backyard cricket, tug-of-war, lamington baking, pie eating competitions and the like will all add to the enjoyment of the day.
But is January 26 the right day to celebrate Australia Day?
My answer is “close, but not quite”.
January 26 commemorates the official landing of Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet in Sydney Cove, so if anything the day marks the birth of New South Wales.
Of course, all of Queensland was originally part of New South Wales that Phillip and his fellow colonists laid claim to in 1788 on behalf of Britain.
However anyone living outside Sydney at the time would have been blissfully ignorant of this extravagant claim, though over the next 100 years the colonists set about making it a reality.
But given it eventually led to the destruction of Aboriginal society, it is no surprise that January 26 is not a date celebrated by indigenous Australia.
As for the founding of Australia itself, that happened on January 1, 1901 when the six colonies came together.
But really, who wants to celebrate Australia Day on January 1?
That day is already a public holiday, and probably a day most people are on holidays or recovering from New Year’s Eve parties.
In my view the end of January is right but so is a less controversial date.
Given that there is nothing more Australian than a long weekend, my view is that should always be the fourth Monday of the month (so what if it’s not the same date each year, we manage that okay with Easter). That means Australia Day would always fall between January 22 and 28 and the kids would always start school the day after Australia Day. DB