ostro-whiskey said:
Graustein said:
ostro-whiskey said:
The first of January is a pretty terrible time to have a national holiday, regardless of what that holiday commemorates. Nobody would celebrate it, they'd all be sleeping in. So, really, it's everyone's problem. If you want to hold a party on the first of January, don't let me stop you. But I don't think very many people would be too eager to come.
The arrival of the First Fleet is a pretty good excuse for a national holiday, all things considered. It does commemorate a pretty notable event in our history: the
first event in the history of Australia as part of the British Empire, and later the Commmonwealth.
You consider the establishment of a British Penal Colony an important event in Australias history ?
All Im saying is the date is inconsequential when the event behind it is pretty weak. From what Ive seen, every other Countries National day is their day of Independence, it seems the only reason it isnt for Australia is becaue the date happens to be inconvenient ?
Thats what happens when you let bureaucrats create a country instead of groups of angry citizens stabbing eachother with swords or shooting eachother with muskets.
I do, in fact, consider my country's history to go further back than merely its federation, and therefore that its founding as a colony is an important date. Call me crazy, but I don't think that Australia just suddenly came into existance on 1/1/1901. As an independent nation (if only in name), yes. As a colony, a place where people lived their lives, with a culture and history, no. Our history did not begin solely at Federation. Why else are we taught of Ned Kelly, the Gold Rush, our early interactions with the Aborigines, of Captain Cook and Abel Tasman? All of these predated Federation. A weak event? Hardly. January 26, 1788 was the founding of what would become our nation. If that's inconsequential, then I don't know what signing a paper is. Australia took decades to really cut the umbilical cord from Britain, even after Federation, and our ties to the UK are still very strong. Just look at how attempts to remove the Queen as our head of state and become a full republic have been repeatedly voted down by the populace.
Incidentally, Australia Day celebrations predate Federation by more than half a century, although they weren't necessarily known as such. It was akin to an Independance Day in pre-Federation Australia, because it commemorated
the founding of the colony. A Federation Day, set on January 1 would be therefore eclipsed not only by New Years celebrations but by an already-present national holiday. This is magnified by the aforementioned strong ties to Britain. People who had been born and bred in Sydney referred to Britain as "the homeland".
But hey. Maybe we should have killed those pommy bastards instead, just for the hell of it. It's not a proper Federation without some bloodshed, right?
