How and why have national occasions in Australia changed over time?
In this essay, I am going to address the question by taking the example of Australia Day. I will start with a brief introduction of the day followed by a more detail description of how it was celebrated and how it has changed over a period of 200 years.
Australia Day is the national day of Australian which is held annually on 26th of January and its origins dated back to 18th century. Specifically, on the 26th, January in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip and his crew from Great Britain arrived at Sydney Cove. However, not until a century later did the name ‘Australian Day’ become known. Previously, 26 January had various names and gained little attention. The first significant celebration of the day was the Centennial celebration in 1888. This is the first time that all Australian capital cities acknowledged a public holiday (p.97). On the occasion, the image of a unified Australia within a shared British identity was projected. The celebration also focused on the progress of the land orientating to the future. To explain the origins of the land, Britain sailors were seen as Empire- builders other than invaders. On the other hand, the Aborigines were excluded in the anniversary although they are the original people of the land. It is worth noticing that this is the first
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However, not until 1938 was another large scaled event held again. The success of this event is that it promoted a sense of national history and identity. Various activities during the anniversary program included a re-enactment of Phillip’s landing, a street parade, cricket matches, literacy competition, to name but a few (p.99). Another spotlight is the inclusion of the Aborigines in this celebration. Despite this improvement, a wave of protest among the Aborigines still existed as they regarded the day as a ‘Day of Mourning and Protest’
Prime Minister Ben Chifley, 1946, Victory Day Celebration Speech, Commonwealth of Australia, Accessed 19th April 2014, http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/operationclick/Topic_06/6F_WS_mix.pdf
It is well known that Captain Arthur Philips landed in Australia on 26th of January and took over the land and is referred to as “invasion Day”. Yet little do people know, Captain Arthur Phillip didn’t land in Australia on 26 January. He first landed in Australia between the 18th and 20th of January 1788 in Botany Bay, however where he landed he couldn’t find fresh water so he then sailed into Sydney Cove on the 26th where he found a Tank Stream…..problem solved. Australia day today celebrates our diverse society, our remarkable achievements, our future as a nation and how we can make Australia a better
The protest began with a “silent protest from the Town Hall to the Australian Hall” (AIATSIS, n.d.), attended by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. However, this march was delayed significantly due to the Australia day celebrations
ANZAC Day has been significant to Australians and New Zealanders since the first service in 1916 for memory of the soldiers who lost their live at Gallipoli in 1914 . Over time Anzac Day has changed to remember all the service men and women of Australia and New Zealand . As this year makes 100 years since the landings on the beach of Gallipoli, Australia has had a larger focus on Anzac Day compared to other years due to the importance .
Australia is a very unique place, along with our multiculturalism there is also a strong heritage surrounding us. At first thought of Australian heritage we think about such landmarks as Uluru, The Sydney harbour bridge and The Sydney opera house, The Great Barrier reef and other internationally recognised places. But our heritage goes much deeper than that; it is far more than outstanding icons. Along with these icons there are also unsung places like the old cattle stations, Aboriginal missions, migrant hostels, War memorials, our unique wetlands and the towns and cities we have built. Adding all of these things together, helps to tell the story of who we are and how we have shaped this land in the unique identity it has today.
Of course it is naïve to believe that Australians only developed an identity after the First World War, but it is true to say that it was changed forever. Before Australia became the Australia known today, it was a land of bush rangers, farmers and convicts; a penal colony that had ambitions of becoming a nation who self-governed and had unified defence and transport*. Before federation Australia had fought in Sudan and the Boer War to provide support to the mother country as it was thought to be a heroic endeavour that was a type of rite of passage (Australian War Memorial, n.d.) and there was a global perception of who and what Australians were. Upon federation the people were very consciously intent on building themselves into a great nation (Bean, 1993), but not to sever ties to Britain completely as mostly foreign policy relied on what the British government dictated (Rickard, 1992).
Australia Day, celebrated on the 26th of January every year, is a nationally recognised day that signifies the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet. It’s a historic event that also marks the beginning of the oppression of the Indigenous people, that still can occur today, no matter how much the Government has tried to atone for the sins of the past. Australia Day is a day of celebration and mourning, a fact that contributes to the constant bickering between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous. There are many who believe that the meaning behind the modern Australia Day is overshadowed by the past, which will prevent the nation from moving forward, much like Ben Roberts-Smith who published an opinion piece in the Herald Sun on the 26th
But what it will do, is offer the Aboriginal Australian’s an inclusive date that does not possess direct ties to the anguish of their ancestors,
The Australian War Memorial website has a section dedicated to the tradition of ANZAC Day which explains its cultural importance to Australians and the rituals which surround commemoration services
Reynolds, H. (1990). With The White People: The crucial role of Aborigines in the exploration and development of Australia. Australia: Penguin Books
Discussion Ancient Aboriginals were the first people to set foot on the Australian continent, over 40,000 years or more before colonization (Eckermann, 2010). They survived by hunting and gathering their food, worshipping the land to protect its resources, and ensuring their survival. The aboriginal community has adapted to the environment, building a strong framework of social, cultural, and spiritual beliefs (Eckermann, 2010). Colonisation of Australia began in 1788, when Englishman Captain Cook claimed the land as an empty, uninhabited, continent giving it the classification Terra Nullius and leaving it open to colonization. Eckermann (2010), stated that the English failed to recognise the aboriginal tribes as civilized, co-inhibiters of the land, feeling they had no right to a claim.
It commemorates the invasion of the British. For them it marks trauma and it celebrates a day of sovereign loss, loss of land, loss of family and close ones and the right to practice their own cultures. Many Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander People prefer the term Invasion day except for Australia day, this day is not pleasing to them. They say it should be a day to celebrate people’s survival not the country’s invasion. People want the name and date to be changed.
It is impossible to celebrate when it brings to mind the deep hurt born by our ancestors and how that suffering continues to impact today.” According to Richard Weston, of the Healing Foundation. Today, we focus on the partying when instead it should be a day of mourning by all. The strong views of the Indigenous community should be taken into consideration, their views should be made a priority, to reach a resolution that will stop the hurt and anger fuelled protests. Michael Mansell’s suggest “Australia Day is a celebration of an invasion which resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Aborigines. To participate would be to abandon the continuing struggle of my people.” In the hope that we understand that from the landing in Sydney Cove on the 26th of January 1788, only brought misery to the Indigenous communities as trauma was caused by government policies, and conflicts between settlers. In recognition of the events that followed the landing on our beautiful Australian shores, we should be able to acknowledge that all views are as equally important. According to a recent poll, 56%, just over half the nation do not mind when the holiday is held, while only 23% choose the 26th as the best available date. Furthermore, while some say, 'it’s tradition’ and the day should be kept, in reality the public holiday has only been held on the 26th of January, nationwide since
However, it is clear that this rich and diverse culture has been destroyed and lost through generations due to the assimilation, separation and dispossession of indigenous men, women and children, that all began due to this one day that we chose to celebrate. The reality is that many Indigenous Australians are still wrestling with defining their identity when so much of their traditional culture has been lost, and with this comes their inability to form a relationship with the majority of Australian culture, white Australia’s culture. Due to this loss and divide between cultures we often forget the importance of Indigenous Australia and the traditions and years of culture that have been
This day is to remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. In Source A, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had apologised publicly on behalf of what happened in the Stolen Generations and the Voting Rights in his speech. In Source A, Kevin Rudd had said “We reflect on their past mistreatment.”, this meant that Kevin Rudd was apologizing for what past White Australians had done.Aboriginal People had accepted the apology Mr. Rudd had given the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals have lived out the 5th Beatitude of “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Aboriginals had lived out this Commandment because they showed mercy and accepted the apology of Kevin Rudd. This is how Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders had lived out the Beatitudes throughout their