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
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
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
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 .
“The day that we come together as a nation to celebrate what’s great about Australia and about being Australian.” That is the phrase used by the Australia Day National website to describe the traditional day that we all love to claim as our own. Correction, traditional may have been the wrong use of word seeing as though the day has only been celebrated by ALL states as a public holiday since 1994. To call it a tradition would be unwise, it’s more of a newly developed phenomenon that allows us to develop a dangerous sense of patriotism. It is through this developing sense of patriotism that, some would argue, our modern culture of exclusion and superiority is being predominant. A ‘white fella’ superiority that is driving us to celebrate the
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).
Anzac Day. On the 25th of April, 1915 Australian and New Zealand forces formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula. Anzac day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates the Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) who served in all wars, battles and conflicts. Anzac day is an important day for many Australians and New Zealanders as it is a day where people take time to appreciate the soldiers who risked or gave their lives to represent and fight for our country in all the wars. Since Anzac day is celebrated so widely, there are many opinions that have developed over time. Some Australians and New Zealanders believe Anzac day shouldn’t be celebrated and others believe
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
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
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.
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
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.
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