Happy Australia Day what is every one doing for it?
I want to go windsurfing but can''t get to Goolwa!!
hmm need my P's
bbq brekky....then...
9 holes of golf...then...
bbq lunch...then...
take wife & kids to beach...then...
as wind picks up, explain to wife that I HAVE to have a sail, seeing we're at the ideal spot for the wind conditions, and because I 'happened' to leave my gear in the ute, and because it's a very 'strayan' thing to do...then...
bbq dinner with beers!
(And I don't know if you actually say 'Happy Australia Day'?!?)
Yes, let's all celebrate Oz Day. I'm not interested in all the arguments about why it should be called "invasion day"; the settlement of Terra Australis by Europeans was always going to happen, if the Poms didn't do it then the French or Dutch certainly would have. The land was even known as New Holland before the first fleet even arrived. Sure it's a tad sad, but does anyone really believe that this huge continent could have remained "un-invaded", with it's aboriginal inhabitants continuing an existance removed from modern influences? And in retrospect, I'm sure the settlement by Poms may have been the better outcome, considering how some other European countries were, at that time, treating native inhabitants of other foreign lands that they wanted to colonise. So I'll be celebrating that I live in a great country, and have the freedom to go windsurfing this arvo, followed by a couple of cold ones and a lamb chop on the barby! Anyone who feels that we shouldn't be celebrating the colonisation of this land can simply choose to not celebrate it. And get over it! There's many religious celebrations that I don't celebrate, but I'll defend the right of anyone else to celebrate them if that's what they want to do.
Anyway, wind, beer, bbq!!!!!
I can't believe you guys are upset about a free DAY OFF!
There's something seriously wrong with that.
Nobody complains about Queen's Birthday despite the queen having nothing to do with anything relevant these days.
Kong hee fatt choy! Happy chinese new year.....
I for one am stuffing myself senseless on chinese food.
[while watching the tennis in my effort to embrace multi-culturalism]
The bogan flag wavers are out in force this year, proudly displaying thier chinese made aussie flags from every orifice.
This article was on Perthnow...
ABORIGINAL leaders including new Australian of the Year Mick Dodson want Australia Day moved, labelling it an insult - but Kevin Rudd says that won't happen.
ABORIGINAL activist Mick Dodson was yesterday named Australian of the Year - and immediately called for the national holiday to be changed.
Professor Dodson, who was instrumental in securing an apology from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for the Stolen Generation, said celebrating the arrival of the First Fleet on January 26 "isolates" indigenous people.
Fellow Aboriginal activist Warren Mundine echoed his call, saying Australia's national day should be a time for unity, not division.
"If we are going to change the date we have to bring all Australians with us and it has to be a date that we can all be comfortable celebrating together."
However, speaking at a citizenship ceremony in Canberra today, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said January 26 was a day all Australians could share, despite its association with white settlement or "invasion"
"Those who call for a change to our Australia Day ... let me say a simple, respectful, straightforward 'No'.' Mr Rudd said, to widespread applause from a crowd of around 700 people, which included Mr Dodson.
After accepting his award at Parliament House yesterday, Professor Dodson called for a "national conversation" on moving the day.
"We have to have a date that's more inclusive than January 26, which is the date that's chosen as the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove," he said.
"To most indigenous Australians it (Australia Day) really reflects the day on which our world came crashing down.
"Many of our people call it invasion day."
He said he shared "the concerns of my indigenous brothers and sisters about the date" and was anxious about accepting his Australian of the Year nomination.
"Many of our people call it invasion day but I think Australia is mature enough now to have the conversation about that. And let's get on with it."
Earlier Mr Rudd described the 58-year-old academic, who beat former cricketer and breast cancer advocate Glenn McGrath for the honour, as a "courageous fighter". "His efforts truly show that if we work together, we can achieve real progress," he said.
Anti-violence campaigner Jonty Bush was named Young Australian of the Year, while philanthropist Pat La Manna was honoured as Senior Australian of the Year.
Australia Day as I understand it is a day of celebrating Australian-ness. It could be any day. The choice is arbitrary. However the choice we have made appears to celebrate colonisation. As myusernam wrote its just "something that happened 200 years ago is part of history... at what point do we forget it and move on".
Its absurd to celebrate a day of unity over an event that signalled the dispossession and decline of a significant Australian minority group.
What's the harm in changing it?
A patriotic poem (anon)
Australia,
Land of waratah and dahlia
If you land in jail we'll bail ya
Australia.
Two legs, two arms
Two sun bronzed glands
Beneath the Southern Cross I stands
A sprig of Wattle in me hands
A symbol of me native land
Australia,
You little beauty (sniff)
I love Australia, Australia Day and everything Australian, however as a kid I never saw people displaying the Australian Flag on Australia Day as much as they seem to in the past few years. In my opinion I think that the whole day seems to have become more of an "in your face" thing since the Cronulla Riots.
Therefore I totally agree with Cranky's statement:
"The bogan flag wavers are out in force this year, proudly displaying their chinese made aussie flags from every orifice"
Don't get me wrong, I am an Extremely Proud Aussie and come from a family with a very proud Defence Force background and I would NEVER say a bad word about this beautiful country that I live in. I do however think that Australia Day has exploded in "so-called" national pride since those riots.
off the water now, and i can here the rumble in the jungle about to explode allaround in this great country.
