what does it mean?

And on a glorious day – apart from the increased risk and horrors of bush fires – I hope you are enjoying Australia Day.

It prompts the obvious question: What does Australia Day really mean to you? Is it special? Or just an excuse for a day off and a barbie?  Do you care? Do you, on  this day, reflect on where this country has come from and where it is going?

Prime Minister Howard this week has bought into the issue on several layers. He accepts we are one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world. And that is true. Migrants have enriched this country —except for me.

And this week he said migrants should learn to speak our language. English. And that is a fair point. I know of a Greek family who have been here for nearly forty years and the wife still can hardly speak English.

The PM has also attacked the way schools teach Australian history. He says – and I quote: “Too often history is taught without any sense of structured narrative, replaced by a fragmented stew of themes and issues”.

To be honest, I am not sure exactly what he means.

But if you want some real Australia Day gobbledegook read swimming champion Ian Thorpe’s piece in today’s Herald Sun.

He Writes:

“What does it mean to be an Australian? Is it a question that should be answered in an idealised way, with little thought to the complexity and diversity of our modern society?

“Do I reflect on our proud past while overshadowing the uneasy days that we still need to resolve the future? Or do I ask the question: is being an Australian the opposite of being ‘unAustralian’”.

Get back in a cold pool Ian. What a load of rubbish.

Anyway, what does Australia Day man to you, if anything. There has been much recent debate about changing the National Anthem and changing the flag. There also has long been debate that we observe Australia Day on the wrong Day. And indigenous people agree with this.

January 26 was when the English landed and claimed this country – when there were already people here.

A better day, I believe, would be January 1 to celebrate when Australia became a commonwealth of states  and a real country in 1901.

But then that would mean people would lose an extra holiday. And, to many, that is only what this is all about.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2006