A really good perspective. But as a society we have many issues including a health system that struggles to make do, education system that sometimes spits out bad people, government full of waste which reduces our ability to fund essential services adequately.
If there are services that need to be improved in other parts of the nation as well, then that certainly should be part of the discussion.
But it all starts with the education system. An open question, is it particularly inadequate in these areas?
Very idealistic, but I am talking tangibly. Do they want everyone to vacate the country? What is the end game and when will be able to move on from the very distant past. As I said, our country has made very significant inroads over the past fifty years, but it is as if nothing is ever enough. In 40-50 years, the discussion will still be ongoing and all that would have been achieved is everyone will still be miserable and there will still be disadvantage.
Help, yes. Give a leg up over everyone else, no. That is the difference. Same goes with the âgenderâ stuff people go on about. Bring up to our standard, yes. But not to scale at the disadvantage of everyone else.
I think that Malcolm Turnbull and his Republic movement is potentially a good replacement. When the Queen goes, and if we were to become a republic, then we would have a few dates to have independence day celebrations. These could be ârepublic dayâ or something. These would be 1) the day of the referendum, 2) the day of official independence, or 3) the day that the government ratifies the bill and makes it law. Then we would not have to celebrate Australia Day anymore and this whole debate can go away.
If a new date was chosen that commemorates something, the opening of the first Parliament would be ok - 9th May - it was also commemorated with the opening of the new Parliament House in Canberra.
What a ridiculous question to pose. If that date was indeed chosen, why wouldnât you just have another public holiday on 2 January? This sort of scaremongering, which muddies the waters and loses the focus of the issue, we can do without.
Depends on perspective I guess, in my world that time of year is quite slow, not much work at all - like a public holiday anyway. Australia Day Holiday perhaps.
Or maybe the New Year does not need a public holiday. Iâm not sure (still open) on this one.
1901: Australia became a self governing nation
1927: Canberra was established as our capital
1988: New Parliment House was opened
The only thing is. Itâs basically winter. Australians celebrate Australia Day with boats, bbqs, beaches -
A national holiday in winter would really change the dynamic of what people truly love about the day
That date is May 9 â the same day in 1901 when we became a self-governing federation; again in 1927, when the Parliament shifted to Canberra (from Melbourne); and finally, in the bicentennial year of 1988, when the current Parliament House was opened.
When did anyone ever propose such an idea? Very distant past?
I was talking to an indigenous man in the pool at my gym yesterday. He was getting ribbed by a new Australian who was telling him that he would be busy tomorrow going to an Invasion Day march and actually called him an Abo. It was done in jest but I donât know if the man would have felt comfortable to object if he was distressed by these comments.
I kept chatting to him for a while and he reminded that his parents werenât even able to vote in Australia when he was a child.
There had to be a referendum in 1967 to give indigenous people the vote.
Thatâs not what the 1967 referendum was asking to change yet it gets trotted out continuously. Full equality regarding voting didnât come about until 1984.
True, although I do recall Australian history being taught when I went through the system in the noughties, it wasnât as clear or comprehensive as it could have perhaps been.
On 1 January 1901, after years of debate, the various colonies in Australia joined together to form a Federation.
While the new Constitution of Australia called for a new capital to be constructed, away from the major cities, until that time Melbourne would act as the seat of government of the new nation.
Elections were held for the first Parliament of Australia and, on 9 May 1901, the newly minted federal parliament was sworn in at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
Too bad May 9 falls basically in winter. It would be the perfect day
I had kept an exercise book from social studies in primary school which I found at my parents house.
We did History of Australia in either Year 5 or 6. The only mention of indigenous history was Aboriginal art on the first page. The rest of it was Captain Cook and other explorers, First Fleet/Second Fleet, Governors and Convicts, Colonies, Rum Rebellion, Eureka Stockade, Gold Rush, Federation, World Wars, Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
For what itâs worth, Iâm fairly indifferent about the idea of changing the date. Itâs not an issue Iâd protest in the streets about but at the same time, I donât think Iâd be overly bothered if the date was moved from January 26.
That said if Iâm being realistic, the date Australia Day is held on will inevitably change at some point in the future. Maybe that will be due to the nation becoming a republic, a recognition that not all Australians feel comfortable with the idea of marking our national day on January 26 or a combination of both.
Coastal and outback life might be what many people overseas portray Australia to be like, but the reality - which I donât think enough of the media accurately portrays, as much as it probably should - is that most of us are products of suburban life whether we live in metropolitan or regional areas.
Not sure about other parts of Australia but from a Sydney perspective, July & August are our least pleasant Winter months. In recent years at least, weâve generally had maximum temperatures in the Low 20s (not Summery, but hardly the same ârug up and stay inside weatherâ we typically get on the Queenâs Birthday Public Holiday a month later) on May 9.
For a Sydney-centric Australia Day held on a considerably less divisive date than the current one Iâd personally love September 15 (what happened in Stadium Australia that night in 2000 is something most of us can be proud of), but realistically think most Australians would prefer a national holiday which is held during Summer.
The standard of education on Australian history probably depends quite a bit on where you live and what school you went to? Certainly it wouldnât be overly surprising if many schools (particularly in more conservative areas) taught their students a distorted, colonial-centric view of Australian history, similar to what US schools seem to do with their countryâs history.
Yeah, can one of the mods move all these posts into a âThe debate about Australia Dayâ thread?