Until yesterday, the only time I ever really celebrated Australia Day was when I lived in London. Since then I have been among the cynical, criticising over the top patriotism, lamenting that January 26 marks the invasion of Aboriginal Australia and cringing at recent phenomenon of our national day becoming an excuse for people to freely express their xenophobic views.
The far left and right sides of the political spectrum have done their best to hijack Australia Day so now whenever it rolls along it generates the same of series of debates ranging from an Australian Republic to immigration numbers.
This year I chose to avoid all that, after all these are debates we should have all the time. In fact I hardly gave Australia Day much thought as I was meant to be working. But some rescheduling at work allowed me to take the day off and I ended up at my partner’s brother’s place for an Australia Day barbeque – complete with little Aussie flags, VB cans in stubbie holders, Aussie music and even an Australia quiz for the kiddies, which included a prize for which one of them could sing the Australian National Anthem. After that there was a trip to the beach, some attempted body surfing followed by a game of beach cricket, followed by coffee and pavlova back at the house.
As I ended Australia Day at a Vietnamese restaurant in St Albans, I thought about how much fun I had doing things we can take so much for granted. This is what Australia Day should be about. Rather than hijack it to highlight our problems and political agendas – which we can do any day – we should use it to reflect on the great things about Australia and being Australians. It shouldn’t be a day of guilt, nor should it be one of nationalism or social exclusion.
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