Everyone has their thoughts and I generally refer to it as ‘drunken fuckwit day’, so that tells you a little about mine.
A day when people wear the beloved butchers apron up their clackers whilst they cook a snag and drink a frothie on the beach. When the blokes get together and see who can down the most beers. When the southern cross Tatts and mullets are on vast display by sunburned bodies wearing the butchers apron as a cape.
‘Australia Day’ wasn’t a thing that I remember celebrating in my youth. I remember people having bbqs in my early adulthood, but that’s probably because it was a Howard brain fart that made it a national holiday in 1994. It’s kind of weird too, because it’s literally based on a NSW celebration, not the whole of Australia 🤷🏼♀️
*some history – On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Philip raised the Union Jack at Sydney cove, marking the beginning of colonisation of NSW.*
IN 1938, Aboriginal elders declared the date as the Aboriginal day of mourning (you know, due to the massacres, sexual assaults of First Nation women, displacement and attempted genocide of FN people). Howard in his jingoistic way said “nope, we will celebrate the genocide instead”.
I’ve got no interest in the day, public holiday is great for those who get penalty rates, but seriously the date can absolutely be changed. We have so many public holidays at the start of the year, move it later in the year where we have few – I still won’t ‘celebrate’ though. It’s just not my thing.
ill leave you with the best image of the 2025 ‘Australia day’ period though. The lovely Grace Tame, former Australian of the year at the PMs breakfast.
