Absolutely nothing to do with the subject of blogging, except that this is a topic on many Aussie blogs today. Today is “Australia Day“; a day of celebration in this country. The 26th January is the date of arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788, which brought the first contingent of convicts, soldiers and sailors to Australia. I would hope that if the date were to be chosen these days it would not be a date linked to the first British Settlement of Australia.
The reason – It is thought that immigration to Australia commenced around 50,000 years ago, its first inhabitants arriving via the Malay Archipelago and from New Guinea via a land bridge. Subsequent to the British arrival, the Gold rush, which started in 1851, brought other Europeans, Chinese and North Americans.
After WWII Australia’s population increased rapidly; hundreds of thousands of displaced Europeans emigrated to Australia. Many more English arrived under assisted passage schemes and were colloquially called the”10 pound poms”. My own family was almost one of them. Other major points of origin were Greece, Italy, Germany, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands. After Australia’s discriminatory “White Australia Policy” was abandoned in the early 1970′s many immigrants from Asia and Africa were also able to call Australia home.
I arrived here 27 years ago from Yorkshire, England, on a working holiday and decided to stay. My father’s family were Irish. I love Australia’s for its multiculturalism; its rich diversity of culture, beliefs and experiences; My own neighbors hail from Europe, Africa and Asia. The “I am Australian” song by the Seekers sums up Australia’s rich and very long history for me. I have played it at least 5 times while writing this post.
Loz of Midlife Journey reminded me of this song in his own post about Australia Day – he talks about his own familiy’s history in our country which dates back to the First Fleet’s arrival 26th January, 1788 – an interesting read.
Colin Campbell commented “Australia Day is very like the 4th of July in the US. Great weather, lots of family and friends and just hanging out.” Thanks Colin – That pretty much sums it up.
Thanks for the mention Sue. I wanted to say something profound for this one but didn’t come up with the right words. I think for me that ANZAC Day is the one with most significance because it has come to symbolise our coming of age as a nation. I don’t subscribe to the “Invasion” and/or “Sorry” day theory of the 26th of January though, because like it or not, we have created something pretty special here.
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Australia Day is very like the 4th of July in the US. Great weather, lots of family and friends and just hanging out. Hope it was good. I loved Loz’s post too. So many immigrants and all Aussies. Nice.
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Hope you had a lovely Australia day. There is an award for you on my blog.
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Great post and I hope you had a lovely Australia Day
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Thank you Sue for reminding me how much I love that song
Happy Australia Day to you and yours xox
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Great blog. I think a real test for those of us who are migrants is how we respond to days like Australia Day – and it is an even tougher test if you were a Pom or a Kiwi. As someone who was born across the “dutch” I am happy to confess that 26 Jan is a very evocative day and I am very proud to call this place home. We live in an amazing part of the world and all my extensive travel over the last twenty years only confirms that fact.
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Australia Day became to mean more to me the longer I had been here. For a while I was still half pom and half Aussie. I feel all Aussie now
It has always fascinated me how people can move to another country and settle so well. I often wonder about the hardships that the earlier migrants battled with that made it easier for the migrants of today. They must have had difficult lives and been a special breed of people. They have helped shape Australia into the wonderful place it is today.
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I should imagine that many of the early migrants had different sorts of hardships to in their home countries. I agree though about them paving the way for a wonderful country.
Love the blog layout!
I wanna have the Australia Day with my boyfriend in his hometown.
I can imagine that Australia day is pretty much like the 4th of July. Everyone is just enjoying fun in the sun with friends and family. Its amazing that Australia has come so far, it is now an amazing and diverse country. I cant think of anyone who wouldn’t want to take trip to Australia.
I visited Australia several years ago, and found the most friendly people. Great place to live.
I loved the “I am Australian” song, it is a good one!
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lovely song. thank you for sharing