Why does Australia Day NEED to be on the 26th of January?
I don’t celebrate Australia Day.
Why? It has nothing to do with the debate regarding the national day being held on a date which causes so much emotional trauma for many Indigenous people.
I am simply a part of a family that has never really celebrated it. I have asked my parents why we don’t and they don’t really have an answer.
I answer this question from an entirely indifferent position.
The notion of Australia Day is one with credence — a day to celebrate being Australian, the lucky country, sausages etc.
But why does that have to happen on the 26th of January?
The only reason this date was chosen is because a bunch of boats known as the First Fleet rocked up over 200 years ago. Yep, a pretty noteworthy moment in Australia’s history, though most true-blue, dinky-di Aussies couldn’t name a handful of the 11 ships in the First Fleet so it can’t be that important.
The Aboriginal people have been living on this land for over 60 000 years — OVER SIXTY THOUSAND YEARS — and in the space of 230 years, their culture has been bludgeoned to the edge of extinction. So for mine, the 26th of January seems like a pretty dreadful date in the history of First Australians.
Australia Day could literally be moved to the 25th of January — a whole 24 freaking hours earlier — and this whole debate would be null and void.
One call to arms against changing the date goes along the lines of, “Oi, I want a public holiday in summer!”
Okay, calm down champ, your reasoning is fine, lots of people like summer. There are 92 days in summer, take out the 26th of January plus the few around Christmas and New Years and there are still another 80 odd to pick from.
Side note — imagine if we moved Australia Day to the 25th of December, what an uproar that would cause, especially from those of the Christian faith. “This is an OFFENCE TO GOD!” they would cry.
Being respectful to other human beings is more important than being respectful to a figure who may or may not exist.
So, why does Australia Day NEED to be on the 26th of January? Well, it doesn’t.
Australia is edging closer and closer to becoming a Republic. Moving Australia Day to whatever date that happens to occur seems the logical option. Heaven forbids if that date lands outside of summer…
For further reading on this subject, I recommend reading this article by Calla Wahlquist.
PS.
