Having just moved to Canberra, the capital city of Australia, we’ve found ourselves at the centre of patriotic celebrations of Australia Day. Yesterday we had the Prime Minister’s announcement of Australians of the Year and ABC’s live coverage of a concert in front of Federal Parliament Buildings. Today in Canberra we kick off with an Aussie breakfast and finish with fireworks. It’s good to see inter-state rivalry put aside as Australians rally to the cause of those affected by floods, in Queensland and Victoria particularly. For many people this is the day they receive their certificate of Australian citizenship, as my family did four years ago on the Gold Coast. We’ll be spending the day resting, starting with a sleep in (trying to deprogram years of waking at 6.30 am), dealing with the flies, reading the list of Australia Day honours, listening to the Triple J Top 100, and a picnic. Hopefully by this time next year we’ll have the barbecue back up and running (we purged the gas cylinder before moving).
The National Australia Day Council has put out a television commercial enouraging Aussies to think about what they are celebrating on 26 January and why they should celebrate. Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)
Sam Kekovich provides his annual drive for eating lamb on Australia Day. See the story on The Inspiration Room. Also see SBS’s Immigration Nation campaign reminding us about our journey through a White Nation policy to the multicultural society we are becoming today.