17 January

Every year Australia Day is a bit of a puzzle for me. As a kid nobody in the community really spoke about Australia Day. It was a day off, that’s all, the people who tried to whip some patriotism into us were considered a bit like door-knockers; ignore them and they’d eventually go away. The latest survey in Australia suggests that actually not much as changed, except that those who do love a bit of flag waving are maybe more vocal now than they were then. For example: - only a third of Australians have a clue what the date of January 26 even means. Nearly half have no idea what the First Fleet even was - more than half of Australians don’t give a toss what date the national day is - nearly three-quarters of Australians have no idea that Australia Day hasn’t always been celebrated on January 26 anyway, that only started nationally in 1994 (probably why I don’t remember any fuss as a kid) So being Australian seems to mean not really giving a toss. And that’s our national character, and one to be genuinely proud of, most other countries fight over national identity. But modern Australia was just a dumping ground for the people England didn’t want. A detention camp, in paradise. Once the English semi-pissed off, we just got used to the paradise bit.