Celebrating Australia and Australia Day – Thinking about who we are and the significance of nations

By: Mark Tronson

The most modern celebration of Australia’s National Day, simply called “Australia Day” is on January 26th. This is the anniversary of the actual day Governor Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 with the first fleet, and claimed the eastern seaboard for Britain, with the establishment initially of a penal colony.
At that time, the Europeans considered themselves a civilised society, and because the aboriginal groups (of which there were, and still are, many ‘nations’) had not built cities nor had any agricultural technology, the British declared the land Terra Nullius (empty land).

In our now more enlightened society, we know that it was not ‘empty’ and the aboriginal inhabitants had a sophisticated society that fitted the very poor soils and unreliable rainfall of the land. It has now become customary to acknowledge the traditional aboriginal owners of the land on which we stand, and in that spirit, I would like to honour these peoples and remind the readers that there was an ancient culture here in Australia before Europeans came.

I am reminded of a story from a Northern Territory coastal missionary who having told the story of Jesus to some indigenous people, one of the women said out loud, “I knew Him, I knew Him, I just didn’t know His name.”

Modern Australia

However, in this article I will proudly celebrate our modern Australian culture within a technological western context.

We are fortunate to live in an extremely peaceful society, in world terms, and we have benefitted from the skills and culture of the original inhabitants, the English colonists and now people from many other lands.

I, myself, am one of the 40% of Australians with a recent ‘overseas’ origin. My mother was from England, which is still the place most of our migrants come from. However, I am also one of those who is proudly third generation Australian, as my paternal great-grandfather came here during the gold rush of the 1850s; with a heritage of Viking, English and Irish in his blood. (bushorchestra.com/family_logo/LogoStory.html)

We live in a relatively new nation, our National Anthem (only declared in 1984 as being separate from England’s) declares ‘… we are young and free’. Most Australian citizens and their families come from ‘elsewhere’, so our collective ‘Australian’ traditions are still developing.

Resurgence of Interest and Celebration

I have noted a resurgence of interest and celebration of Australia Day over recent years, and my research indicates that it has now become the largest civic event in the nation, celebrated in various different ways within large cities or small rural communities. As a historian, I was interested in seeing how the types of celebration have changed over the years, culminating in the current customs.

The first recorded commemoration of this day was in 1808 with emancipated convicts celebrating with ‘drinking and merriment’; and the first official proclamation of it as a public event as ‘Foundation Day’ was in 1818 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie (this was the 30th anniversary of Governor Phillip’s arrival and raising of the English flag).

Being mid-summer, and usually hot-to-warm in Sydney, this holiday soon became associated with sporting events. In 1837 was the first documentation of a regatta of different classes of boat races on the harbour. Today, this tradition continues on Sydney Harbour as the Australia Day Regatta.

It was not until the Centenary celebrations in 1888, then known as Anniversary Day, that all states except South Australia adopted this date as a national day. (South Australia did not come on board until 1910).

The actual public holiday could not be agreed upon, however, with some states proclaiming the actual day of January 26th and others having the holiday on the nearest Monday to make a long weekend. (en.wikipedia.org)

The Tradition of the Long Weekend

At this point I need to explain the Great Australian Tradition of the Long Weekend. Because people can leave work on late Friday afternoon and perhaps travel back home late on the following Monday night, it is a time when families can visit relatives who live some distance away (a situation that is quite common in Australia with our vast distances and sparse population). Others can pursue their hobbies of boating or fishing or camping or surfing or bush walking – whatever takes them away from their (usually) suburban area.

However, there is another complication with this particular ‘last weekend in January’ that is different from all the other Long Weekends. It is the very end of the school summer holidays. Therefore, on this particular weekend, as the population of the cities and concomitant traffic has increased over the years,

I have noticed more and more people travelling back into the cities than heading out for a restful weekend. I remember as a child also, that the holiday atmosphere of the weekend was marred by the need to ensure all my school uniform and bags and books and pencils were in order for the coming academic year.

So, for a while in my memory, ‘Australia Day’ was not important as a celebration of Australian achievements, but merely the end of the holidays; a time of nostalgia for the summer and a bit of trepidation for the return to work and school. I am sure many other families felt the same way.

During the Bicentenary celebrations of 1988, many national and local festivities, sporting events and civic commemorations were held and there was a lot of publicity about Australia Day on radio and television. In my memory, this seems to have been the beginning of a resurgence of national identity and a need for a public recognition.

Declared in 1994 by the federal Government

In response to this, in 1994, the Federal Government declared that the actual day of January 26th would be celebrated as Australia Day, so that its importance as a national day would not be quite so diluted by being incorporated into a ‘long weekend’ or preparations for returning to school and work.

Today, many awards are announced on that day, including ‘Australian of the Year’ (as well as Young Australian and Senior Australian and various Sports people of the Year) and the Australian civic Honours that have replaced the British ‘gongs’ such as knighthoods. Although migrants who qualify can have their citizenship ceremonies at any time of year, many of them like to proudly have their certificate granted on Australia Day itself, so local councils and other authorities vie with each other to make a celebratory and well-publicised affair of these important ceremonies.

Individual families choose to celebrate in their own way. Our family likes to get together if at all possible for a picnic (despite four adult children and two grandchildren living in different parts of the country, and despite living in a summer rainfall area where the weather may not be amenable, and despite the fact that I might like to spend the afternoon watching the ongoing cricket test series).

In the cities, particularly Sydney, families might choose a spot where they can get a good view of the evening fireworks, and go early in the morning and picnic there all day. Those with boats like to spend the time on the water, finding a mooring that will give them a good view, and invite friends and family to join them.

Others in the suburbs or rural areas might choose to have a BBQ if the weather is fine; either with extended family members, or in a street party, or at a local park where the community will probably have some other festivities organised (including maybe a citizenship ceremony).

There is a lot to celebrate

There is a lot to celebrate in Australia, after 224 years of settlement. We punch well ‘above our weight’ in areas of human endeavour, as well as having forged a harmonious society that I alluded to above.

Our sports people are renowned in a wide range of different sports, and the number of Olympic medals we win per head of population is always impressive ; our scientists are ‘up there with the best’ as measured by published papers per head of population, we have won eight science-related Nobel Prizes and the future is rosy when you realise that elite teams of our year 12 science students bring home a swathe of medals year after year after year from the international Science Olympiads; our artists of all genres, too – our painters, writers, actors, musicians and dancers – have been well-regarded on the world’s stages for all of our two centuries.

In fact, it was the combination of science and art by patron Sir Joseph Banks and artist Daniel Solander on the voyage of discovery to the east coast of Australia in 1770 that inspired Captain Cook to name Botany Bay (near Sydney) as a possible site for a settlement. It was the start of something wonderful.

Theological considerations 

So, by reflecting on this peaceful country and this fantastic society that I am blessed to be part of, I started wondering about the origin of different nationalities.

Theologically, the peoples of the world were scattered by God after they had attempted to build the Tower of Babel. (Genesis 11: 1-9). This is consistent with the latest theories of many scientists, from archaeologists to molecular biologists, who think that the human race spread out to all corners of the world from one place in Africa.

Subsequently, there are many, many exhortations in the Bible that different nations should live peaceably together and not fight, such as: Daniel 6: 25 “Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.” Romans 12:18-19 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord”. And Ephesians 2:14 says of Christ “…He is our peace.”

Jesus recognised the different nations of the world that was known at the time, and sent his Disciples to ‘all four corners of the world’ to spread the Word.

Anyone today who has been involved in Christian Mission in any other country than their own, soon realises the majesty of the Lord whereby those from ‘somewhere else’ who have come to faith in Jesus Christ bring something unique and wonderful to their faith and communities. This can be said of Christians in our nation too.

So as I join with most Australians, from all corners of the globe on this Australia Day, I give thanks to the Lord for the proud heritage that I am part of here, and I pray that all nations can achieve peace by living together, similar to what we have achieved in Australia in our relatively short European history.

Have a happy Australia Day, wherever you are.

Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.

Mark Tronson’s archive of articles can be viewed atwww.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html