O.k., it's Australia Day here; I can't help it if I'm a day late there. I wish my DD and her family happy b'days a day late too, more often than not :)
- posted
14 years ago
O.k., it's Australia Day here; I can't help it if I'm a day late there. I wish my DD and her family happy b'days a day late too, more often than not :)
G'day! Thank you so much! We had a great day hosting a Barbeque for 8 on a hot and breezy day on our deck. Miniature beef hamburgers with homemade bread buns, lamb sausages, pure pork sausages and salad. Lamington cakes (one of our Aussie favorites) and apple pie.
Cheers Bronnie
Sounds like a great celebration! What does Australia Day commemorate?
Michelle in Nevada
Umm, let me think!! Oh, a long, long time ago..... "On January 26, 1788, a fleet of ships landed at what is now Sydney, Australia. These ships were under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip and had brought a load of prisoners from England. The prisoners on the ships were not all criminals as we would think of them today. Many of them were people who had been arrested because the government didn't like what they had to say. And some were poor people who had been jailed because they owed money.
These prisoners were the first Europeans to settle in Australia.
Before 1783 (when the Americans won the Revolutionary War) many of Britain's unwanted criminals had been sent to the United States. [So I guess we saved you guys more undesirable immigrants!!]
The desire to get rid of criminals was not the only motivation for colonizing Australia. Botany Bay, Australia made a good port of call for British ships travelling in that part of the world. Also, Australia's raw materials were an attractive reason for colonizing the country...."
Australians have never been overtly patriotic in a good sense like the North Americans; all the government can think of to iradicate this laid-back attitude is to encourage everyone to have a barbeque on Janurary 26!! You wouldn't believe the adverts running on TV. Ok, so I had a barbeque anyway...
Bronnie
Thanks so much for the wonderful explanation, Bronnie! :-)
I can't speak to whether Americans are more patriotic than Australians. Did you have to have a war to get remove the English from power as we did? If not, this might be a difference. Wars tend to bring out the patriotism, I think. In any case, we celebrate Independence Day, July
4th, with barbeques too, followed by fireworks. So the food part of the celebration is pretty much the same. ;-)Michelle in Nevada
No Michelle, we didn't go to war - and that is a good point you raised. We were a British colony until 1901 (not that long ago, hey!). In 1889, the politicians of the six states of Australia got to together to draft a constitution for federation, referendums and conventions were held, and finally on January 1st 1901, we became the Commonwealth of Australia.
Bronnie
Very interesting! I like history, but there's just so many parts of the world where I may have a general idea, but really few specifics. Like I thought Australia had become independent sometime in the late 1800's.
If only all colony secessions were so civilized! :-)
Thanks Bronnie! Michelle
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