Friday, January 25, 2013

My Australia Day message. Let's make it January 1



There's something forward-looking about January 1.

That may be why it was chosen as the date for the creation of Australia, from a number of previously separate states, in 1901.

(For a while it looked as if New Zealand was going to become part of Australia. Radiating out as spokes from State Circle in Canberra's heart and pointing to each state's capital are Sydney Avenue, Adelaide Avenue, etc. There's another, originally provisionally entitled Wellington Avenue, just in case. It was later renamed Canberra Avenue. For a while Western Australia was going to stay out - meaning we would have had to rename Perth Avenue.)

The point is that January 1 is when Australia was created. It is a day of which we can all feel proud.

January 26 represents different things to different people, some of them bad indeed. For people outside of NSW it represents very little. My home state of South Australia was created differently, on a different day.

Let's unite around the one day that can unite us.




Related Posts

. The things I love about Canberra (Warning: Autumn photos)

. Not leaving Canberra