Australia Day – Celebration of a Nation
Colonel Lachlan Macquarie liked a good party. Arriving in Sydney in January 1810 to take up his appointment as Governor of New South Wales, he found the Colony to be the most corrupt of any in the British Empire. Indeed, it made Dodge City look like Play School.
He cleaned out the rot by sending the Rum Corps back to England and tidied up the administration. He was soon able to say that the Colony was thriving and in a “perfect state of tranquility.” It was time for a party. So on June 4, 1810, Macquarie celebrated the King’s birthday with a party on the lawn in front of Government House. He had the front of the building decorated and the band of the 73rd provide entertainment. The inhabitants of Sydney gazed in astonishment.
In October, four months later, he named the open area just south of Government House, Hyde Park, and decided to hold a spring racing carnival. All of Sydney’s 3,000 residents, it seemed, turned out for the fun. Public celebrations were good for social cohesion, he thought.
On January 26, 1818, the 30th anniversary of the First Fleet arriving in Sydney Cove, Brigadier-General Lachlan Macquarie decided it was another splendid opportunity for a celebration. He declared that the day would be a holiday for all government workers and they could have an extra allowance of one pound of fresh meat. There was to be a 30 gun salute from Dawes Point and a regatta on Sydney Harbour. The advertisement in the Sydney Gazette read, “The public is respectfully informed that the Experiment Steam Packet will ply during the Regatta on the day of the 30th Anniversary of the Colony.”
The Sydney Gazette, on January 31, reported that the Governor had inspected the troops of the 48th Regiment, held a dinner for all the civil and military officers and was pleased to pay a tribute to the late Admiral Arthur Phillip. Later that evening, Mrs. Macquarie hosted a ball which ran on into the early hours of the night. Mr. Francis Greenway was pleased to be able to decorate the hall in honour of his late friend, Vice Admiral Phillip and to have written on one of the banners the words “In Commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Colony of New South Wales, established by ARTHUR PHILLIP, whose virtues and talents entitle him to the grateful remembrance of his Country, and to whose arduous exertions the present prosperous state of the Colony may chiefly be ascribed.” [Sydney Gazette 31 January 1818 pp.2b-2c]
This celebration came to be known as ‘Foundation Day’. It was a commemoration of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove, yet, the real ‘foundation day’ was 12 days later on February 7, when all were assembled, the King’s Letters Patent were read and a formal declaration of Britain’s acquisition of New South Wales proclaimed. It was not until 1935 that all Australian States and Territories adopted use of the term ‘Australia Day’. By coincidence, the Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1948 came into effect on January 26, 1949 – whereby January 26 became ‘Australians Day’. From this date, it was possible to become an Australian citizen. Before that, we were British subjects. Everybody who is born in Australia since 1949, regardless of racial heritage, is automatically an Australian citizen. Of course, it is possible for people born in ‘foreign’ countries to apply and take up citizenship.
However, it was not until 1994, under the Keating Government, that Australia Day of January 26, became a national holiday.
But here is the rub. If our national day is a celebration of when we became an
Australian nation, as it rightly should be, than the date should be taken from January 1, 1901 on the occasion when Governor General, Lord Hopetoun, proclaimed the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia. On this date, we the people of Australia became a nation. We the people of this land became ‘Australians’.
Still, it doesn’t really matter if we celebrate Australia Day on January 1st each year or January 26. It is our special national day when ‘we the people’ of Australia celebrate becoming a nation.
There are those, however, who promote an anarchist agenda or even hate our nation. They would have us deny our heritage and our right to be citizens of this great nation. Sir Robert Menzies in a speech entitled “Kingship and Kinship” given in the City of London in 1948 said “We cannot hack away from the foundations (of our country) and then express surprise when someday the house falls”. Yes, a house divided will fall. A nation that celebrates its identity, as Macquarie believed, brings social cohesion, and, the desire to create its future.
Australia Day is ‘our’ day. We the people of Australia are proud to be a free and democratic nation in this fantastic country. We will defend our right to have our national day and we WILL celebrate it.
Dr. Christopher Reynolds is the author of What a Capital Idea – Australia 1770-1901. www.reynoldlearning.com
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