Well, there is no doubt about it, the Fremantle City Council’s decision to cancel it’s Australia day fireworks certainly gave rise to a metaphoric fireworks itself. The decision has generated some hot debate across Australia and while I have no particular interest in the fireworks themselves, they are a bit like visiting old cathedrals, if you’ve seen one, then you have seen them all. And while I am not going to make any judgemental comments about the merits, or otherwise of celebrating Australia Day on the 26th January, I was interested to hear the comments of Ian McFarlane, a staunch conservative, who said the day ‘must change’.
So if the day was to be changed what alternative dates would be acceptable to the Australian public, not withstanding the fact that in Australia, any public holiday is more about having the day off, rather than the importance of the day itself. After all, how many Australians really know what Australia Day commemorates? The arrival of Captain Cook in 1770, of course!
My three choices of dates would be 1st January, this being the date when the Australian states Federated in 1901. Another alternative could be 9th May when the first Australian parliament convened for the first time in Melbourne. But to me the most important date would be the 3rd November which is now recognised as Kokoda Day. This is the day that is now recognised as the day that Australia achieved victory over the Japanese on the Kokoda trail in 1942 and thus saved Australia from invasion by the Japanese. This day being one of the most unrecognised dates in Australian history.
So they are my thoughts on Australia Day, 2017. What will I be able to write in 2018?