Today – January 26 – is Australia Day, our national day and a public holiday, although one not without controversy. It commemorates the arrival of the British First Fleet in what became Sydney in 1788. Whether or not this is the most appropriate date to choose to celebrate the nation of Australia is clearly tricky – in fact Wikipedia’s Australia Day entry explains quite well about the idea of Invasion Day and proposed alternatives for Australia Day, so have a look there if you’re interested because my point here today is something else!
My point today is that when Australia Day comes round, I always feel pretty patriotic, and it makes me think about what Australia means to me. Although I was born and raised in a city, and have never lived out bush here, when I think of the quintessential image of Australia, I still think of scenes like the two in these photos. Bushland, vast spaces, the colours of Australia – it’s all there. To me, this is one of the important things that makes Australia unique and I think I could always recognise my homeland out of a line-up of bush and forest pictures.
But I’m curious about what other Australian readers think: What does Australia mean to you? What’s the one thing that says “Australia” more than any other? Let me know in the comments, and Happy Australia Day!
I think summing up Australia as “laughs” sounds great – not just for the odd things we might encounter but because I like to think we are pretty easygoing and do have a lot of laughs here! Thanks for stopping by.