Australia Day

When the Yass Phoenix last went to air in mid-December 2021, we all had such high hopes that the oppression caused by COVID-19 might lift in 2022. Alas this has not happened as we see case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths rise almost daily.

In these troubled times it is vitally important to rise above the gloom and doom: the sun still shines, rain still falls, and life goes on. Speaking of which, the next community event on the calendar is Australia Day, and so far, so good – it looks as if COVID is not going to spoil it for us.

Australia Day in Yass Valley

Where: Coronation Park, Yass
When: Wednesday, 26th January 2022
Time: Free BBQ breakfast available from 8:30 am, with official proceedings to start at 9:00 am. Free entry to Yass Swimming Pool all day.
Yass Valley’s Australia Day Ambassador for 2022: Bob Turner, who is best known for guiding the Canberra Cannons and Newcastle Falcons to multiple successes; resurrecting the famous Sydney Kings and introducing the Singapore Slingers to the National Basketball League (NBL).

The following is a brief history of Australia Day that you may find interesting. It should be noted at the outset that the date has long been a difficult symbol for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who see it as a day of sorrow and mourning.

In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain, and the first Governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove on 26th January and raised the Union Jack to signal the beginning of the colony.

Early almanacs and calendars and the Sydney Gazette began referring to 26th January as First Landing Day or Foundation Day. In Sydney, celebratory drinking, and later anniversary dinners became customary, especially among emancipists.

In 1818 Governor Macquarie acknowledged the day officially as a public holiday. The previous year he accepted the recommendation of Captain Matthew Flinders, circumnavigator of the continent, that it be called Australia.

In 1838 a proclamation of an annual public holiday for the 26th January was made, marking the Jubilee of the British occupation of New South Wales. This was the second year of the anniversary’s celebratory Sydney Regatta.

Then in 1871 the Australian Natives’ Association, which formed as a friendly society to provide medical, sickness and funeral benefits to the native-born of European descent, became a keen advocate of federation of the Australian colonies within the British Empire, and of a national holiday on 26th January. In 1930 the Victorian chapter of the Association began a campaign to have 26th January celebrated throughout Australia as Australia Day on a Monday, making a long weekend. The Victorian government agreed with the proposal, the other states and territories following by 1935. The Association prompted the formation of the Australia Day Celebrations Committee (later known as the Australia Day Council) in 1946. Similar bodies emerged in the other states, which in rotation, acted as the Federal Australia Day Council.

These days Australia Day is significant day in the national calendar, and the National Australia Day Council informs us that 80 per cent of Australians see it as ‘more than a day off’. In addition, it is a day in which over 16,000 new Australians have their Australian conferred each year.

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