Should We Change The Date of Australia Day?

[Kannadrickium]

Australia Day should be on 16 February.

It's the birthday of Cyril Percy Callister, who is the inventor of Vegemite, which is the most Australian thing ever.

I can think of one better.
“Kangaroo Boxing”

Well you can't really tie a specific day with Kangaroo Boxing.

[Purpelia]

I wish my country had the same fucking problems as Australia if this is considered front page priority.

The other issue there is wildlife and heat so...

I imagine that this sort of meaningless thing is front page news to distract from the horrific wildlife and heat?

[Sovaal]

I can think of one better.
“Kangaroo Boxing”

Well you can't really tie a specific day with Kangaroo Boxing.

Not with that attitude.

What well do is set up a string of boxing matches were put champion will box and defeat every single kangaroo in Australia, and the date of the last victory shall not only be the new Australia Day, but also the founding day of the new religion worshipping the kangaroo boxing Demi-god.

[Costa Fierro]

I would have expected Australia Day to be when Australia became a country, not when Europeans first found the place.

This marked when Cook landed in Australia. It was known to Europeans at least a century before Cook bothered to make the trip south.

[Dazchan]

This marked when Cook landed in Australia.

We should definitely change the date since apparently nobody actually knows what it commemorates.

[Costa Fierro]

This marked when Cook landed in Australia.

We should definitely change the date since apparently nobody actually knows what it commemorates.

I guess perhaps the landing of the first European on Australia, although I was under the impression that it commemorated the arrival of the first convicts. Is the day Australia became a federation celebrated?

[Dazchan]

We should definitely change the date since apparently nobody actually knows what it commemorates.

I guess perhaps the landing of the first European on Australia, although I was under the impression that it commemorated the arrival of the first convicts. Is the day Australia became a federation celebrated?

It is the date the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove and proclaimed the colony of New South Wales. It has absolutely nothing to do with Cook.

[Costa Fierro]

I guess perhaps the landing of the first European on Australia, although I was under the impression that it commemorated the arrival of the first convicts. Is the day Australia became a federation celebrated?

It is the date the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove and proclaimed the colony of New South Wales. It has absolutely nothing to do with Cook.

Then I have been misled by OP, who said it was the landing of Cook.

[Emericia]

Then I have been misled by OP, who said it was the landing of Cook.

Indeed, I hope the OP corrects this.

I'd like for the day to be changed, both for the negative connotation for the aborigionals, and also that it represents Australia not as a country, but Australia as a British penal colony.

[Cedoria]

No.

Australia, as a country and as a colony, didn't exist prior to his landing. It was a historic event which led to the creation of the country.

People need to get over it.

My major problem with it is it's ahistorical. It only led to the founding of the colony of NSW. NOT Australia proper.


Get a day that's actually relevant to those whose descendants weren't transported for being petty thieves Australia!

[Cedoria]

It is the date the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove and proclaimed the colony of New South Wales. It has absolutely nothing to do with Cook.

Then I have been misled by OP, who said it was the landing of Cook.

Even if it were, Cook was still not the first European to land in Australia. There were confirmed Portugese landings at one point, as well as French ones.

Some also speculate the possibilities of either Chinese or Egyptian explorers making it, but I don't think there's hard evidence to back that up.

[Cedoria]

Why not?

A country has to occupy a territory, whereas hunter-gatherers are always moving.

Except the Indigenese weren't completely nomadic. Depending on where they were, some clans built permanent structures and would move between them with the seasons.

The idea that all Indigenous Australians did was move around in nomadic groups is not borne out by the archaeological evidence. That this claim persists is either due to historical ignorance, or, depending on the person, a retrospective attempt to legitimise and justify disspossesion.

[Cedoria]

We should definitely change the date since apparently nobody actually knows what it commemorates.

I guess perhaps the landing of the first European on Australia, although I was under the impression that it commemorated the arrival of the first convicts. Is the day Australia became a federation celebrated?

Yep. It's called New Years.


Bit impractical to make it the new Australia Day. Otherwise that would be my first suggestion for it.

[Dumb Ideologies]

Every day is global white guilt day, an exception here or there is fine. Ignore the moaners and you have your day when you want.

[Cedoria]

Every day is global white guilt day, an exception here or there is fine. Ignore the moaners and you have your day when you want.

Not really sure how this is relevant, the major point is that lots of Aussies Don't want it on Australia Day. The argument is whether they have a good case.

[Dumb Ideologies]

Every day is global white guilt day, an exception here or there is fine. Ignore the moaners and you have your day when you want.

Not really sure how this is relevant, the major point is that lots of Aussies Don't want it on Australia Day. The argument is whether they have a good case.

I think no. There's a point of pandering beyond which you might as well start painting yourself white and black and eating only bamboo.

[Cedoria]

Not really sure how this is relevant, the major point is that lots of Aussies Don't want it on Australia Day. The argument is whether they have a good case.

I think no. There's a point of pandering beyond which you might as well start painting yourself white and black and eating only bamboo.

Huh? Nobody is talking about pandas here, it's just a calendar date.

Joking aside, it's hardly pandering to be historically accurate.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Meh seems fine, i thought it was when the current australia was declared so i learned something new too.

[Cetacea]

1 January 1901 is when Australia become a Country as opposed to a collection of colonies

in 1901 The Constitution of Australia came into force, the federation of Australia was complete. John Adrian Louis Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, was appointed as the first Governor-General, and Edmund Barton as the first Prime Minister.

if the 1 January clashes with New Years Eve then 29 March was when rhe first federal election was held to elect the first members of the House of Representatives and the first members of the Senate.

So many great first to celebrate as opposed to the current date which celebrates the founding of a penal colony for Britains rejects 26 January 1788.
(NB the date actually has nothing to do with Cook, he actually arrived 29 April 1770)

[Cetacea]

Then I have been misled by OP, who said it was the landing of Cook.

Even if it were, Cook was still not the first European to land in Australia. There were confirmed Portugese landings at one point, as well as French ones.

Some also speculate the possibilities of either Chinese or Egyptian explorers making it, but I don't think there's hard evidence to back that up.

there is evidence of Bugis and Makkasans from Sulawesi trading with Arnhem Land before Europeans arrived. The Egyptian presence is crap, ignore it

[Cedoria]

Even if it were, Cook was still not the first European to land in Australia. There were confirmed Portugese landings at one point, as well as French ones.

Some also speculate the possibilities of either Chinese or Egyptian explorers making it, but I don't think there's hard evidence to back that up.

there is evidence of Bugis and Makkasans from Sulawesi trading with Arnhem Land before Europeans arrived. The Egyptian presence is crap, ignore it

I agree on the Egyptian point personally, I was simply informing everyone that some people make the claim. I never found it plausible personally.

[Kannadrickium]

Well you can't really tie a specific day with Kangaroo Boxing.

Not with that attitude.

What well do is set up a string of boxing matches were put champion will box and defeat every single kangaroo in Australia, and the date of the last victory shall not only be the new Australia Day, but also the founding day of the new religion worshipping the kangaroo boxing Demi-god.

Splendid!

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Why not?

I guess you could.

But how would such a country defend itself?

There hunter gatherers.

If they can kill wildlife in Australia, a place where most of the wildlife wants you dead, they can kill attackers.

Or, they can just take there campground and push it somewhere else.

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Why not?

A country has to occupy a territory, whereas hunter-gatherers are always moving.

They have to set up camp to sleep, and therefore occupy a territory.

[Cedoria]

A country has to occupy a territory, whereas hunter-gatherers are always moving.

They have to set up camp to sleep, and therefore occupy a territory.

Not to mention they did have permanent structures in some places, Stone huts built at Crawley on the Swan River is an example.

This whole, "Hur Dur nomadic people deserved to get displaced" is pure nonsense. Depending on the person, it's either genuine ignorance or, as I said before, retrospectively attempt to legitimise the disspossession by lying about the people who were pushed off their territory.


I don't like to assume the latter in most people, since high schools still often teach this 'nomadic' myth as if it were fact, so it's probably a failure of education more than anything.