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AUSTRALIA DAY - WHAT IT MEANS TO ME ✦ I'm Chrissy Jones, born and bred in Australia, January 26th - Australia Day, has always been a day of community celebration and pride to me.
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day to come together either with community at a town celebration, in a local park or, in my later years, a get together with family and friends at home on the farm.
Preparations begin many days prior as either way the 26th of January was, and still is, marked in my life. Many things to organise, from the food to the games, it is a day full of tradition for not only me, but many. Whatever it means to you, I believe all Australians should take this day to relax with family and friends and be grateful that we do live in the lucky country. But if, in these troubled times, you find yourself on your own, maybe in COVID isolation or separated from those you love due to other circumstance, take the Public Holiday to reflect on the good and your treasured memories. Look to the future with the Aussie way of “She’ll be right mate!” at the front of mind.
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History Of Australia Day My school years were relaxed and fun. I grew up in a small country town in regional NSW and like others, learnt from a young age the history of Australia Day from books. Firstly, Australia Day, held each year on the 26th of January, is a public holiday honouring the establishment of the first permanent European settlement on the continent of Australia. On January 26, 1788, Arthur Phillip, who had sailed into what is now Sydney Cove with a shipload of convicts, hoisted the British flag at the site. In the early 1800s the date, called Foundation Day, was celebrated by politicians and businessmen of New South Wales with private dinners. It then began to be called Anniversary Day, and in 1836 the first Anniversary Regatta, still held as the Australia Day Regatta and the oldest such sailing race in the world, was run in Sydney Harbour.
First Nations people declared January 26 a “day of mourning” in 1938. The conference was chaired by Jack Patten (right). Image: Mitchell Library Printed Books Collection, State Library of New South Wales.
