I was going to keep my mouth shut today but just can’t help myself.

But, before you hear my thoughts on the matter I would ask you to read the lyrics of this song by The Seekers (a link to a YouTube clip of the song is here).

I came from the Dreamtime
From the dusty red-soil plains
I am the ancient heart
The keeper of the flame
I stood upon the rocky shores
I watched the tall ships come
For forty thousand years I’ve been
The first Australian

I came upon the prison ship
Bound down by iron chains
I fought the land
Endured the lash
And waited for the rains
I’m a settler
I’m a farmer’s wife
On a dry and barren run
A convict, then a free man
I became Australian

I’m the daughter of a digger
Who sought the mother load
The girl became a woman
On the long and dusty road
I’m a child of the depression
I saw the good times come
I’m a bushy, I’m a battler
I am Australian

We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian

I’m a teller of stories
I’m a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira
And I paint the ghostly gums
I’m Clancy on his horse
I’m Ned Kelly on the run
I’m the one who waltzed matilda
I am Australian

I’m the hot wind from the desert
I’m the black soil of the plain
I’m the mountains and the valleys
I’m the drowned and flooding rains
I am the rock
I am the sky
The rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land
I am Australian

We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian

We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian

We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian

I am, you are, we are Australian

So, me, I don’t care much what day we celebrate being Australian, so long as we have a day to celebrate it together. The date is irrelevant.

I have Christmas with my daughters on Boxing Day. What are the chances that Jesus was actually born on 25th December, slim, but that’s not the point, it is a day to celebrate.

I believe faith, courage, pride, inclusion, understanding don’t need a set day, we should live our Australian values every day with everyone. Most special days we now celebrate are just made up and created to sell us stuff. Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day and a whole heap of new ones. Halloween for example was traditionally an English pagan celebration and was commercialised by the United States and has now been sold to Australia!

No matter what the date, or what the day is we are celebrating, no one is dropping bombs on us, no enemy is invading our shores, we can travel freely, go to the supermarket for food and have clean water right in every house; plus, clothes on our back, education and be a member of any social group you please. We don’t like our government, we vote them out.

Few countries in the world have all of that.

So on Australia Day, we celebrate and should be humbled, we stand on the shoulders of giants who are our ancestral Australians from 60,000 years ago to 6 months ago when someone whose name we can’t pronounce pledged allegiance to Australia…. to you, to me, to all of us.

Just one more thing to really drive you crazy. Why do we have another countries flag on our flag. Oh, please don’t say people fought and died for that flag. No they didn’t! They fought for each other and their families and friends back home in Australia: which is not a flag it is a people and the land on which they live. Historically we have always fought for our land, our families, our communities and what we call our country.

Perhaps we need a new Australia Day, perhaps we need a new Australian Flag, one thing we all need to realise is that:

I am, you are, we are Australian…

PS: If you would like a little more about the history of Australia and the 26th of January click here to read a letter sent to my local paper.