Australia Day 2009
Australia Day 26th January, 2009
Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Today is Australia Day. Most of the readers of my blogs are based in North America – the USA and Canada so hopefully this will give you all some more insights into the Australian way of life.
Australia Day is a special public holiday here in Australia when most businesses, banks and government departments are closed. If you would like to find out more about Australia Day you can click here for the Wikipedia article.
In this blog post I will explain a little about what Australia Day means to me, besides the obvious holiday aspect which is heightened in this region because it is one of Australia’s top tourist areas.
I was born in London, England in the early 1960′s and grew up both in England and in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands which are part of the British Isles, but not part of the United Kingdom.
In 1982 I emigrated to Australia with part of my family as a young man of 20. I stayed here until 1987, when I returned to the UK to see my mother for the first time since 1978, when I had seen her twice for a few hours. Prior to that I had last seen her in 1972. My younger brother (I have one full brother) and I had lost contact with her as she was not interested in maintaining a relationship with us. (My brother went from 1972 until 1989 without seeing our mother). I stayed in England for 10 years and lived in London, Gloucester and Bath, returning to Australia in 1997.
In hindsight, it seems that I left the UK shortly before they turned the lights out. Britain is sadly I think a fading star which is exacerbated by membership of the European Union.
I like living in Australia and will never live in the UK again. I have friends in the UK and one decent family member – a step father. The rest of my decent family in the UK are dead – my remaining family in the UK, of whom there are not many, are unpleasant sad souls.
Australia is a wonderful place to live and along with North America (Canada/USA) in my view is the world’s best place to reside.
I am extremely grateful to be here and am now a dual national with both Australian and British citizenship. I remember the emigration application and interview process – a long drawn out affair. Immigration was a gift from the Australian government and people. That’s how I see it and am very grateful.
Living in Australia is more pleasant from a people perspective than the UK. Australians are generally more friendly and more likely to give people a fair go. There is lower aggression and violence here. The class system does exist here, however it is nowhere near as bad as the UK. I say this from the perspective of someone who had an upper class education and upbringing. Personally I do not have ‘airs and graces’ and am happy mixing with all kinds of people from across the spectrum. I can learn something from every person. Each individual is valuable, however many do not have a healthy sense of their own value and some rely on things like ego, arrogance and pride to sustain themselves and their world.
I love the English people, as well as Australians – it is just that I prefer the happier, more friendly environment here in Australia.
In my time here I have met some great Aussie characters – people who in my view sum up what it means to be Australian. One is example is a guy called John C. A former soldier in the Australian SAS (Special Air Service) John is a ‘real man’ salt of the earth type. Down to earth, insightful, clever, friendly and fair. A really decent fellow who despite being a quietly tough guy, loves cats and keeps two chooks (chickens) as pets (they lay eggs too which is a plus).
Then there is John E – a man who like me has some Irish blood in his background, but was born here. John has the quiet self assurance common to many Australians and what you see is what you get. A really decent fellow with a good sense of humor (another general Australian quality).
There are many others of course, and Australian ladies too, however the essence of it all is that I find Australians in general to be decent folk. Reliable people. There are ‘bad eggs’ of course and as with the rest of the world, society is worsening. When I first came to Australia it was a better place than it is now – this is not the ‘good old days’ rationale but merely an observation from an objective standpoint. One example is the rise of pre teen and teen gangs, including killers – it is just not as bad here as in the UK for example.
I think too that there is a high chance that things could worsen a great deal in places like Europe – this was one of the key reasons (there were others too) why I decided to return to Australia in 1997. I am glad to be here. Being away from Australia for 10 years helped me appreciate it even more.
In due course I will move south, probably to Melbourne, which for me has a better climate.
Nowhere is perfect and it is important to make the most of wherever you are – to focus on the positive.
Australia Day for me is a celebration of a great country and people, in which and with whom, I am privileged and grateful to live.
I love England too and am very sad to see how the once great nation has declined.
Do I feel Australian? Yes, very much so.
And yet I still feel very English.
In a spiritual sense I feel very connected to both places.
Also, I do not forget that the Aborigines – the indigenous peoples of Australia – are the original Australians and are the ‘keepers’ of its ancient spiritual heritage.
Australia is a multi cultural society and people of many different nations have contributed much to the fabric of our Australian society in positive ways.
Rupert Brooke the poet, who incidentally, attended my old school (Rugby School), wrote a poem called The Soldier:
The Soldier
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
You can take a man out of England, but you can’t take England out of the man.
PS: Had I been alive in the 18th Century I would have gone to America like many of my countrymen, and I would have fought for American independence. ;-)
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Kenn Day
Martin Day
Shaman Hawk
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