87 Australia Day

Well here we are again on January 26^th, the 230^th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia and all over the country people are celebrating, wearing all sorts of clothing items festooned with the icon Australian flag.  With their Tee shirts, hats, bathers, beach towels, bags, sunglasses, deck chairs and even their underwear decorated with the appropriate colours they will flock to the beaches to enjoy the public holiday. The manufactures of these things must be rubbing their hands in glee and depositing large sums of money into the Bank of China, or India, or Bangladesh. Still I suppose it makes employment for some people and surely does no harm.

Not all Australians are happy though. There are a growing number of our First Nation People who resent the arrival of the Europeans and the way they treated the people that they found living here. Yes I know and acknowledge that a lot of terrible things were done, a lot of hurts inflicted and that nothing can make that all go away. That is the point I would like to make – Nothing can make it go away. It has been stated by many people that we are sorry for what happened and of course we are, if one could change the past one would but that is not possible. The early settlers treated the aboriginal people badly but let’s not forget that they had also been treated badly by their own government. Sentenced to 7 years labour for very petty crimes, torn away from their families and sent half way around the world with very little chance of ever returning. Even the soldiers in charge of them had no great desire to be here and could be flogged for minor offences. Humanity often treats others the same way they have been treated so maybe there should be a little bit more understanding of why things were so bad.

Let us not forget though the good things that have come out of the colonisation of this lovely land. We have schools, hospitals, transport, infrastructure, security and a wonderful country that we can all appreciate and enjoy. We have abundant space, a wonderful climate, a truly beautiful country that we can share and enjoy together. Why can’t we just do that? Not forget the past but acknowledge that it happened and that it is time to move on, to learn to live together to make our country even better still.

 To do this we have got to stop being THEM & US and start being WE. We are all Australians and we all love this land so let’s treat each other as we would like to be treated ourselves. With respect and dignity and work together to improve the lot of everyone who is disadvantaged for whatsoever reason.

God Bless everyone who read this and have a Happy Australia Day.