Australia Day can be a controversial matter these days.
The date of 26th January, is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip, in 1788. From there, the population grew from a prison camp into a series of independent self-governing colonies and ultimately into the modern Commonwealth of Australia that we know today.
This is a marvellous story of success.

Aside from the technical achievement of sailing half way around the world in a small wooden hulk to establish a nation in the New World, there are many inspirational tales of survival from those early days where the British struggled against the odds in a rugged country that has never been easy to tame. Despite the vast challenges our nation faced, we managed to unite into a single country with the stroke of a pen following a democratic vote, rather than by sacrificing blood in a needless war.
This should be a source of great pride for all Australians, because there are few outer nations that share such a boast.
Of course for Australia’s aboriginal population, First Settlement was a disaster, both culturally and environmentally. Few would deny that Aboriginal Australia has generally been treated very poorly. I cannot blame some Aborigines for referring to 26 January as “Invasion Day” and treating it as something to mourn, not celebrate. As a statistical average, their standard of living remains well below what the rest of the community enjoys.
Yet, Australia Day is not controversial merely because of the treatment of indigenous Australians. I think the deeper controversy stems from the fact that modern Australia is suffering an identity crisis of sorts. I still don’t think we truly know who we are.
I am relatively young, but I am widely read on Australian history and politics. When I look back, I see a nation that was once so comfortable with its own identity. Yet since the 1990’s, Australia has seemed more confused and uncertain. We still aren’t quite sure what it actually means to be Australian.
Whilst we seem to have settled the nonsensical debate about whether we are or aren’t a part of Asia, some amongst us are still uncomfortable about the changing face of our population. Some people cling to old images and concepts of Australia as if the Wide Brown Land has been sullied by modernity and changing demographics.
Perhaps, instead of worrying about what divides us, we need to look at what unites us.
We need only look across the Pacific Ocean to see that the Americans suffer none of our angst. Like ourselves, the United States is a settler-society and like ourselves had to deal with a dispossessed indigenous population. Unlike us, they also had the legacy of slavery to recover from. Yet it seems to me that despite the diversity of American society, they know what it means to be an American.
I suggest that is because Americans focus on what unites, rather than divides. They also focus on the great achievements of their nation over the course of its history. We should do the same.
Australia has a great story to tell.
Despite being a nation of just 21 million people and a mere 223 years old, we have the thirteenth largest economy. We are considered the sixth most democratic nation on earth. According to the “Human Development Index”, which considers life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living, only Norway is ranked more highly than Australia. That is a fantastic achievement!
Australia is a truly beautiful place to live too. We have tropical rainforests, deserts, savannah, open forests, grasslands and alpine regions to explore. Our flora and fauna is unique. We have a magnificent architectural heritage too.
Australia excels in medicine and science and we have developed such world-changing inventions as the black box flight recorder, the bionic ear, the notepad, plastic optical lenses and mechanised postal sorting as well as more iconic inventions such as the stump-jump plough, rotary clothesline and lawnmower.
Whilst these are worthy things to celebrate, they still don’t characterise what it means to be Australian. Only values can truly characterise a people.
I firmly believe that there are key values that unite us as Australians, regardless of our ethnic heritage, religion, gender or place of residence. We tend to brush these aside but we shouldn’t: they define who we are as a people.
First of all, Australians are democratic in the fullest sense of the word.
We value our democracy, and live it in our daily lives. Last year, the deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard challenged the sitting Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to his job in a night-time coup, and won. This was hugely controversial, and four months later we were given an opportunity to have our say at the ballot box. As it turned out, we collectively couldn’t decide and so voted-in a Hung Parliament. In the end, we had to rely on our constitution to sort it out, and the constitution delivered stable government. There was no violence. There were no threats. In many parts of the world chaos would have ensued in such a situation, but here we can afford to take it for granted that “she’ll be right”. It was the same during The Dismissal of 1975.
I also believe that Australians are fair-minded and tolerant. We love the “fair go” and as clichéd and blokey as that phrase may seem, I actually think it beautifully encapsulates an Australian attitude that can be applied as much to court cases and industrial relations negotiations as a game of sport or how we treat new immigrants. In one sense, it is democracy in its purest form: That a person should be given a reasonable opportunity to succeed in whatever pursuit they wish to follow. In essence, we believe in justice.
I think the rest follows from there.
One trait that I notice about Australians that is seldom mentioned is that we are a very efficient and organised people. Our penchant for forming a neat orderly queue is legendary, and the response to the recent Queensland floods where armies of people worked tirelessly to help clean up their neighbourhoods is inspiring. Some will tell you that is just mateship, a “uniquely Australian trait”, but I reject such nationalistic drivel. Australians are not the only people who will band together in times of trouble. However, Australians are good at public administration. We make sure that our government, our economy and our society are as organised and efficient as they can be and that is something we should be proud of.
To my mind, Australia Day is about reflecting on what it means to be Australian in the full sense. What defines us as a nation and a people? What is it about Australia that makes this nation such a great place to live?
Whilst there is always room for discussion about the difficult or ugly aspects of our history, Australia Day is not about the “Black Armband View of History” any more than it is about “Aussie Pride” in Cronulla. It’s time the tiresome History Wars came to an end. Our national day is about celebration, not guilt.
If we are to truly be our best as a nation, we need to be happy with who we are as Australians. To be happy with ourselves, we need to understand and appreciate what unites us, rather than divides us.
That way, we can truly impress the world, and be comfortable collectively within ourselves.
Recent Comments...