Australia Day 2023

[sydneyboy]

Happy Australia Day to all contributors to this esteemed forum!

[+ WilliamM]

I was so lucky to be there on Australia Day once in the 1990s

[+ Charlie]

Back at ya, mate! (I was there for Australia Day in 2003.)

[Luv2play]

What does Australia Day celebrate?

My grandfather was in Melbourne representing Canada at the founding of the Parliament in 1901 but that was in early April, around the 9th.

Is that day celebrated as well?

[mike carey]

1 hour ago, Luv2play said:

What does Australia Day celebrate?

My grandfather was in Melbourne representing Canada at the founding of the Parliament in 1901 but that was in early April, around the 9th.

Is that day celebrated as well?

The date marks the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. So if anything it is NSW Foundation Day. To say that it is 'celebrated' is contested, and many indigenous people refer to it as Invasion Day. Although Parliament first sat in Melbourne in April 1901 (and is not celebrated), the Commonwealth was established on 1 Jan that year. The day has only been marked officially on the 26th since 1994 although it had been marked on the following Monday for a number of years. 'Australia Day' had been on a variety of days in the middle months of the year earlier in the 20th Century.

[Luv2play]

I assume your constitution as an independent dominion in the Commonwealth was adopted by your Parliament in April of 1901. Is that right.?

[mike carey]

2 hours ago, Luv2play said:

I assume your constitution as an independent dominion in the Commonwealth was adopted by your Parliament in April of 1901. Is that right.?

I had assumed not, and from a quick check it was not. The Australian Constitution was an Act of the Imperial Parliament and in the terms of the Act came into force on 1 January 1901. No further action was required by the Australian Parliament, the Constitution was there and in full effect. Unlike the Canadian Constitution the means of amending it are incorporated into the Australian Constitution (and there were no residual requirements for any laws for Australia to be passed by the Imperial Parliament) so Patriation was not an issue here. The Australian Stature of Westminster Act in 1942 removed the Imperial Parliament's capacity to pass laws for Australia,,

[Luv2play]

Yeah, I wasn't thinking clearly. Our constitution in 1867 was passed by the British parliament in London and  took effect on July 1st in Canada. Our patriated constitution of 1982 contained an amending formula so that future amendments can be carried out in Canada's parliament 

[+ Pensant]

On 1/25/2023 at 9:00 PM, mike carey said:

To say that it is 'celebrated' is contested, and many indigenous people refer to it as Invasion Day.

Same thing with our Columbus Day.

[Luv2play]

As relations between the "colonialists" and Indigenous peoples have become more fraught, it is perhaps fortuitous that Canada Day is not tied to when the white man stepped ashore in the new world.

Canada Day, which was previously called Dominion Day, is not directly linked to the "invasion", which used to be called the "discovery", admittedly a Euro-centric concept.