found day

walking back from park, I found this box of matches in the gutter.
Giant flags and fireworks, must be Australia Day again.

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Comments: found day


It is good to see the burst of patriotism, but the disturbing concern remains that this is something we bring out of the closet on 25th January and then put away shortly after. It is a great country, and it would not hurt us to reflect on that a little more frequently than once a year. These coy symbols of nationalism are really only permissible for a a short time late in January. Perhaps we are put off by American images of patriotism that look so corny - in Cocoon the other night, the guy is asked to help the aliens save their collegues, and he asks "would this be bad for my country?" and decides to proceed when he is assured it would not be. Australia is great - Australians are great. We have a "can do" belief about us that may have something to do with the fact that only a handful of us can claim historical links to this place - we are almost all immigrants of just a few generations development. But I love the country - when I get out and see it (away from the concrete & bitumen) there is something about it that touches me and moves me (I don't know if I can describe it any more than that).

Happy Australia Day.
Posted by phlip at January 27, 2004 12:24 PM

I agree about getting out and being moved by a sense of attachment to the land.
But I think I would prefer "Wattle Day" as a day of celebration myself. I've always been uneasy with overt displays of nationalism, goes against that healthy streak of self-deprecation that apparently characterises whoever we are.
Which is also why I like Wattle Day -
Wattle we do...
Posted by boynton at January 27, 2004 01:57 PM

I like bushweek.
Posted by David Tiley at January 28, 2004 11:52 AM