Australia Day

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Write about a few of your favourite family traditions.

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As I write this, it’s 26 January—Australia Day. It’s the official national day of Australia, marking the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and the raising of the Union Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove. It’s also a contentious day which divides people.

I personally think we should have a different national day—one that all Australians can celebrate. I don’t expect to see that in my lifetime. If it happens, I’ll be pleased.

In the meantime, my wife and I have developed a few small traditions that mark the day. They’re not grand, but they help us live with the tension.

The first starts the night before. We watch the Australian of the Year Awards. I know it’s a television event, but it always leaves me moved. It’s a reminder that Australia is held together not only by history and institutions, but by ordinary acts of kindness, courage and dedication that go far beyond normal expectations.

What strikes me most is what gets honoured, and who gets embraced together in the one ceremony. In the space of an hour you see women’s achievement celebrated, First Nations leadership recognised, migrant families and their stories of resilience honoured, and the reality of homelessness named without being sanitised. It sketches a version of Australia that is wider than the arguments.

This year, the awards landed well. The Australian of the Year was Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Australia’s first female astronaut. Senior Australian of the Year went to Professor Henry Brodaty for his work in dementia research; his family migrated to Australia as Holocaust survivors. Young Australian of the Year went to Nedd Brockmann for his fundraising run for homelessness. Local Hero went to Frank Mitchell, a Noongar man, for creating employment pathways for Indigenous workers.

The next part is local. On the day itself we go to a council celebration by the beach. There’s a bacon and egg roll for breakfast, council activities, and usually something silly like a thong-throwing contest (flip-flops, not the other meaning). There are also citizenship ceremonies. I always find those worth watching. They’re a reminder that “Australia” isn’t an abstract idea. It’s a place people choose to belong to.

Then we finish the day at home with Australia Day Live on TV—set against the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, with music and fireworks. It can be a mixed bag: sometimes moving, sometimes cringeworthy. This year I’m especially looking forward to William Barton, an outstanding Indigenous didgeridoo player and vocalist, who is listed among the performers. (See video clip above of Birdsong at Dusk).

That’s our Australia Day tradition: awards the night before, a local event during the day, and the concert at night. Ordinary, I know. But for now it helps us live with the tension between national pride and the contradictions of being Australian.