It may come as a surprise to many Americans, though certainly not those who subscribe to this forum; but other countries do have a national day as well.
217 years ago today 26 th January; Captain Arthur Phillip RN landed in Sydney Cove, shot a couple of Aborigines, raised the Union Jack and proclaimed the Colony of New South Wales for His Majesty King George 3 rd.
Rgds Ian
aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi
Invade the natives and shoot them! Good style! Over here we celebrate the signing of a truce treaty between the British and the natives, and the natives and our Government have been arguing about what it includes ever since.
New Zealand Day is Feb 6th, which is a Sunday this year so no extra day off work for us this year [:(].
Let’s hear it for Australia!
“We’ve had it up to here with…”
Oops, wrong song[}:)]
Ian,
Well Happy Austrailia Day to you and yours, despite all that shooting stuff.
Walt
Didn’t we just about do the same thing??
Happy Australia Day, mates!!
Yea! Aussies rule!!! I like that “oi!” thing!
Just like the Aussies to have their’s in the dead of winter[;)]
Hey there,
I had no idea! Ian : you tell that story with such tact! Could’nt stop laughing for five minutes. Enjoy your holiday! Rgds eh…Brian.
Enjoy your day Ian and Gary.We’re not allowed to have a national day.Tony Blair is scared that we might realize that we are British instead of his yearned for European.
Enjoy what’s left of your day lads, have a few beers on us poms. As Troy hinted at, I suspect that a national day in Britain would probably be illegal now. A quick example of labour stupidity on this mornings news. The amusement arcades have a game for kids where the kid operates a crane with a grab on the end and tries to grab a cuddley toy/teddy bear. Tony’s lot now want to make the toy smaller to make them less attractive to, hopefully, stop the kid becoming addicted to gambling. They also want to tighten up casino control and limit the build of super casinos to stop an increase in gambling addiction, which wrecks lives. They also want to increase pub opening hours to 24 hours per day, apparently alchohol doesn’t wreck lives!
Life in Tony’s Britain is indeed wonderful.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]
Have at least one good day Aussies(because our cricket team are on the way).
The difficulty of having a national day in Great Britain is that each country celebrates on different days.
English—St Georges Day
Welsh-----St Davids Day
Scots------St Andrews Day
Irish--------St Patricks Day
It is rumoured after the next General Election, Parliament might vote on a St Anthonys Day.
I read in this mornings newspaper that after the election,Tone is off to Washington to receive the Congrestional Medal for services rendered.
All the best
Ian P
Yep, I see it’s Australia Day on my calendar. Since it’s probably over for you now, hope you had a few drinks and kicked back for the day!
Torby,
yesterday it hit 38deg C (101deg F).
This is the height of our summer! (Southern Hemisphere, remember?)
And to the rest of you, thank you for the wishes. Was a good day, Oz beat the West indies in the one-day cricket game here in Adelaide & Lleyton Hewitt played the most difficult game of his life to advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Tennis Championship & he’s an Adelaide boy too!
Ian, hate to dissapoint, but Phillip didn’t proclaim NSW for King George III. Lt James Cook did that in 1770. Australia Day commemorates the landing of Phillip and the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, thus being the beginning of Eurpean settlement in Australia.
To those non-Aussies - we have commemorated this historic landmark by building a large ferry terminal and railway station.
Hey, a Railway Station as a national momument. Cool huh?
For the record, I spent it on a carriage behind and 0-4-0 steam loco on a narrow guage railway -one of only 2 regular steam journeys that can be taken in Australa - at Timbertown, Wauchope. And it rained!
The Forth of July Rock’s here in the States! Is it the same for Australia Day? Do you go all out!
Capt,
not really. There’s a parade, fireworks etc. but for the average person it’s just a good excuse for a public holiday. Here in Adelaide the day is dedicated to a huge cricket match, this year between Australia & the West Indies.
Phil,
You mean no one dresses up as the Aussie version of “Uncle Sam” and jumps off a five story building into a vat of “Jello” designed to look like your National Constellation! No backyard parties and singing the Aussie version of “God Bless America.” No re-enactments of battles demonstating how you threw off the oppressive yoke of your Brit…oooops…Ok, uh…well, then! Sorry. (That was a joke by the way, with due respect for the Brits! Kim, Troy et al!)
Capt Carrales
Nope. But I will say regarding our big cricket contests among the 8 Test cricket playing nations & the other 40+ countries that also compete:
When WE have a World Series we invite the rest of the World! 
When WE have a World Series we invite the rest of the World!
RIGHT ON, MATE!