January 26th represents the national public holiday, Australia Day. It is a day of celebration of the establishment of the country and at the same time marks the day a mass invasion begun on the Indigenous Australian population, resulting in deaths among their population. Ben Roberts-Smith’s opinion article, ‘We are one but we are many’ featured in the Herald Sun on January 26th, 2017; expresses optimistically that, Australian’s differences are what makes Australia great. He attempts to make the reader to reflect upon how lucky they are to live in ‘such a lucky country’. However, Kevin V. Russell’s letter to the editor entitled, ‘End Australia Day’ was also published in the Herald Sun on January 26th, 2017. Contradicting Robert-Smiths article, …show more content…
He continues on passionately and fades into a proud tone as he explains that Australia Day is a day to celebrate the country’s unique diversity, and multicultural nation. Through his use of inclusive language such as ‘we’ and ‘our’, Roberts-Smith is able to create a sense of inclusion for the reader and makes them realise that they should be celebrating their country’s unique diversity. Coupling this with the reinforcement from facts and statistics such as ’65 percent of Aussies marked the day in some way last year’ and ‘16,000 new Aussies chose Australia Day of all days to become Australia Citizens’, shows the reader the amount of pride the people in Australia have for their country. It is clear that Roberts-Smith is passionate about his point of view and arguments similar to Russell who is equally passionate about his arguments and point of view. In which each writers passion assists them in making their individual pieces more succinct and …show more content…
He argues in an annoyed tone, that switches to a blunt tone that Australia Day has outlived its usefulness. Being a clear a different standpoint to Roberts-Smith, Russell manipulated the use of rhetorical questions such as ‘just what is there to celebrate?’ and ‘can we find a day all Australians can acknowledge as significant to our nations history?’. This tears down and mocks the uselessness of Australia Day being on the 26th of January unlike Roberts-Smith who praises Australia’s achievements. This causes the reader to feel angered that such a symbolic holiday is rostered on such a pointless date. Similarlily Russell also incorporates facts and statistics such as ‘Australia didn’t come into existence until 1901’ and ‘New South Wales had already been inhabited for 40,000 years’. However Russell uses these facts pull back the curtain on the misinterpreted facts about Australia Day and the establishment of Australia as a country. This results in the reader feeling disappointed that the date has yet to be
The Australian public now commemorate the sacrifice made for them by having ANZAC day every year. Today we commemorate the sacrifice by tending to their graves on foreign shores there are prayers said and wreaths laid on ANZAC day when we remember their sacrifice. There are walks across ANZAC cove with memorial scattered throughout. Though we commemorate Gallipoli more than the western front this is unjust to the 10’s of thousands of men who died on the western front as some of Australia’s most respected battles were fought on the western front
It is important that on Australia day we Australians Should celebrate not only our great achievements but also what we have become and where we stand as a nation. It is important that we continue our traditions of individuality, equality, Tolerance and mate ship, these are the values are the centre our Australian cultural identity. On this day consider the icons and the iconic landmarks that represent our nation and people. One of the most prominent being is the world’s largest Monoliths Ayers Rock known as Uluru. Ayers Rock rising majestically more than 348m out of the flat desert surface and 863 above sea level, this ideal landmark represents the struggle the native owners had to endure for rights and search for freedom.
Reynolds reveals the moderate and censorship of historic writings in the 19th and 20th century, which achieved for government representation and agendas, in order to ignore the destruction of Indigenous Australian life and culture but praise the lives and pioneering spirits of the explores and colonizers. This Eurocentric vision is exposed as weak and racist and only a facade for foreign affairs. The situation of Australian history, violence, massacre, murder, rejection and dispossession that emphasises the idea that history has been repressed to serve the white political agenda, an “abuse of arbitrary power”. Reynolds uses adjective statements to make the audience question the political motivation for the government’s actions and the purpose of its active policies. Reynolds acknowledges the disillusionment of education, he exposes and counters with evidence that is irrefutable, exposing the atrocities of ‘White invasion’.
Robert Drewe’s 1996 novel The Drowner is, among other things, a representation of Western Australian lifestyle, culture and identity in the late 19th century. At the time, Australia was still a young nation; an “underdog” among Western countries. However, numerous gold rushes brought wealth and prosperity to the nation, attracting millions of immigrants from mainly European countries. Australia’s national identity developed into one centred around the values of hard work, perseverance and mateship—values which are still central to our identity today.
Recently a controversy was being raised about changing the date of Australian Day, as it is considered the day when aboriginal lost their land and freedom. The issue is being discussed by the Yarra Council Mayor Cr Amanda Stone, who took the initiative to not only commemorate the British invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders land. Her main point in that article is to basically identify the Australian Day as a date which symbolizes loss of culture, language and the identity of ingenious people. This makes sense to us that the people affected by this issue are mainly Australian citizens (Aboriginals). Following this response, another article was published called, ‘Changing the date of Australian Day won’t change our past’ by Joe
Australian troops fought their first major battle as a nation in the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula, which resulted in a catastrophic failure. Despite the failure, the cultural significance of the first day of landings is reverberated by McKernan (1980, p.214), who informs that, “In 1925, the government introduced a bill to make Anzac Day [25 April] a public holiday… all shops, hotels… theatres and cinemas would be closed.” The information highlights the significance of the event through its declaration of being a national holiday for a recently federated nation, given it was the first time the people of Australia fought as a country. The combination of the timing of the battle and the characteristics of ANZAC soldiers also implies that it is observed as the national and cultural identity of the Australian people. Moreover, Australia’s perception of warfare transformed as years passed with high casualties and minimal progress.
Introduction In 1993, the former Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, stated that ‘from good we gain pride; from the bad we learn; and from the totality of our past we gain our identity'. In his speech, Kennett speaks about his ideologies of republicanism and his “excitement” for the potential for the nation to position itself for the future. The quote is derived from a section of his speech, where Kennett is talking about Australia’s history with the United Kingdom and how it is best forgotten. He states that whilst this section of Australian history is best forgotten, Australia, as a nation, cannot pick and choose its history.
Para 1 - Chris Kenny introduces the controversial topic of Australia Day by suggesting that it isn’t what it used to be, once a “phlegmatic and relaxed” celebration of our achievements, now it has become a day in which we must “express your guilt for generations past”. “Sadly Australia Day has become a day of sanctimony” attacks those who view the day, and life in general, in an ultra politically correct light, stating the “new breed of Australian” must “speak in approved phrases” in order to prevent from offending someone. Kenny exposes this behaviour through appealing to the tradition and customs of Australians who may be reluctant to accept this behaviour, mirrored by his romanticising of the past, “Our nation was founded in a spirit of optimism and co-operation”, positions the audience to see the absurdity of this way of thinking, and align themselves with more old fashioned notions. It is this notion however, Martin Flanagan believes, will “drive us apart” showing that the view Kenny portrays would create a “divide” in our country. Explained in “The Problem with Australia Day”, Flanagan gives insight into the history of our national day, aligning audiences to concur with the evidence, which states John Howard is the instigator of Australia Day as we know it today.
Australia Day has been on the 26th of January for nearly a decade and shouldn’t change. 26th of January is one of the only days that groups of people get together and have fun celebrating Australia Day. So why should
The impact of ethnic inequality has been detrimental to indigenous Australians, with the consequences of internal colonialism still affecting them today (text). Loss of language and Dreamtime stories have meant that they have had to rebuild their identity and break free from British oppression by banding together to create stronger communities. Indigenous Australians who live in rural areas of Australia have fewer opportunities when it comes to education, employment, healthcare and housing (text pg. 350). These issues can be once again linked back to the systems that are in place within the country, the way the government approaches these issues in regards to indigenous welfare is problematic. In 2015, the Abbott government supported the decision
Celebrating Australia day is like holding a party without inviting the hosts. While many Australians celebrate this holiday, they have little knowledge behind the events that occurred and why it is celebrated. If I’m honest, I haven’t been brought up, like many of my generation, to understand and acknowledge the events which occurred on this day. Instead for as long as I can remember I have seen the day as a public holiday where mum drags us to a boring family gathering, to play backyard cricket and observe the adults consume excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages. According to a poll conducted by Review Partners, much of the Australian population are unable to accurately name the event
This article discusses the speech given by an Indigenous journalist, Stan Grant who participated in a debate where he spoke for the motion “Racism is destroying the Australian Dream’’. Hence, the main points of this article are mostly evidence given by Grant in his debate to support his idea that the Australian Dream is indeed rooted in racism. One of the main points is that the indigenous Australians are often excluded and disregarded as non-Australians simply due to their race and skin colour. Grant pointed out the incident where AFL player Adam Goodes was publicly jeered and told that he did not belong to his country as he was not an Australian despite the fact that Australia indeed is the land of his ancestors.
The story also highlights the importance of community in the Australian way of life. The union members come together to support each other in the face of adversity. They share their grief and their burden, and they do so with a sense of solidarity. This sense of community is a fundamental aspect of the Australian way of life, and it is what makes us
The Mabo decision was a legal case held in Australia 1992, which left a significant effect on Indigenous Australians lives. Eddie Mabo’s case was the first step to Indigenous people gaining all land rights and gave a feeling of reinstate from the home land that was once lost. Known as the ‘Mabo & others v Queensland case (No.2)’. The Mabo decision was the apex of a legal battle started ten years earlier by a group of Indigenous Australians from the Torres Strait Islands of Mer to reattain their long-established ownership of the Murray Islands. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie Mabo, the man who challenged Australia’s legal system and fought for recognition of the rights of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders as traditional owners
Many people of aboriginal descent have no idea of their culture and who their family are. Phillip Coller from New South Wales states “At age 50 I have no idea who my grandfather was and no contact with any other family members on my mother’s side. We have searched for the past couple of years but to no avail as we are tracing events from 80 years ago” [2]. On February 13th 2008 our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, apologised for what the white Australian people did to the aboriginal people. This apology had a huge emotional response from the nation.