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January 26, 2010
Australia Day: --- a barbecue with friends or time spent at the beach. It is a day off paid work. It is also represents the end of the Christmas and New Year holiday period, with people returning from their holiday beach shacks to face the beginning of school and the pressures of work taking off. Today it is all sunshine and smiles. Just another other summer holiday.
There's not enough time to worry about ''What does it mean to be Australian?'' Isn't that last century's anxiety question? And the landing in Sydney Cove is not really felt as an occasion of national significance, even though it was the beachhead for British colonisation.
Simon Letch
There are lots of Chinese-made flags everywhere at Victor Harbor: on cars, flagpoles, draped over balconies and on bodies though not many young males wandering the streets wearing outsize flags as capes. Presumably, many are expressing a love for country and celebrating Australia.
But which Australia? There are different and competing concepts of Australia in post colonial Australia.The conservative one with its Australiania, nationalism, British traditions and whiteness has very little in common with the multicultural, cosmopolitan one that recognises Australian indigenous culture. So we are all celebrating different things.
The former one ts usually voiced in terms of multiculturalism promoting an ideal of segregation not integration or engagement and sot robs people of a common shared destiny as Australians. Hence it robs me of my identity as an Australian. Is this an affirmation of Australia as it is: the country is great, it does not need improvement, so don't tamper with it?
Our time was spent with friends over lunch, taking some photos in the studio, walking the dogs at Kings Beach, and returning to Adelaide. We were quietly comfortable with who we were as Australians and we did not even think about about our common shared destiny.
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It does look as if Australia is becoming an increasingly nationalistic country. Does that mean jingoistic? or is that just a minority---the young males wandering the streets wearing outsize flags as capes