Ever since I stepped onto Australian soil way back in 1970 I was aware of a strong sense of national identity among Australian people.
As a British lad I was welcomed into Australia with mixed reactions, the government certainly welcomed my father because he possessed useful skills as a builder; they had subsidised my family’s journey from England to a certain extent, but because my parents had previously ’emigrated’ just after WWII in 1947 and had returned home to Britain in the early 50’s we were not eligible for the ten pound pom deal!
My father had worked his behind off in order to enable our move to Australia, I recall him working long hours with the ‘Foot & Mouth’ outbreak in Cheshire, and much of rural Britain in 1967. Building companies were contracted by the government to assist in the slaughter, and burning of infected livestock, and my dad’s company was one such building company: grim work indeed!
Australia in the 1970’s was in ‘catch up’ mode: it seemed the cultural revolution of the 1960’s which had roared through the U.K and North America was only just beginning to catch fire in Australian cities, some kind of ‘cultural inertia’ was in force, the youth of Australia began to adopt the ‘Hippy’ thing, and of course music was the medium for this. I had been observing the revelry and party atmosphere of the late 1960’s English scene and feeling somewhat left out as my older siblings brought their vinyl records home, and ‘Cream’, ‘Jethro Tull’ and Jimi Hendrix Et Al blasted from the record player and family T.V and radio.
It seemed I had an opportunity to experience something of the 60’s ‘counter culture’ movement after all, as a result of this lag in cultural momentum. And I certainly made up for lost time.
I mention this to provide some cultural context, I know Australia very well, I have lived here for most of my life and I have always been aware of just how strongly the Aussies feel about their homeland.
Of course the history of Australia is one of colonial development, this is the reality, just like America the country was initially opened up and claimed on behalf of the British Crown.
Another similarity with the American experience is of course the presence of ‘indigenous’ people, tribes of people who had made Australia their home many 10’s of thousands years before Captain Cook arrived in his galleon.
And just like America, the colonial military, and settler population did not treat these indigenous people very well at all.
In fact the ‘Native’ people of Australia were not even considered as being human beings, with the ‘Terra Nullius’ claim being proclaimed.
When we look back at these distant times and compare how people thought, with our own perspectives today it is of course outrageous to us; we cannot account for this, so we condemn the entire culture: but is this truly a helpful, or realistic way to approach this subject?
We know that the Australian indigenous people have had a rough road, and with the benefit of time and advancement we have moved on from these colonial times; today’s world is nothing like the world of 1797!
Australia Day is the annual celebration of the original claim for Australia as being a part of the British Commonwealth, this is what happened, we cannot return and change this.
It seems there are many people today stating that we must recognize the plight of native Australians, and to stop celebrating the British ‘invasion’ of Australia, that this is an insult to Aboriginal people; I think this is debatable, in fact in my observations native Australians are not overly concerned with these ceremonial expressions, they are more concerned with pragmatic issues, alcohol, drugs, and education of young native Australian people. Few native could care less about Australian people celebrating ‘Australia Day’, they are much more interested with genuine outcomes for their people.
If we wish to extend concern, and assistance to native Australian people we need to be honest and confront the true obstacles Aboriginal communities face in today’s world.
It seems the celebration of Australia Day was almost non-existent this year around the country. The annual firework displays, and public celebrations were viewed as being ‘dangerous’ because of the Covid virus. Really?
The alleged pandemic has been shown to be invalid: the deaths from all causes numbers have not been any different for 2020 than any other year in the past two decades. Deaths from Covid seem to be no different than deaths from Influenza, or ‘Old age’; we know that this virus affects those who are over 70 years of age, and we also know that the virus has yet to be isolated. The politicization of the virus has meant that we cannot discuss it among ourselves, without heated arguments breaking out.
Using Covid as the umbrella excuse for closing down Australia Day is disappointing, it seems this pandemic is being used as a general reason to remove all kinds of civil liberties, and social life: entire industries have been decimated, Hospitality, Entertainment, and many other areas.
We are being told the ‘Vaccines’ which were hastily produced will offer us a solution: for a condition 99.7% of people recover from naturally.
Vaccines being presented are not ‘traditional’, in the sense they will not confer immunity! How can they be called a ‘Vaccine’ then?
“Messenger RNA lipid envelopes, Nano particles” Have you ever heard of such nonsense? A vaccine is a viral agent which triggers an immune response, provides our bodies with the genetic information of hostile viruses, so that our immune systems can recognize the virus when it enters the body, and fight it off. These vaccines for Covid are not true vaccines, nobody seems to know just what they are.
Airlines are stating that nobody can fly on their aircraft unless they submit to accepting one of these ‘non-traditional’ vaccines, despite no immunity being offered by them; why?
Australia Day did not happen this year, and I bet you it won’t happen next year either; ask your local MP why this is, perhaps we will have to celebrate Australia Day privately in future, until people decide to stand up and resist these weak, excuse ridden policies.
