Many countries have a National Day. Ours is tomorrow. Since tomorrow is a Saturday we also have a day off on Monday – a Commonwealth Public Holiday that the States can’t cancel, but make no mistake, whatever you call Monday, the real Austrayia Day is Saturday, tomorrow.
So far, so good. Austrayia Day is when we celebrate being a real you beaut nation of Bruces and Shelias who are friends with everybody. Well, that’s how it was until a few years back when the original owners (polite-speak) or whinging abos (get-you-thrown-in-the lock-up-speak) decided to rename it Invasion Day. “Not unreasonable, we get where your mob’s coming from” was most people’s reaction, “but strewth, mate, have your protests on some other day – there’s 364 others to choose from; now sling us another beer”.
Which would have probably been the end of it, but the left-wing, Chardonnay-Socialist, militant PC wowsers got hold of it and, like they usually do, wanted to make a fight of it and called everyone that didn’t agree with them a red-neck right wing Nazi racist. As they do. Worse, some of the far-left-wing local councils said last year that in solidarity with their conquered and oppressed brothers and sisters (huh?), they would no longer hold citizenship ceremonies on Austrayia Day.
Just to explain, citizenship ceremonies can be held at any time, but Austrayia Day had become favoured because it was an excuse to have a party within a party, and with often 40 or more different nationalities queuing up in their national dress to get their Aussie Certificate. The federal gubmint said if they didn’t, they’d lose the right to host citizenship ceremonies at any time. So there!
This year the PM has made it clear that such events will be held on the traditional day or else he’d have a hissy fit, rather like Trump’s had about his wall – but in Strine, of course.
Will tomorrow see explosions and civil unrest? I doubt it, but should it happen, The Chariot will be first with the news. 😎
Boadicea's Chariot 
What tedious bores they are. I wish they’d just put on black puritan garb and go about smashing anything that might potentially bring joy, amusement or relief to people. At least that way they’d be honest about it. Very few people agree with the lot. What bemuses me is why we give them so much airtime, so much space, so much influence to push their agenda. A few swivel-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth lunatics in central Sydney and Melbourne along with a few minor councils certainly can’t speak for the large majority.
I hope you and Boadicea have a great party tomorrow, Bearsy. I love the look of that cake. Your own work?
Maybe it should be call Matthew Flinders day! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-25/matthew-flinders-who-was-he/10749276
Has anybody been following the saga of the Catholic school boys from Kentucky? Damn did those lefty twits get egg on their faces, though few if any will admit to it. There are lots of videos, but here are a couple.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5992146931001/
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-covington-isnt-about-facts-but-about-identity-politics-nick-sandmann-committed-facecrime
Oh, by the way, Happy Austrayia Day for tomorrow.
They have similar ceremonies here, there is nothing more conducive to not changing one’s nationality than seeing what turns up. Round here, (In Seattle) looks more like Somalia! One would be the only white face there. To be avoided at all costs. Of course the locals think its bloody wonderful in its ‘diversity’. Diversity definitely is the’ in word of the moment’ round here for wogs. On every bloody newscast and programme on TV and radio.
July 4th is generally celebrated with the ‘ritual burning of meat’ according to spousal unit and gawping at fireworks which sounds more like the outbreak of WWIII round here and pacifying the 4 legged family units. Best place to avoid the whole thing is half way up Mt Baker, get a bit of peace and quiet.
Just passing through, Bearsy.
!. A Good New Year to both you and Boadicea.
2. Advance Australia Fair for the day that is in it.
3. Above all else right now- Go Heat!
Cheers John – keep passing through!!!
Just over 16,000 happy people from 146 different nationalities became Aussies yesterday, in 365 ceremonies spread over the entire country. Read more here if you’ve time and the fortitude to be propagandised at.
That might put the left-wing bleeding hearts in their place! 😎
The Sydney Austrayia Day evening party in the Circular Quay (where the Opera House is located) was even better than last year’s, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra accompanying a ballet by small sailboats and tugs, ending with a C-130 shooting missile defence flares all over the harbour – and many other exotic things with lots of fireworks and coloured lights, people dancing and the sound of overgrown didgeridoos on steroids.
Sheona – sorry, mea non culpa. Looks like a couple of packets of individual Lamingtons cut up and then stuck together with jelly. And a few bits of choccy sprinkled on top with a coupla strawberries. Gross! 😍
Sorry to be a bit late to the party as I was in between international destinations all day Saturday. A belated happy Australia Day to you and Boadicea and I hope you found a cold slab, a barbie in the shade and a cool pool – alternatively a cold slab, a space on Mooloolaba beach with a sun tent, a barbie in the shade and the surf. Cold slabs have a a vital, constant importance.
A Hercules throwing missile defence flares all over Sydney Harbour? What’s not to like? it was probably right up there with the New Year pyrotechnics. In London, there would be a celebration of LGBGT+MGB GT ‘inclusiveness’, celebrated exclusively (yet very publicly with maximum press coverage, for that is the modern agenda) by adherents of those diverse persuasions. Thankfully the Anglo Saxons got here first before the Romanians, Bangladeshis and Somalians, so we do not have any prominent equivalent to your metropolitan, liberal ‘Hate Australia’ Day. Having said that, if you have the temerity to raise an English flag in England on 23rd April you are obviously a far-right, racist, xenophobe. Such is life, sadly.
OZ
A whole mob of ‘celebs’ came out against ‘Happy Australia Day’ greetings; in general the public said ‘and who are you?’ and continued to wish everyone ‘Happy Australia Day’ – including the ABC which does, generally, jump on any Leftie bandwagon.
There were protest marches in various cities; but I don’t think they got too much air-time – or more likely I wasn’t looking out for them. I rather suspect a lot of other people also ignored them.
In general, most Ozzies just like an excuse for a party…
I skimmed an article entitled ‘The Guilt that haunts every Australian’ – which claimed that the English (please note never the British) committed genocide – I thought about commenting that if the English had committed genocide there’d ahve been no one left to complain – but didn’t think it was worth the effort! And, I also thought about commenting that a large number of present-day Ozzies do not have an English heritage to ‘feel guilty’ about – but, again, what would have been the point!
Once upon a time ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was seen as the unofficial Australian anthem – the official National Anthem is indeed pretty boring.
This chorus of this song:
‘We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice
“I am, you are, we are Australian” ‘
has now become the unofficial Ozzie Anthem and is sung everywhere and says more about how most Australians think than any group of agitators.
John Mackie, should we attribute your unheralded appearance to Burn’s Night or the Tory Brexit debacle? 😎
G’day all of youse, especially the peripatetic JM, the erudite Sipu and the multilingual escapee from Kangaroo Point.
Happy Austrayia Day – again!
I’ll go with the MGB-GT, OZ, though I was a TR-2 man myself, back in the day. But Boadicea was an MGB-er for a while, I seem to remember. Bugger all the other acronym weirdos, though. 😢
Whoops, it was a Spitfire, not an MG. I’m definitely getting past my use-by date. 😱
Here’s another version of Judith Durham’s amazing song, this time starting in Yawuru . Kids have fun in any language, and don’t make political capital out of it. 😎
Burns.
Indeed, JW! Sorry to offend, etc!