Opinion piece written by Bill Stefaniak
In a few days’ time we will mark Australia Day, which has become controversial in some quarters in recent times.
I am one of those people who have been more inclined to regard Anzac Day as our spiritual national day, as 25 April 1915 was the day when modern Australia hit the world stage. The landing of the ANZACs at Gallipoli and what transpired after that exemplified all those great human qualities of courage, mateship, selflessness, true grit and the larrikin sense of humour so common amongst our Diggers.
However, 26 January is, in my view, the most appropriate day to celebrate the birth of modern Australia and the fundamentally fine country we have become today.
We need to pay tribute to our first Australians, our Indigenous brothers and sisters, many of whom naturally have mixed feelings about 26 January, but who have helped form the wonderful free society we are today. Australia would not be the same without them and they can rightly celebrate Australia Day as their day, too.
There is no need for victimhood on Australia Day. Indigenous Australians have, when it came to the crunch, and despite all the racism directed at them, flocked to the colours to defend Australia, however imperfect it is or was, against the greater evil in terms of German imperialism in WWI and the very real threat from Nazi Germany and Japanese fascism in WWII. I have served in the Australian Army with a number of fine Indigenous soldiers, who would be the first to tell you that despite its faults, they would happily put their bodies on the line to defend this country.
It has taken us a while, but after about 200 years of white occupation/settlement, most Australians have now come to realise how fortunate we are to have such a rich 60,000-year history of human habitation in Australia. In recent times, we have had some wonderful examples of Indigenous contribution to our society in all areas of life. For example, sportsmen and women – the Ella brothers, some brilliant Aussie Rules players, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Ash Barty; cultural icons and Aboriginal trailblazers, like my old mate the late Charlie Perkins, and my former neighbour in Narrabundah, the late and legendary Captain Reg Saunders, hero of Crete and Kapyong in Korea, and the first Aboriginal officer commissioned into the Australian Army.
We do not need to celebrate another day. No other day remotely appropriate comes to mind. We probably do not need a separate day to celebrate our rich Indigenous history either. It may well be counterproductive. We are all Australians. Our history up until 1788 is inspiring, as is our history since 1788.
Refugees bust a gut to get to Australia and for good reason. This is probably the best country in the world; the most humane, the freest, the easiest to live in. We need to celebrate this.
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.
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