point one:
""
quote Suzy_A
"I particularly like the bit where it says about the Sons of England, Scotia, Erin's Isle should rouse to arms like sires of yore To guard our
native strand; Shou'd foreign foe e'er sight our coast, Or dare a foot to land, and that Brittannia's sons in fair Australia's land Still keep a British soul!"
a concise summation of the "White Australia Policy" there...
""
"Advance Australia Fair" is not a product of the 1700's world-view, it is the nationalistic rhetoric of late 1800's .. eg "The Bulletin" banner "Australia for the Whiteman".... a time of particular hostility towards Chinese, and of course , the classification of Aborigines under the "Flora and Fauna Act".
Regrettably, in my view, that song reeks of it.
My second paragraph: "...even the less obnoxious third verse is routinely a blindspot in "Nationalists" vision: ("For those who've come across the seas " ....(solong as they're Anlo-Celtic...or err..we need someone - a lil' more "olive"-shade-of -white to dig a collosal hydro-scheme ) "
seems to've been passed unremarked. It refers to things in living memory for many of us anyway.
That is as far as any reference I made to the "White Australia Policy" went.
I chose to point out that the "National Anthem" has embedded in it those views of that time. Suzy_A highlighted those parts, no doubt because they induce a warm feeling of belonging for her, and fair enuff. I merely point out that they were written with an underlying agenda.
Point two: I noted that amid the gratulations being expressed only one contributor mentioned those here before-during-and-after "the arrival" being celebrated.
I could also have noted that the few who joined in with pride of
becoming Citizens (by effort and by choice) garnered no welcome reply.
Why am I disappointed with the thread? ...because it clearly demonstrated the unconscious exclusionism the day actually represents.
"Australia" Day is a misnomer.
it's really British Colonisation Day.
I offered the Easter egg metaphor as a clue to my intention.. that looking a lil' deeper might reveal the lack of substance behind the name.
Like Easter there's more to it than tinsel and comestibles.
It's not "black armband" history. It's
unblinkered history.
All the fun and feeling good is important, but a lil' sober reflection to balance helps us avoid the pitfalls. A lesson one can learn from observing the extreme example provided by Germany... a rational people seduced by a Nationalist "Spirit".
One of the great virtues Australians can celebrate about this nation is the freedom of speech ...I've used it here .. my way of celebrating it and defending it. Silence is assent.
Thanks for your responses, particularly AJames. I hope this reply makes clear that I was not attacking anyone, nor denigrating the celebration of our nation... I was observing that as happens with such things, a lil gravitas to balance the leavening prevents it all just becoming fairy-floss.
Cheers
Russ