Happy Australia Day!

[justginger]

To my fellow Australians, the world over, happy Aussie Day!

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains
Of rugged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror - the wide brown land for me.









All photos from the South Perth foreshore tonight.

 

[minousbijoux]

Nice! Is Australia Day your independence day?

 

[KaeKae]

Happy Australia Day
Great pictures, are those the words to your national anthem?

 

[justginger]

Yes and no, minou - if you want to get technical, Australia still isn't "independent" as it remains part of the Commonwealth. But it is the Austalian version of Independence Day, nonetheless. It marks the anniversary of the date the First Fleet arrived down under in 1788. Sort of a supersized Columbus Day!

And the words are not the anthem, they are a poem about Oz. There are a lot of beautiful things written about Australia, it is one of my favorites. The anthem, which I have now memorized in anticipation of my upcoming citizenship test, is "Advance Australia Fair":

Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free,
We've golden soil and wealth for toil, our home is girt by sea.
Our land abounds in nature's gifts, of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page, let every stage advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing, advance Australia fair.

Like the American anthem there is more than one verse, but this is all that is routinely sung.

Most generally prefer the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda though. If there were ever another vote on the national anthem (Advance Australia Fair was only made the anthem in 1984), I think Waltzing Matilda would win. I'd definitely vote for it. It's full of Aussie slang and has the catchiest tune. No sense writing the lyrics here because no one will understand the slang. The words and their English "translation" are here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltzing_Matilda

 

[gregchang35]

Happy Australia Day to you!!!

Fantastic pics'!!!
I am sure there is a comp that you can enter those photos into and win $$$?

I love the first picture. Can I steal it and post it as a picture on FB?

 

[justginger]

Happy Australia Day to you!!!

Fantastic pics'!!!
I am sure there is a comp that you can enter those photos into and win $$$?

I love the first picture. Can I steal it and post it as a picture on FB?

Of course you can use it - I've already put it on FB myself. These were just shots with my iphone. The fireworks were particularly good this year -- very, very colorful. It was like watching the Dr. Seuss version of Australia Day! Guess they decided it was time to try to keep up with the Royal Show ones...

 

[gregchang35]

Thanx... posted on FB...
We didnt see any fireworks, so your pics are just great!

 

[minousbijoux]

Thanks, JG! I know so little about Australia!

 

[KaeKae]

Thank you for that, justginger!
I remember singing Waltzing Matilda in my high school chorus. It was fun. For some reason, the song reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. All that creative language, I think. But, now that I'm thinking about it, I believe at the time, I thought Waltzing Matilda WAS the national anthem. Maybe because that was a year or two before your anthem was adopted? Or maybe it just said something about it on the sheet music. What the heck, it was a long time ago!
Thanks again for sharing

 

[Echidna]

Happy Australia Day, justginger! Are you taking your citizenship test soon? The fireworks looked fun.

We live in a land of contrasts, so I hope all the Aussie PSers are safe and well from fires or floods. For those in Queensland, please check in and let us know that you're safe from flood waters and tornadoes tonight

 

[LaraOnline]

Nice! Is Australia Day your independence day?

As if lol! Australia doesn't really have the 'fire in the belly' for independence. We as a modern country were established by government, developed via government and we still love love love big big government. So, no. No 'independence day' for us.

But if we did have independence day, it would soon disappear under a pile of slogans, ambit claims by organised groups (unions and various other government sponsored racially/culturally based minority group political organisations), and a whole bunch of demands for government apologies for abused children, stolen people, wrongfully adopted people etc etc etc.

We have to be among the most guilt-oriented modern countries on the planet in our relentless focus on 'issues'.

But...as individuals, we do like to travel. So curiously we as individuals are not as petty minded as our collective culture would suggest.

 

[JaneSmith]

Late to the party, but this is still good for a laugh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jan/24/australia-day-ad-tv-video