Thanks jason's_planet!

Gotta love those Aussies. Great people.

Woohoo, cheers j_p! It was a lovely day for BBQ and beers in the park whilst entertaining/being entertained by various friends' small children.

I totally forgot until a friend mentioned she was off to an Australia Day dinner thingie.

Hope they don't revoke my passport.

I didn't realise you were an Aussie, gomi!

Oh yes! I was born in Adelaide and have lived in a few places (Sydney etc) before coming to live in Japan 12 years ago. I'm still an Australian citizen and wouldn't change that no matter where I live.

Thanks j_p. *waves burnt meat & beer in your direction*

I've never really understood the whole patriotism day thing. We went to visit some friends at their new home in the hills about an hour drive away, and I was quite amazed by how much traffic there was with little flags attached. Several cars had a little flag at each corner, which looked pretty weird. I think of government cars when I see flags, and these were all old banger kingswoods and the like. I don't recall ever seeing flags on cars quite like this before.

I was a bit more militant in my youth, and I remember being totally disgusted by the bicentennial celebrations in 1988. Most of the country was in party mode, but we had a lot of disenfranchised indigenous people. Still do.

I love Australia, especially Melbourne (except for this horrid weather). I've spent extensive time overseas, but I chose this as the place to live permanently & have babby and raise her. I can't imagine living anywhere else (apart from Kauai - I'd run there in a heartbeat). I worry that some of the patriotic jingoism that gets promoted has the potential to create more xenophobia.

Australian of the Year for 2009, Mick Dodson is part of group calling for a change of date for Australia Day. Personally, and this sounds good to me. We have a huge chunk of Australia who see 26 Jan as a negative, and many Australians refer to it as "Invasion Day". Even I make horribly unfunny remarks about shooting black people on Jan 26. (One of great grandmothers was rumored to be half Tasmanian aborginal, so I have a personal bitter streak).

Sorry for the length & tone of this, it started of as a "thanks, happy sausage day", and just went off into a stream of consciouness...I think it would be super lovely if we could forget Jan 26 and have something like a Unity Day on some other appropriate date. We're pretty awesome, but still have a lot of growing to do.