10 Things I thought about on Australia Day 2009

I look up at the Akubra hat hanging up on the lounge room wall and reflect on Australia Day and what it means to be an Australian. As an aussie living and working in another country I reflect on all that is fair dinkum and those people, places and things that I left behind four years ago to come and work as a volunteer in the Land of the Unexpected – Papua New Guinea.

I’m certainly no patriot – Anzac Day has never really done it for me nor do I know the words to our National Anthem. I have never been one for team sports or mateship nor have I ever gone roo hunting. I abhor the jobbo type and during my drinking days, preferred the solace of a quiet drink on my own rather than a few drinks at the local pub or a piss-up with the boys.

Although there’s many aspects of our culture that don’t really click – I am proud to be an Australian. There’s an openness and a sense of freedom that come with being an Australian, there’s the laid back attitude and larrikan-ism, the great outdoors and the space. There’s desert and snow, there’s the BBQ’s and towns, utes, dirt roads and even more space. And how could I forget the australian sense of humour?

Happy birthday Australia!!

So… on this Australia Day 2009 – here’s a list of 10 things from “home” that have, are or will cross my mind today:

1) The great Australian Meat Pie:

2) Immediate family:

3) What is Australia Day day anyway?

Australia Day, also known as Anniversary Day and Foundation Day, is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, marking the start of British colonisation of Australia.

4) The day that I shook hands with the PM Mr Kevin Rudd:

5) The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and The Rocks:

6) The words to that great Australian song “Waltzing Matilda“:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited ’til his billy boiled
“You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me”

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
“You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me”
And he sang as he watched and waited ’til his billy boiled,
“You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me”

(Read the rest of Waltzing Matilda)

7) Henry Lawson’s 1st published poem: “A Song of the Republic”:

Sons of the South, awake! arise!
Sons of the South, and do.
Banish from under your bonny skies
Those old-world errors and wrongs and lies.
Making a hell in a Paradise
That belongs to your sons and you.

(Read the rest of “A Song of the Republic“)

8) The Australian Flag:

9) Happy Birthday Cousin Carol and Jessica:

10) My all time favourite Uncle Alex celebrates his wedding Anniversary: