Australia Day

[Anonymous]

It may come as a surprise to many Americans, though certainly not those who subscribe to this forum; but other countries do have a national day as well.

217 years ago today 26 th January; Captain Arthur Phillip RN landed in Sydney Cove, shot a couple of Aborigines, raised the Union Jack and proclaimed the Colony of New South Wales for His Majesty King George 3 rd.

Rgds Ian

[GDRMCo]

aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi

[Anonymous]

Invade the natives and shoot them! Good style! Over here we celebrate the signing of a truce treaty between the British and the natives, and the natives and our Government have been arguing about what it includes ever since.

New Zealand Day is Feb 6th, which is a Sunday this year so no extra day off work for us this year [:(].

[Tom The Brat]

Let's hear it for Australia!

"We've had it up to here with..."

Oops, wrong song[}:)]

[grandpopswalt]

Ian,

Well Happy Austrailia Day to you and yours, despite all that shooting stuff.

Walt

[Anonymous]

Didn't we just about do the same thing??

Happy Australia Day, mates!!

[Anonymous]

Yea! Aussies rule!!! I like that "oi!" thing!

[Tom The Brat]

Just like the Aussies to have their's in the dead of winter[;)]

[bman36]

Hey there,
I had no idea! Ian : you tell that story with such tact! Could'nt stop laughing for five minutes. Enjoy your holiday! Rgds eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Enjoy your day Ian and Gary.We're not allowed to have a national day.Tony Blair is scared that we might realize that we are British instead of his yearned for European.

[Anonymous]

Enjoy what's left of your day lads, have a few beers on us poms. As Troy hinted at, I suspect that a national day in Britain would probably be illegal now. A quick example of labour stupidity on this mornings news. The amusement arcades have a game for kids where the kid operates a crane with a grab on the end and tries to grab a cuddley toy/teddy bear. Tony's lot now want to make the toy smaller to make them less attractive to, hopefully, stop the kid becoming addicted to gambling. They also want to tighten up casino control and limit the build of super casinos to stop an increase in gambling addiction, which wrecks lives. They also want to increase pub opening hours to 24 hours per day, apparently alchohol doesn't wreck lives!
Life in Tony's Britain is indeed wonderful.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[powlee]

Have at least one good day Aussies(because our cricket team are on the way).
The difficulty of having a national day in Great Britain is that each country celebrates on different days.
English---St Georges Day
Welsh-----St Davids Day
Scots------St Andrews Day
Irish--------St Patricks Day
It is rumoured after the next General Election, Parliament might vote on a St Anthonys Day.
I read in this mornings newspaper that after the election,Tone is off to Washington to receive the Congrestional Medal for services rendered.
All the best
Ian P

[Rene Schweitzer]

Yep, I see it's Australia Day on my calendar. Since it's probably over for you now, hope you had a few drinks and kicked back for the day!

[toenailridgesl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Torby

Just like the Aussies to have their's in the dead of winter[;)]

Torby,
yesterday it hit 38deg C (101deg F).
This is the height of our summer! (Southern Hemisphere, remember?)
And to the rest of you, thank you for the wishes. Was a good day, Oz beat the West indies in the one-day cricket game here in Adelaide & Lleyton Hewitt played the most difficult game of his life to advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Tennis Championship & he's an Adelaide boy too!

[Anonymous]

Ian, hate to dissapoint, but Phillip didn't proclaim NSW for King George III. Lt James Cook did that in 1770. Australia Day commemorates the landing of Phillip and the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, thus being the beginning of Eurpean settlement in Australia.

To those non-Aussies - we have commemorated this historic landmark by building a large ferry terminal and railway station.

Hey, a Railway Station as a national momument. Cool huh?

For the record, I spent it on a carriage behind and 0-4-0 steam loco on a narrow guage railway -one of only 2 regular steam journeys that can be taken in Australa - at Timbertown, Wauchope. And it rained!

[Anonymous]

The Forth of July Rock's here in the States! Is it the same for Australia Day? Do you go all out!

[toenailridgesl]

Capt,
not really. There's a parade, fireworks etc. but for the average person it's just a good excuse for a public holiday. Here in Adelaide the day is dedicated to a huge cricket match, this year between Australia & the West Indies.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by toenailridgesl

Capt,
not really. There's a parade, fireworks etc. but for the average person it's just a good excuse for a public holiday. Here in Adelaide the day is dedicated to a huge cricket match, this year between Australia & the West Indies.

Phil,

You mean no one dresses up as the Aussie version of "Uncle Sam" and jumps off a five story building into a vat of "Jello" designed to look like your National Constellation! No backyard parties and singing the Aussie version of "God Bless America." No re-enactments of battles demonstating how you threw off the oppressive yoke of your Brit...oooops...Ok, uh...well, then! Sorry. (That was a joke by the way, with due respect for the Brits! Kim, Troy et al!)

Capt Carrales

[toenailridgesl]

Nope. But I will say regarding our big cricket contests among the 8 Test cricket playing nations & the other 40+ countries that also compete:
When WE have a World Series we invite the rest of the World! :)

[Capt Bob Johnson]

When WE have a World Series we invite the rest of the World! :)

RIGHT ON, MATE!

[Anonymous]

Torby I just can't understand that you know so little of the world, it has two hemispheres and when it is winter in the northern hemisphere its summer here. Australia is a really large place it is the sixth biggest country in the world, but i'm not surprised that an American doesn't know where such a large place is.

For your information it is summer here and it is about 32 deg C. but not only that, we are also well ahead of you in time; in fact for most of the time it is a different day here to the USof A.

Listen mid north coast, that god among men Captain James Cook did proclaim this land as New South Wales and in the name of King George 3 rd but Cpt Arthur Phillip RN proclaimed it a colony known as New South Wales and any way how was he to know what Captain Cook said. RN officers then as now are treated as mushrooms kept in the dark and fed on bullsht.

Did you know that when it comes to size there are only 6 countries worth talking about;

In order

Russia roughly 17 M sq Km
Canada 9 M
China 8.5 M
US of A 8 M
Brazil 7 M
Australia 6 M

The next largest is India or somewhere like that only about 2.5 M


Rgds Ian

[Anonymous]

Sunshine coast, James Cook was a Leutenant when he charted the east coast in 1770. BTW, Arthur Phillip might have had some prior knowledge that Cook had did his bit at Botany Bay. That way he was safe in the knowledge that Admiralty didn't sent him to start a colony somewhere that was under French rule. That would have been interesting!

BTW, I recognised Torby's tongue in his cheek!

Capt. Carrales, I don't think we have a version of Uncle Sam here. Australia Day is a nice holiday at the end of the summer school holidays. In Sydney, there is some festivalon the harbour with ferries racing, and a usual fleet of tall masted ships heading up the harbour. Generally it's just another day to fire up the barbie. We don't get carried on about it too much. Buy it does fare better than poor old Proclamation Day, which commemorates our birth as a nation and the end of Colonial Rule. Most of us ignore it and call it 'New Years Day", and nurse a hangover.

Anzac Day (25th April) is our unofficial national day - the day we take more seriously than others. That's the battle we commemorate.

[Anonymous]

So Ian, I take it you are of the school of 'size matters' eh? Oh, you Australians, so, well, mmm, down to earth?! Just remember mate, you all belonged to us at one time or another and we let a few of you fight us to get it back, the rest became so expensive we gave it back!! I suppose if we measured useable space then Australia would be about as big as Yorkshire, which I believe is somewhere to the east of Lancashire but has never been proven. If we measured useful space then..........well, Britain shines forth once again - even if it does belong to Tony!!
Rulers of the world,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

Kimbrit, there has been few other examples of people giving away the prize real estate and keeping the swamp. I wouldn't gloat if I were you.

[Anonymous]

Yes i did something similar to what Phil did but i watched the Australian Open on TV, most of you Americans possibly wouldn't know what that is but it is a tennis championship only one of four on the Grand Slam circuit per year.

We also lieo drink ber and wine, eat crustaceans and go to the beach on Australia Day.


Rgds ian

[Anonymous]

Prize real estate?? Yorkshire?? Let's all go to the beach with Ian and drink beer and wine, bugger the crabs!
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

No no Kim, crabs are very nice; as are lobsters, prawns, scampi, marrin, yabbies. But the hardest one to understand is the Moreton Bay Bug. or its little brother the Balmain Bug. I really don't know what they are, possibly rock lobsters. You just split them down the middle and the flesh comes out easily on either side. The bigger they are the nicer they are. At their worst they are tasteless at their best they are just about the King of Seafood.

Balmain is a Sydney harbourside suburb and Moreton Bay is up here in Queensland where I live; where everything is bigger but not neccessarily better.


Rgds Ian