Australia Day

January 25, 2008 at 10:29 am (Australia, blogging, family, linklove)

January 26th is Australia Day which is becoming much more of a celebration of who we are now than it ever was when I was a kid. It is a day when thousands become citizens of this country, when friends get together for barbecues and simple celebrations of what makes us what we are. And if you were to ask me to define what is Australian I couldn’t really tell you. We are cynics, irreverant and brash, self-deprecating, bold sometimes when we need to be and with a confidence that belies our age as a nation.

For those who don’t know Australia Day marks the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788. A fleet of 11 ships containing some 780 convicts and 200 soldiers and sailors. Amongst them was a lady called Elizabeth Cole from whom my children are descended through their mother. Elizabeth had a child to a marine on the First Fleet by the name of William Ellis, but later on married James Tucker who had arrived on the second fleet and to whom she had several more children. In the early years, with the colony near starving, Elizabeth and James were sent with others to Norfolk Island. Whilst there James was caught breaking into other settlers huts and was offered a choice – he could become the hangman on the island or be hung himself.

Elizabeth then took up with another Second Fleeter by the name of Richard Burroughs and it is through that union that my children are descended.

On my side there are also four Irish convicts, all of whom were transported during the years of the Potatoe Famine in Ireland. If I were to claim any specific ethnicity it would be Irish being descended from people on both sides of the orange and the green. The rest of me is a mixture of Scot, Pom and Aboriginal.

So my children do have a proud heritage. On my side they have ancestors who have been here since the dreamtime and on their mothers side it reaches back to the very beginning of European settlement in this country.

We have never been great ones to stand up and sing our national anthem although the practice is beginning to catch on. I think however that Advance Australia Fair is a particularly hard song to sing well and in my opinion the following song from the Seekers captures the essence of Australia in a far more meaningful way.

So because it’s Australia Day allow me to indulge myself with some linklove for some of my fellow Aussie Bloggers. Please drop in and visit them on our special day.

Gypsy
Snoskred – Life in the Country
Blogging Sueblimely
On Blogging Australia
Laketrees
Linda and Her Surroundings
Lady Penelope’s Thoughts
Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe
Aussie Bloggers
Just A Matter of Perspective
Secluded Habitat
My Big World of Crap
My Little Drummer Boys
Road Less Travelled Blog
Dancing with Frogs
Listening to Frogs
Scarlet Words
The Cerebral Mum
lookANDsee
Joh Blogs Because I can
Lightening
Magneto Bold Too
Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum
Imagine if Child Protection Became Serious Bsiness
Semantically Driven
Red Sultana
Discovering Australia

Most of the above have been around for a while now, so I thought I’d also link to some of the Aussie bloggers I am less familiar with who have introduced themselves on the Aussie Bloggers Forum.

Stuff with thing
Even in a Little Thing
Jack of All Trades
Dave Willison
Stories from a Girl Geek
Monkeybizness
2 Blog or not 2 Blog
Scraps of Mind
LizWis – Lady of Leisure
Solidariti
Peter Black’s Freedom to Differ
Scott Yang’s Playground
a*muze*ing
Everybody Knows
Boneblowers Word
Much Ado about sumthin
Urban Monk
Pure Caffeine
Masey
A Roaming Aussie Mum
Beyond 30
Jeanie in Paradise
Bridget’s Flame
High Riser

If there are any other Aussie Bloggers who happen to check this post and want to be linked just comment, let me know your URL and I’ll update the list here.