The Australian “4th of July”…

Today is January 26^th, the day Aussies celebrate “Australia Day”, a kind of 4^th of July in the states.  Yes, it includes fireworks off the Sydney Harbour Bridge, lots of drinking ale and beer, many barbies going on the beaches and in the backyards.  And most of this occurs in Sydney.  They tell us celebrations are much more circumspect in other parts of the country.  We are currently sitting in Brisbane harbor, waiting to go ashore and the announcement we get from our Australian friends is “Happy Australia Day, mates.”  Circumspect.  Maybe they’ll raise a glass of bubbly or ale when they get home from work.  But nothing over the top in this over the top country!

So what happened on January 26, 1788?  Well, there was no revolution like we in the states proudly celebrate.  Instead, Captain Arthur Phillip, as head of a squadron of 11 ships, called the First Fleet, left England in May and, after 252 days and covering 15,000 open seas, arrived in Botany Bay Australia, with a cargo of convicts.  Now Botany Bay didn’t appear to offer much to the sailors or convicts, so they continued up the shore and found another inlet where Sydney now stands and, if you visit Sydney, you can enjoy the point at which this ragtag group got off the boats as Circular Quay.

While we can the group “convicts” and the trip “transporting of convicts”, the new settlers were not at all prepared to start a new country.  There were small children, old people, no people with particular skills to help with settling.  But, somehow, they survived, learned what they needed to know, and began to settle a vast country.  So today, with their barbeques and beers, they take the time to celebrate that fortuitous first trip down under!!