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BYRON SHIRE’S Mayor Simon Richardson says he would like to see Australia Day celebrated at dusk on January the 25th.
As reported on the ABC’s Facebook page, Simon Richardson said it was time for a mature debate about the most appropriate time to mark the occasion.
He said suggesting Australian civilisation began with the landing of the first fleet was offensive to some people.
“It began before that,” Cr Richardson said.
“It began with 40,000 years of sustainable civilisation, so why not choose that time?
“And a day before, so it’s almost saying for us it didn’t begin with Phillip, it began prior to that.
“Phillip and the anglo and English traditions are highly important, but we care about how our indigenous feel about Australia Day enough to move it back 12 hours.”
Cr Richardson said many people just saw [Australia Day] as another public holiday towards the end of summer.
He said others would be offended by any suggestion that the day be moved from January the 26th.
“There are probably and equal amount of people who are happy enough to pay homage to to who we are and to our nation, but just feel it’s inappropriate to have it on the day that English people landed on the actual continent to create a British colony.
“It obviously therefore wasn’t Australian in any sense, and it of course was the first day of the wholesale destruction of many indigenous communities.”
Australian Day is celebrated as it is the beginning of our nation. We Australians are made up of many different nationalities and very few in this country are pure anything. We are a nation of mixed races. I for one was born Australian but I have heritage of Irish, Cornish and Welsh. There are very few true aboriginals, as they too are mix of many nationalities. Every country in the world has had some other peoples in the country before them, probably with the exception of Eskimo. So let us celebrate the fact that we are Australian and all it stands for and be proud to be one
Why are “Phillip and the Anglo and English traditions are highly important”, as Simon Richardson claims? I don’t think they are important at all. Why would anyone want to celebrate a bunch of foreigners arriving with a foreign flag to invade another country. And Lee Wooldridge if you all you are doing is celebrating being born in Australia then what day you do that on is irrelevant.
Why is burning the flag “unAustralian”? I’d argue it’s a patriotic act to burn that stupid rag with a union jack in the corner.
Mr Richardson,
I am not celebrating the English landing.
I am celebrating the fact that I was lucky enough to be born in this great country.
Australia Day.
Celebrating our country and the people of this country.
All the people.
And in our family we fly the boxing kangaroo.
I had thought for a brief moment that Richardson would never be party to the bunch if Greens nutters who want to abolish Australia Day and now I can see I was wrong
He has stopped short if burning the flag but if he part of the mob that believes the day should be abolished then he probably agrees with burning the flag
How unaustralian is that
Dianne. You’ve put foreign and fairy tale words into our esteemed Mayor’s mouth and saying that he said them. Shame on you.