Chips wrote: ↑Mon, 26. Jan 26, 13:33
Doesn't America have it's independence day (creation of the country) and thanksgiving (for the first settlers); two holidays for the thing Australians seem to have just 1?
It does seem a bit odd to have "Australia" Day as celebrating convict arrival...
more indicative of the time/era the choice was made and the inclusivity (who was making decisions) at that time perhaps?
A quick google history says a Foundation Day was originally celebrated back from the early 1800's, whereas Australia Day was 1935, and the holiday only from 1994.
The issue is that (as I alluded to before), complete independence from the UK is comparatively recent - the final changes were made in 1986. To put it in perspective, my baby sister[1] was born the same year the Australia act was passed. Because of this, until then national holidays tended to reflect the more British identity of Australians in earlier eras.
In 1988, we celebrated Jan 26th as the 200th anniversary of Australia's foundation, and that helped to cement it as the national holiday (and fair play, it was pretty awesome - it is the only time in my life I have literally seen dancing in the streets). From then it became more or less assumed that Jan 26th was our national day. Gazetting it as a permanent public holiday followed from that. But bear in mind that my parents still remember Empire day (just). There's been a lot of change in a relatively short time.
Anyway, how many cliches are true? Is it lobsters on bbq? shrimps?
Heh, "Shrimp on the barbie" was the result of a tourism advertisement in the 80s staring Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan (who, before that role, was just a sketch comedian on Australian TV). Cashing in on his newfound popularity, they had him invite people from overseas by saying "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you."
This was hilarious to Australians because of two things:
1) We don't use the word "shrimp," it's "prawn." This was obviously for the American market!
2) As a rule, whilst there ARE BBQ prawn recipes, that's not really something we do a lot (sausages, called "snags" are ubiquitous, and usually if you go to someone's home for a BBQ, people will bring their own meat, which will mostly be lamb or beef).
Therefore "Shrimp on the barbie" has become a phrase we use to describe a Hollywood attempt to sound Australian. It's often accompanied by a person somehow magically teleporting from an opening scene in Sydney (with the Harbour Bridge and Opera House prominently displayed) to some ill-defined outback area, complete with red dust and Red Kangaroos, in a matter of seconds[2].
Our OWN cliche about BBQs is to eat lamb on Australia day - this is the result of a series of advertisements (admittedly hilarious and much loved) involving former AFL footballer Sam Kekovich (who's now far better known for being the "Lambassador" than he ever was for being a footballer or commentator!
). See
this year's ad for example . . .
[1] Poor thing, she hates being called "baby sister" at the age of 40. But moving on . . . .
[2] I technically live in Sydney. It takes me an hour by car or train[2] to get to Circular Quay, from where you can see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. And my home is far from the Western edge of the city (another 45 minutes drive or half hour's train ride to get to Penrith). Whilst you CAN call any country area the outback, the classic red dust outback is at very least 5-10 hours drive inland (and many, if not most Australians have never been there!). Hollywood has no concept of how big Sydney is, let alone how big Australia is, nor does it really understand that of the 28 million Australians, over 18 million of us live in the 8 major cities.
[3] Parking is stupidly expensive in the city, so for me taking a train to Circular Quay is a no brainer. The only question is whether I walk to the main rail line (about 20 mins) or take a bus to Tallawong to get on the faster, more modern underground Metro line. I prefer the Metro, especially during Summer, because it has better air conditioning.
