What is Australia Day? It is held on January 26 every year, and seems to be a sort of national day for Australians. According to the official Web site http://www.australiaday.gov.au, it was a celebration originally started to commemorate establishment of a New South Wales colony. The day developed into 'Foundation Day', and finally, as the nation expanded, to 'Australia Day'.
The interesting thing, for a national day, is that they say: "While the historical aspects of the day will always be acknowledged, there is now a greater awareness of the need to celebrate contemporary Australia with our diversity, remarkable achievements and bright future." (Australia Day > About Australia Day > History of Australia Day). Therefore the focus is not to be on looking back, or how far they have come, but on looking forward.That is the official version.
The Australian students here were not much bothered about Australia Day. They weren't very sure what is was for, or about, and said they usually do not mark the day in any special way, besides having the day off from work. They usually stayed at home and did not join public festivities. Some commented that ANZAC Day, which is a memorial for soldiers, was in their impression a 'bigger' event.
I went into the city of Melbourne on Australia Day. There were lots of activities going on, and a lot of tourists. The Visitor Information Centre was handing out maps of the city and Australia Day brochures. Local and foreign visitors were milling around Federation Square, having lunch, waiting for people, meeting up, watching the buskers and tennis activities.
At the parks and gardens, e.g. the Royal Botanic Gardens, groups of families and friends were chilling out, having picnics, playing cricket, lounging around with cold beers, on blankets. The Kings Domains Gardens was host to food stalls and amusement rides; there were young skateboarders doing their thing; all sorts of entertainment for a sunny afternoon.
The main event that I observed was a concert in Federation Square in the evening, and the fireworks at night.
The concert was a showcase for the different peoples and cultures represented in Australia.It was hosted by an aborigine woman, and began with aboriginal music and dances. Following acts included some kind of Ancient Greek masque, a Chinese dragon dance troupe, a Central/East European troupe dressed as tin-makers and gypsy-like people, a belly-dancing troupe, a Maori singing group, a group of girls (evidently from a school) doing an Indian dance number, a very large group of young Australians of various skin tones doing a variation of a haka and then breaking out into hip hop, and, finally, a group of white people doing a strange honky-tonk/country/comedy show.The show was evidently put together with an eye for diversity, but also probably based on who could be recruited to participate (e.g. dance schools, clubs, societies; most of the performers were probably not professionals).
The audience was quite mixed; it appeared that there were families and friends of the performers (who cheered loudly when their friends and offspring appeared), tourists, and locals of different ethnicities. Those who had come early sat on the ground, while latecomers stood around. Many had children or cellphones or senior citizens (parents/older relatives) with them. There was movement among those standing, as some watched for awhile and left, and others moved closer to the front.
As we moved off toward the river for the fireworks viewing, we could see people gathered in the restaurants, and camping on the river banks, and taking river cruises on hired boats. I got a vantage point on the bridge. The river bank below was packed with people. More people soon gathered on both sides of the bridge as well.
The strange thing was that the people on the river bank seemed to expect the fireworks to be launched from a barge on the river. The official brochure had not specified where the fireworks would be. When they actually started launching, it turned out that the most spectacular fireworks were being launched from somewhere near the Botanic Gardens, above the palm trees to my right. In that case, those people at the river would not have had as good a view.
There were fireworks launched from the buildings around Federation Square to my left as well, and a few from the Arts Centre behind, but overall most came from the Gardens. The lights and colours were great, but the whole show would have been better if there had been music to accompany it, like they have in Boston on the 4th of July.
The firework show was about 15 minutes, and then people started to disperse and wander off.
Overall, it seemed like a festive 'day out', not particularly nationalistic or patriotic in that sense; the feel was informal rather than planned and formal, which is likely how Australians are and how they like things to be. There was no parade, no extravaganza, on the streets or in stadiums, like you may see elsewhere; I don't think there was an address to the nation, or anything else like that. It was just a day for people to get out (or stay in) and have fun; everyone could pretty much do as they liked. It was a day to meet up and socialize, which is a good thing at any holiday.
