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Australia Day celebrates the anniversary of Captain Arthur Phillip unfurling the British flag at Sydney Cove and proclaiming British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia on 26 January 1788. |
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Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet, comprising 11 ships and around 1,350 people, arrived at Botany Bay between 18 and 20 January 1788. It was decided the first settlement would be at Botany Bay, and a second settlement would be established at Norfolk Island to provide wood for ships and masts. However, on arrival at Botany Bay on 18 January 1788, Captain Phillip decided the site was not suitable and resolved to look for another. He decided upon Port Jackson, the site of modern day Sydney, and the people of the First Fleet established Australia's first settlement on 26 January 1788.
Until the American War of Independence, Britain had sent convicts to America. American independence ended the practice and the British prisons and prison hulks were full to overflowing. The island continent at the end of the world seemed a perfect place to send them. The Fleet consisted mainly of convicts with officers to guard them. There were many more men than women around four men for every woman and this caused problems in the settlement for many years.
Few people in the Fleet had any experience of cultivating the land and this, combined with poor soil in the area, lead to the development of farms around Parramatta, but, more seriously, to near starvation in the first years of settlement. Food shortages were severe and the fledgling colony eagerly awaited on the arrival of the Second Fleet in 1790. The Second Fleet did provide badly needed food and supplies, but created other problems for the new colony. 48 people had died on the voyage of the First Fleet, this had risen to 278 on the Second Fleet voyage. Sickness and disease were so rife, most of those who survived were barely able to walk, the Fleet has come to be known as the 'Death Fleet'.
In spite of the problems, however, the settlement grew, and is now the site of Australia's largest city, Sydney.
The name 'Australia' was first suggested by Matthew Flinders and supported by Governor Macquarie (1810-1821). At a meeting in 1899, the Premiers of the other Colonies agreed to locate the new federal capital of Australia in New South Wales, and added this section to the Australian Constitution. In 1909, the State of New South Wales surrended a portion of this territory to the Commonwealth of Australia, the site of present day Canberra. 26 January is the Day on which Australians commemorate the founding of the modern Australian nation.
For many Indigenous Australians, however, 26 January is not a day of celebration but one of mourning and protest. For indigenous Australians, the founding of the modern Australian nation led to the disruption of their traditional way of life, to death, disease and dispossession. In 1988, the year of the bicentenary of European settlement, Aboriginals marked the year with a massive march for 'Freedom, Justice and Hope', named it a Year of Mourning, but also celebrated their survival. In 1999 the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, an Aboriginal sacred site, and now part of the National Estate, was the focus of indigenous activity on Australia Day with a Corroboree for Aboriginal Sovereignty. |
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Chronology
1788
Captain Arthur Phillip unfurls the British flag at Sydney Cove and proclaims British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia
1808
First recorded celebrations on 26 January
1817
Governor Macquarie recommends the adoption of the name Australia for the entire continent, replacing New Holland
1818
Governor Macquarie holds the first official celebrations on 26 January, marking thirty years of white settlement
1836
First Anniversary Regatta held on Sydney Harbour. This is now the Australia Day Regatta, the oldest continuous sailing regatta in the world
1838
Celebrations held to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Phillip's landing and the commencement of the traditional Australia Day public holiday in New South Wales
1871
Australian Natives Association formed. Instrumental in supporting issues such as Federation, the naming of our national day as Australia Day and citizenship ceremonies following WWI
1888
Centenary celebrations for Anniversary Day across the nation Centennial Park permanently reserved for public use
1901
January 1, Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia
1931
Australia Day adopted in Victoria
1932
Australia Day adopted in NSW only to be reversed to Anniversary Day by the incoming state government
1935
Commonwealth Government and all States and Territories except NSW adopt Australia Day as the official title for our national day
1938
150th Anniversary celebrations across the nation
1946
All States and Territories celebrate the 26 January as Australia Day
1949
Separate Australian citizenship became law for the first time Citizenship ceremonies began to become part of Australia Day celebrations
1960
Sir Macfarlane Burnet the first Australian of the Year
1968
Lionel Rose becomes the first Aboriginal Australian of the Year
1972
26 January the Aboriginal Tent Embassy established on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra
1979
National Australia Day Council formed, incorporated in 1990
1981
Australia Day Council of NSW formed, initially operating as part of the NSW Bicentennial Council
1988
Bicentennial celebrations and for the first time a united public holiday on the 26 January across the nation Modern Tall Ships and First Fleet Re-enactment arrive in Australia. Largest Aboriginal protest march in history on 26 January
1992
Inaugural Survival concert held at La Perouse, now an annual event
1994
All States and Territories begin to celebrate Australia Day on the actual day - the 26 January - for the first time
1996
Over 6.5 million Australians celebrate Australia Day nationally
2001
Centenary of Federation celebrated. Though the date was January 1st, many communities combined Australia Day and Centenary of Federation celebrations.
2002
Over 7 million people celebrate Australia Day nationally.
2004
7.5 million people attend Australia Day ceremonies nationally. This figure is unlikely to fall. |
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