Some other Australia Days

Flowering gum

January 26th, Australia Day, evokes much debate around the country but here I reflect on my personal memories of this date in times past, in other places.

In 1980 we were living in UN housing in Srinagar, Kashmir, in the middle of a very cold winter. We flew to New Delhi for a short break and went along with the 2 million people who on that day attended the parade celebrating Indian Republic Day. The twenty sixth of January is celebrated as the day the Constitution of India came into effect in 1950. It is one of India’s three nationwide public holidays.

The parade was spectacular displaying the wide variety of Indian ethnic groups, along with the colourful marching bands that accompanied the military units. My abiding memory is the size of the crowd pressing in around us. After the parade ended, we walked back to our accommodation with my husband in front, me behind him hanging on to his belt and another Australian male colleague behind me with his hands on my shoulders. That was the only way we could stay together in that huge moving mass of people.

Twenty years later, after many summer based Australia Days back home, we were living in Paris. The tradition in most embassies is a celebration of each country’s national day, so too did the Australian Embassy celebrate. A more casual function for staff on the following Friday night was held in the recreation room located on the ground floor of the residential building. That space was known as Matilda’s and was also a popular staff venue for children’s parties.

We enjoyed another memorable Australia Day about 2005. Our children had given us tickets to a lunchtime jazz cruise on Sydney Harbour. Out amongst all the boats on that magnificent harbour with the bridge and Opera House in the background, we enjoyed an afternoon of superb entertainment. The flotilla of boats of all sizes and shapes displaying a variety of flags, added to our appreciation of all that Australia offers to those of us who call it home.

My Irish ancestors chose it as their home in the 1840s and 1850s long after the original inhabitants had made it their home. Now we are 22 million from all corners of the world, Australians all.

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin