I don’t know about you, but I am heartily sick and tired of the all too vocal minorities screaming from their soap boxes that we as a nation should be ashamed of our rich heritage and the extraordinary successes, we have had over the past 238 years.
Did you know for example Australia has been at the forefront of inventions and innovative technology that has changed and is changing. the world? The Black box flight recorder, Spray-on skin, Electronic pacemaker, Google Maps, Medical application of penicillin, Polymer bank notes, Cochlear implant (bionic ear), Electric drill, Winged keel, Permaculture, Wi-Fi technology, Ultrasound scanner, Plastic spectacle lenses, Inflatable escape slide and raft, Permanent-crease clothing, Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines, The Frazier lens, Triton Work Centre, Race-cam, Tank-bred tuna system, Lawn Mower, Velcro, to name just a few.
I suppose that with the benefit of getting older comes a lensing that affords you the opportunity of looking back through the corridors of time, looking back with pride, joy, and fondness memories. It Of course not everything should not be viewed through rose coloured glasses. either. Many things become more apparent, perhaps not easily understood, nor rationalised, but more obvious.
During these past weeks I’ve seen story after story about the marginalisation and fractured selfish agendas that have crept into our community that unchecked may damage our national identity and collective spirits, possibly forever.
The first significant blow was delivered when 81 city councils decided that they were not going to hold Australian citizenship ceremonies on the 26thJanuary for fear of upsetting the local indigenous communities.
Clearly none of these bozos have ever taken the time or trouble to delve back into the historical past and find out what the truth really is. I suppose because it could derail their fragile arguments.
We are far from being the “racist colonial oppressors” they wish to paint us as. As is usually the case with the perpetually offended, their pronouncements are inconsistent with reality.
Instead of being ashamed, as the activists want us to be, we Australians have every right to be proud of our past.
Not only was Australia founded on the great principles of Western civilisation such as democracy, free markets, the rule of law, social pluralism, and individual rights, but there’s arguably no country which has upheld these ideals more consistently than ours.
From the very beginning, Australia sought to be the very opposite of an oppressive, racist colonial state.
Unlike America, where there was a Declaration of Independence, the establishment of New South Wales by our founding father Governor Arthur Phillip was codified by correspondence between Phillip and the British Home Office.
For example, after Phillip was appointed Governor in 1786, he wrote up a manifesto detailing his plans for his new colony, in which he declared:
Phillip’s objection to slavery was well ahead of his time. It was radical.
While he established New South Wales as a settlement without slavery, the merchant fleets of Liverpool (England) were transporting slaves to the Americas, Britain’s Caribbean colonies were dependent on slave labour, and slavery was rife in the Raj.
Even more impressive is how Philip wrote his anti-slavery proclamation eight months before the leader of the British abolitionist movement William Wilberforce even took up the issue.
And it doesn’t stop there.
After Phillip was ordered by King George III to “endeavour, by every possible means, to open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all subjects to live in amity and kindness with them”, he announced that “any Man who takes the life of a Native, will be put on his Trial the same as if he had kill’d one of the Garrison.”
If we have sometimes failed to live up to these ideals, on the whole, we’ve given it our best shot and done our best to correct our mistakes.
You don’t hear about all this on the ABC, do you? Why? Because it doesn’t suit their narrow minded far, left-wing agenda.
Australia is not a country founded on racist colonial oppression, but one founded upon Christian morality, equality in the eyes of the law, and the primacy of inalienable rights.
Back in the late 1970’s there was a Rallying cry for Australia to start pulling together, it came from the pens of those Australian social icons Mo&Jo
It was apparent that there was a need for unity, respect, hard work, and rewards. It was about appreciation and building our Nation together. Today more than ever before the same problems are confronting us. Sadly however, we have the added burden of unsocial media, keyboard trolls who lack the courage of their conviction to even place their real name on their vile attacks. Our community I believe is crying out for direction, leadership, and fortitude. Our political masters would be well served to consider this very proposition. Lead us with purpose and vision, not hollow promises purely designed to hold on to power no matter what the cost.
Our nation is now comprised of over 300 ancestries simply because our values made this nation such an attractive place to live.
And our national spirit lies in “this continent’s shared 40,000-year history comprising its ancient past, Western civilisation, British institutions and cultural richness from two centuries of immigration,” to use the words of proud Australian Aboriginal Warren Mundine.
Each and every one of the 81 city Councils have missed the very reason local government exists. Their primary duties are to collect garbage, fix pot holed roads, and maintain council property, NOT to set social or political agendas.
Then of course there is the absurdity of both the Woolworths and Aldi supermarket chains not stocking Australia Day products. Independently they claiming there is no demand for them. This of course must beggar the question — why?
Is it because our current crop of political masters are so concerned with gaining a second term of power and access to all the perks that their offices provide that they feel there is no obligation to speak of patriotism, nationalism, and pride in our nation? They appear to be more concerned with harvesting votes from minority communities in their far-flung electorates. Eager not to upset, mindful of not committing, they stand for very little that is wholesome and decent in the Nation. A Nation that is screaming for leadership, vision, and commitment from our political elite.
I am reminded of the speech I read by Winston Churchill that he delivered just before the Battle of Britain commenced, in part he said:
“Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed, and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: This was their finest hour”.
Make no mistake, we are sitting on the precipice of a world order that threatens to tear the fabric of our Nation apart. You cannot walk in the CBD of Sydney on the weekend without being accosted by an unseemly youthful rabble protesting about freeing Palestine, bombing Israel back to the Stone Age, or setting fire to Israeli flags on the steps of our opera house. Yet our political masters seem to feel they should they stand firmly and make the most obvious comment that we do not live in the Middle East, we do not live in the Ukraine, but we do live in the greatest nation on earth, and we should demand that these bitter conflicts not be bought here and fought out on our streets. They may up set someone.
They don’t because they perceive they will lose votes.
I hate to break the bad news that it is this very in inactivity that will lose them their precious seat. What we, the peace-loving average Australian desperately want and demand is that they stand-up and show some backbone, embrace the goodness that is inherent in the majority of those of us lucky enough to live in this fabulous country.
Our Political elite should embrace the spirit that created our Australian identity, The legacy of the ANZAC was born on 25th April 1915 in an obscure cove, on an unknown beach, in a foreign land. Although arguably a military disaster, the Australians displayed great courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mate-ship. These qualities came to shape the Anzac legend as we know it today.
They (our political elite) should start representing us, not to vocal minority left-wing café latte soy-milk sipping Surry Hill’s set, nor the ludicrously out of touch ABC. Start representing us, the people who really do matter when it comes to numbers and votes. Here’s a news flash for them, we’re more concerned with putting food on our family tables, the soaring cost of household prices, interest rates, and rental income the cost of electricity. We’re far less concerned with Sectarian conflicts happening half a world away are not priorities.
Start doing your bloody job, stop strutting the world stage looking for aggravating selfies to post on your Instagram accounts. Go back to Canberra to work… and just maybe, clear thinking people will appreciate you more.
I can fondly remember the times when Australia was united as one. That morning in 1983 when we won the America’s Cup. The bicentenary of Australia celebrated in 1988. Marking 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. The tall ship First Fleet re-enactment on Sydney Harbour, Australia Day, 1988. The joy when Sydney was named as the venue for the 2000 Olympics. Cathy Freeman’s run 400-meter win in 2000 Sydney Games in 49.11 seconds, to name just a few.
This Australia Day let us all reach out and embrace ‘Advance Australia Fair’ and be proud we are blessed to live in this great nation.
