Today is “Australia Day” – a public holiday for everyone in my home country – and I am enthusiastic to proclaim my love of country, and profess how grateful I am to live somewhere so wonderful.
It is not, however, a day without controversy.
The 26th of January 1788 was the day that Great Britan’s First Fleet arrived on the shores of Sydney Harbor and planted the Union Jack flag into the sandy soil. Growing up, I remember everyone celebrating with parades, concerts, and BBQs as we happily waved Australian flags to show our nationalistic pride. In 1988 I was in my last year of High School, and the Bicentenary Celebrations included a spectacular reenactment of ‘the first landing’.
[Image source: First Fleet Reenactment 1988 – Wikipedia]
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Now, the day feels uncomfortable.
I feel uneasy that our flag has another country’s flag in the corner. I understand our historical connection to the British Empire, that we gained our language and legal system from them, and that both my grandfathers fought in WWII under the current flag… but… we’re our own country, with our own currency and cultural quirks.
I’m not “anti-Britain” but I am “pro-Australian”.
[As an aside – I suspect a new Australian flag is still a long way off – partly because no one can agree on what it’s replacement should be (I favor the current ‘Southern Cross’ stars on their blue background being repositioned to fill the void if the Union Jack is removed (see below)) – but there’s a gazillion alternatives that have been submitted over the years: 2025 selected flag submissions]
[Source: Ausflag Launches New Australian “Commonwealth” Flag]
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An even more unsettling aspect of today is the notion that we are celebrating a colonial invasion. The date marks the beginning of occupation and does not adequately acknowledge that our First Nations people were here for 60,000 years before any flag was planted.
I wish we could showcase our country-pride, but perhaps it should be on another day… although… maybe that’s just my way of avoiding the guilt that I feel as a white woman whose ancestry came mostly from the United Kingdom…
And whilst acknowledging that ours is not the only country facing these tough questions, it doesn’t feel right to be celebrating dispossession…
So, to celebrate or not to celebrate?
And how?
I’ll make it up on the go, as it were, bend and flex, and feel my way through the day as best I can with affection and awareness.
But here’s what I won’t do: rant and rave about what’s wrong with Australia. Not because there aren’t things that we can do better – every country can do better, every community, every individual, it’s just that…
Well, let me tell you a short story from my first year of university.
There was a lecturer that was very unpopular with the students. He really was a hopeless educator, and mean, and sleazy, and, and… We would routinely spend our lunchtimes complaining about him, listing all his defects, and lamenting that we were stuck with him for the whole year.
One day, a mature age student from my grade walked past and said; “are you still whining about that guy? You waste so much time talking about him – is that really how you want to spend your hour off? I get that you hate him, but why do you give him so much of your time, energy and oxygen?”
Energy flows where attention goes.
So, as I celebrate how blessed I feel to be Australian today, I will be focusing on all the good things. And as for all the bad things and bad people here and abroad… I won’t be wasting my oxygen on them anymore.
Take care taking care, wherever you are, and be kind to each other, Linda x
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PS – if it seems lazy or indifferent to tune out inconvenient truths and what doesn’t serve me well, know that (for better or worse) it’s a conscious decision to save my sanity, and is part of an approach I’m practicing for 2026; Lewandowsky and Hertwig’s “critical ignoring” (2022) – I’ll write more on that soon, L xx
The Mindful Migraine 
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