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Australia
Day - A History 1888 - 1938
In 1871 the
Australian Natives' Association had been
formed in Victoria. This was the first
Australian Friendly Society and its motto
was Advance Australia. The group, which
had particular influence in the period
between the 1890's to around 1914, had
strong nationalistic aspirations and its
members included Edmund Barton (to become
our first Prime Minister), Alfred Deakin
(Australia's second Prime Minister) and
Sir Isaac Isaacs (our first
Australian-born Governor-General).
The ANA
grew rapidly and branches were formed
across Victoria and in all states as well
as a branch in London. By the 1880's, the
group was making a nation-wide impact.
The
Australian Natives' Association supported
many issues including afforestation, an
Australian-made goods policy, water
conservation, Aboriginal welfare, the
celebration of proper and meaningful
citizenship ceremonies following the
increased levels of migration after World
War II and the adoption of the wattle as
the national floral emblem, accepted in
1912.
However,
some of their strongest support was lent
to the move towards Federation and a
united Commonwealth (along with the
Federation League), the celebration of a
unified national day and the calling of
that day Australia Day.
Preparations
for the 150th anniversary of white
settlement in 1938 had commenced in NSW
in 1936 with the formation of a
Celebrations Council and the
Sesquicentenary year became an important
year for celebrations.
NSW was the
only state to abandon the traditional
long weekend and the annual Anniversary
Day public holiday was held on the day -
Wednesday 26 January.
The general
public appeared to have embraced the
150th anniversary with great enthusiasm.
In Sydney, events commenced on the 18
January with a ceremony to celebrate the
arrival of Captain Phillip at Botany Bay.
A similar ceremony was held on the 21
January at Camp Cove. Both were attended
by the Governor Lord Wakehurst, the
Premier Bertram Stevens, military chiefs
and assorted dignitaries.
The 26
January 1938 in NSW featured many major
events around the state and in Sydney on
and around the Harbour. The 'March of
Nationhood', an extremely successful
parade of over sixty motorised floats
passed through the streets of Sydney to
the Showground watched by almost one
million people. Streets and buildings
were decorated and the city was alive
with colour and excitement, decorated
with bunting, flags and illuminations.
The
showpiece of the official celebrations
was a re-enactment of the landing of
Captain Phillip complete with the putting
to flight of a party of Aborigines. The
latter, a group of twenty-six, had been
brought to Sydney from poverty-stricken
settlements in Menindee and Brewarrina
when their city counterparts refused to
take part in what has been called a
'grossly theatrical re-enactment'.
Several
hours before the re-enactment on the
morning of the 26 January, Aboriginal
activists met to hold a 'Day of Mourning'
conference aimed at securing national
citizenship and equal status for
Aborigines. A manifesto titled Aborigines
Claim Citizen Rights was distributed by
the committee formed to organise the
protest and soon after Australia Day 1938
the Committee for Aboriginal Citizen
Rights was formed in Sydney.
Interestingly,
one element was conspicuously missing
from this performance - convicts. As Paul
Ashton writes in his book Waving the
Waratah, considerable public criticism
and the resignation of two committee
members had followed the decision by the
Celebrations Council to 'sanitise the
historical components of the celebration'
and to rewrite history for 'mass
consumption'. Even the conservative
Sydney Morning Herald felt that convicts
could have been represented 'without
making them unduly conspicuous'.
Outside
Sydney, there were many celebrations and
events in the bush for the
Sesquicentenary - picnics, balls, musical
performances and the odd fireworks show.
A
significant amount of ephemera remains
from the celebrations - invitations,
pamphlets, program brochures, tourist
leaflets from large regional towns and
musical, art and literary competitions,
indicating the number of events that took
place around New South Wales. However, in
both city and country, unlike the 1988
Bicentenary, little in the way of
permanent structures and reminders were
created during 1938.
The
euphoria of the 150th anniversary
celebrations was maintained as February
1938 saw the staging of the British
Empire Games in Australia for the first
time. Of the seventy events held in
Sydney, Australia won twenty-four, far
ahead of her nearest rival Canada with
thirteen.
Resourced from:
http://www.adc.nsw.gov.au/history.htm
  
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