By Guy Barnett
June 11, 2007 02:00am
IT'S time Australia grew up and reviewed some of its historical anomalies
such as today's Queen's Birthday holiday.
This long weekend in fact has nothing to do with the Queen's actual birthday.
Our celebration is terribly misguided.
Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21 1926, which means that for almost
70 years we have celebrated her birthday on the wrong day of the wrong month.
Even the UK does not celebrate the Queen's birthday with a public holiday. In
1936 most states decided to proclaim a holiday in June close to the birthday of
King George V, and we have been stuck with it ever since. Interestingly, Western
Australia celebrates the Queen's birthday in September rather than June.
Queen Elizabeth II is undoubtedly one of the finest heads of state in history. She
has served as a fantastic beacon for good, a fine example and force for stability in
the Commonwealth and indeed the world, but in modern day Australia we must look
like international fools in not only getting her birthday wrong but in actually
celebrating the error.
The granting of Australian awards on the Queen's Birthday holiday demonstrates
skewed priorities. These awards would have far greater significance if a more relevant
day could be agreed.
We could look at alternatives such as September 1, officially proclaimed as National
Wattle Day in 1992, as potentially a day of recognising and celebrating outstanding
Australians.
Wattle Day, born in Tasmania, has a meaningful history in Australia. It did not take
long for early settlers to identify wattle as something uniquely Australian, and an
unofficial symbol.
Wattle takes a prominent place on the coat of arms dating from 1912. It was presented
to servicemen and women returning from both world wars, and it is a predominant
design feature on Order of Australia insignia.
It has also become customary for new Australians to be presented with sprigs of
wattle on gaining citizenship.
Alternatively, a day could be set aside to honour those who lived in Australia prior
to white settlement. Public discussion about these ideas may give rise to other days
worthy of replacing the Queen's Birthday June long weekend holiday.
