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https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-may-9-the-true-australia-day-204555>
"We missed out on a holiday for the king’s coronation.
Early next month we are about to get one for his birthday in most states of
Australia, on a day that isn’t actually his birthday.
That holiday was Australia’s first, declared by NSW Governor Arthur Phillip in
1788 to mark the birthday of George III. It must have seemed as strange to the
new arrivals as to the Australians on whose land they had arrived.
It didn’t mark their safe arrival, it didn’t mark the raising of the Union Jack
on Australian shores and it didn’t mark the founding of Sydney. Nor did it
acknowledge the first peoples already on the continent.
These days the king’s birthday is even less relevant than it was.
The king no longer has the power to enact laws governing Australia. That
finished when his mother Queen Elizabeth signed the Australia Act 1986, which
ended the ability of the United Kingdom to make laws with respect to Australian
states and the ability of Australian states to take disputes to the UK Privy
Council.
But hiding in plain sight, just a month before the king’s birthday holiday, is
a date most of us have a much better reason to celebrate – it’s May 9, which
this year also happens to be budget day."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
