Sydney has played hosts to dozens of citizenship ceremonies today, including one at the city’s Town Hall.
Sydney lord-mayor Clover Moore welcomed 24 new Australian citizen, making a total of 19,024 people she had seen accept their certificates during her time in the role.
They included new citizens from China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, the United States and Thailand.
Our culture editor, Nancy Groves, is following Triple J’s Hottest 100 Countdown. Don’t tell Taylor, she writes, but several acts have already made it into TWICE into the Top 100. Greedy greedy. Here they are:
– Thundamentals with Got Love (Ft Solo) – 90 and Quit Your Job at 78
– Ball Park Music with Trippin’ The Light Fantastic at 99 and Everything Is Shit Except Your Friendship with Me at 58
– Kingswood with Microwars at 76 and I Can Feel That You Don’t Love Me at 56
– Röyksopp & Robyn with Do It Again at 73 and Monumental at 59
– The Amity Affliction with The Weigh Down at 71 and Don’t Lean on Me at 64
Our favourite celebrity caller to date: Childish Gambino, aka Community actor Donald Glover, who admitted he was celebrating his track Sweatpants making the list by, um, wearing some, and drinking a ho-cho and marshmallows. “You mean you don’t drink hot chocolate in Australia?”
Our Don might have played Splendour in the Grass last July but I don’t think he’s quite au fait with the January rituals. Read our top six actor-turned-musicians breeds while you wait for No 50.
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This morning, my colleague Monica Tan went to a protest outside the Villawood detention centre, led by an Indigenous elder and two of his friends. You might think the private security company that runs Villawood would be untroubled by a small, dignified a show of dissent outside the centre. You would be wrong.
Frank “Riverbank” Doolan, a much-loved Wiradjuri elder, lives in a caravan on the banks of Macquarie river but has driven 400km to Sydney to spend the day highlighting an issue that in his view all Australians should care about: asylum seekers in detention.
Villawood detention centre is just a 30-minute drive from my home, nestled in the suburbs of western Sydney. I arrive at 7am just as Doolan pulls up in a beat-up Volvo with his friends Christopher David Ryan and Nina Angelo, a former refugee. I watch them attempt to drive closer to the centre’s visitor entrance when they’re stopped by a Serco security guard.
By this time I’ve parked my car and jumped into theirs. “We’re going to have to setup outside,” explains Doolan. We drive out of the car park to the street, where Doolan sets up his banner on a small spot of grass just by the driveway leading up Villawood.
I have a feeling that leaving my car behind in the centre car park was a bad idea, so Ryan and I take the Volvo and go back up the driveway. I quickly get back into my car, but as we both try to exit we are suddenly surrounded by seven Serco security staff. They are rude and aggressive and refuse to let us leave.
They demand I hand over my identification and look at the photos I’ve taken on my camera. I immediately lock the doors of my car. Knowing I might be forced to delete the pictures at any moment, I jump on to the internet and email them to a friend.
“You think this is really funny, don’t you?” says one of the guards, sneering. I tell her that in fact, I am terrified.
It’s a strange hour of limbo not knowing my fate, in what seems like an excessive security response to three citizens in their 60s, armed with nothing but a banner, and one journalist with a mobile phone.
Eventually the police arrive and Ryan and I are given permission to leave.
Outside, the group of protesters has grown to five. I ask Doolan about his decision to drive to Villawood detention centre, of all places, for the day.
He takes the opportunity to address directly his “Aboriginal brothers and sisters”, particularly leadership he feels has failed to speak out on the issue. “Refugee people are stateless people, they are persecuted people. In a lot of cases they’re running for their life while we make an argument about what is a refugee, and call people legal or illegal.”
Doolan is particularly aggrieved by the detention of child asylum seekers, of which there are now 333 in centres across the country, and an additional 135 in offshore processing centres.
Recently he took to Facebook to share a story of his father, a survivor of the stolen generations: “Fast forward to 2015 and lo and behold in Australia we’re still locking up children,” writes Doolan. “No, I’m not referring to the 1000’s in Juvenile Justice (misnomer) Centres in Australia. I refer instead to the children of asylum seeking refugees in detention. What about those children? Why are they incarcerated? What have they done wrong and when will they be released?”
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One band making a statement today is Brisbane alt-rock outfit the Medics, half of whose members are Indigenous. They call 26 January Survival Day: “A day to remember our people and the struggle – the continuing struggle,” band member Kahl Wallis told my colleague Monica Tan.
To time with Survival Day, the band have released a new track called Wake Up, available for free download. It will be the first new material the band have put out since their explosive debut three years ago, which saw their album Foundations featured on Triple J, peak at No 29 on the Aria charts and win big at both the National Indigenous Music and Rolling Stone awards.
The song proudly wears its political messaging on its sleeve and has all the Medics trademarks: angst-ridden emo-punk vocals, with layers of guitar and drums that build, crash and boom.
Read the full story here and download the band’s free track, Wake Up, here.
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Let’s tack briefly towards the Triple J Hottest 100, where we’ve just had a change of presenter – but no change of on-air policy. Despite Lewis McKirdy confirming the Tay-Tay disqualification before the countdown even started, there’s been no mention of it since. It’s like the social media debate isn’t even happening. Are the callers being briefed?
The triplejfeed.com is momentarily live again – it explains the eight reasons Swift wasn’t allowed to make the list. Some on Twitter are suggesting she would have placed 12th if she wasn’t forbidden, but that’s not yet confirmed.
Anyway, here’s the countdown from 87-70, kicking off with Briggs, another great Guardian Australia interviewee back in October.
“People are ready for hip-hop with a voice that isn’t middle-class, white Australian.”
Here’s the list:
87. Briggs – Bad Apples
86. Sticky Fingers – Just for You
85. Chvrches –Get Away
84. Foo Fighters – Something from Nothing
83. British India – Wrong Direction
82. Hopium – Dreamers (Ft Phoebe Lou)
81. The Avener – Fade Out Lines
80. Rise Against – I Don’t Want to be Here Anymore
79. Jack White – Lazaretto
78. Thundamentals – Quit Your Job
77. Highasakite – Since Last Wednesday
76. Kingswood – Micro Wars
75. 360 – Live It Up (Feat. Pez)
74. Duke Dumont – I Got U (Feat. Jax Jones)
73. Royksopp and Robyn – Do It Again
72. Run The Jewels – Close Your Eyes (and Count to Fuck) [Ft. Zack dela Rocha)
71. Amity Affliction – The Weigh Down
70. Odd Mob – Is it a Banger?
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We’re also live-blogging Australia’s clash with India at the SCG, the beginning of which has been delayed due to poor weather. It’s left Channel 9 scrambling to fill the airtime, as my colleague Russell Jackson writes.
As the rain tumbles down there is much faffing in the commentary box. James Brayshaw is screaming something about the cooking capabilities of the wives of each of his commentary cohorts. If that doesn’t have you heading for YouTube, nothing will. Earlier they showed some footage of the very first Australia Day ODI, the SCG clash between Australia and the West Indies in 1982. That was, needless to say, a better move.
Check-in on the game here. It’s scheduled to begin at 3pm, weather permitting.
Tall ships in Sydney harbour commemorating Australia’s national day
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There’s plenty to celebrate about being Australian, and there’s plenty not to celebrate too. A national day should acknowledge all of it, Paul Daley writes.
Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s I was, typically for many Australian children, usually at the beach when most Australia Days rolled around.
I can’t remember my family and friends ever making much of a fuss about it.
For us third and fourth generation European-Australians Australia Day seemed to signify little but the end of the long, lazy summer holidays. It meant mothers poised to wrestle clear plastic onto the covers of the year’s textbooks and a time to fit sand-blasted feet with torturous new school shoes of unyielding patent leather.
It felt like a breezy day of underrated celebration – of something or other, I wasn’t too sure. It seemed to be mostly for others, though, not least the throngs of (mostly) olive-skinned European migrants who converged on the foreshore to play bocce, grill sausage, drink grappa, talk and laugh on Australia Day afternoon.
I remember my father, descendant of Irish immigrant grandparents, explaining to me that Australia Day was when the “new Australians” modestly celebrated becoming part of the post-war ethnic melting pot that was Australian society. It was their day, he explained, and those of us whose families had been on the continent for a long time should stand back, and let them enjoy it.
I’ve since come to loathe Australia Day.
Adam Giles on Prince Philip: "We're not a bunch of tossers."
The Northern Territory chief minister has mocked the decision by Abbott to bestow a knighthood on Prince Philip, Helen Davidson reports from Darwin.
NT chief minister and Country Liberal party member Adam Giles began a doorstop press conference after a citizenship ceremony in Darwin by addressing the appointment without being asked.
“Happy April Fools’ Day, everybody, as I saw in the paper reading Prince Philip is now a knight,” Giles said to media.
“I woke up this morning and read the wires and … was confused between Australia Day and April Fools’ Day. We’ve got to be real. It’s Australia Day, a time when we all get together to celebrate all the good things about being Darwinites, Alice Springites, Territorians, Australians, everything that is unique about us as a culture and as a people. And we see something like this, it takes away from the legitimacy of the knighthood role, it makes us a bit of a joke in a range of areas, and I really question the motivations in doing this.
In a time when we’ve got Bill Shorten coming out and calling for a populist republic debate, and we start to reignite these things about monarchies and republicans on Australia Day. I’m a person who supports both sides of the channel – we don’t need to change everything, we’re independent, we’re Australia. Let’s just keep going the way we are, but then you’ve got the Australian government coming out and giving a knighthood to Prince Philip which blows one side of the argument completely out of the picture. It’s Australia Day, we’re not a bunch of tossers, let’s get it right.
I’m not sure how the full appointment is taken place in this regard, but you do have to ask yourself what’s actually going on. We’ve had Angus Houston with a knighthood. I think Angus is a very worthy recipient, but Prince Philip with all due respect is someone who gives good governance and counsel from a commonwealth point of view, but it’s Australia, it’s Australia Day, let’s get real.
Sir Adam Giles, anyone?
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Spotted in a Bondi butcher’s shop
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Afghani man Besmellah Akbari is one of 619 people becoming an Australian citizen at Wanneroo Showgrounds in WA, in the country’s largest naturalisation ceremony, Calla Wahlquist writes from Perth.
Akbari was sponsored by his father, who arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2000.
Akbari’s sister, Zainab Akbari, and mother arrived in Australia in 2006. Zainab’s three children were born in Australia.
They became citizens in 2010 and in 2013 sponsored Zainab’s husband, Liyaqat Al Shokat Ali, to come to Australia as well. Shokat Ali is now waiting on his citizenship ceremony, slated for 2018, so he can offer the same assistance to his own family.
Zainab said she felt fortunate to have been able to avoid the refugee process, “which is becoming more and more difficult”.
“[Afghanistan] is not a safe place,” she said. “Even when you are just going shopping, something makes you worried, something makes you think, ‘is something going to happen?’”
Shokat Ali, who lived in Kabul, said he was concerned for those who remained. “It is still highly volatile,” he said.
How do you end the country’s biggest citizenship ceremony? With a group cry of Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!, apparently.
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NT's chief minister @adamgiles wishes everyone a "happy April Fool's Day" after reading about Sir Prince Philip. Says "we're not tossers".
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2015
News of Sir/Prince Philip not going down well up north.
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Swift disqualified?
Meanwhile, it appears that Taylor Swift has been disqualified from the Hottest 100 after the radio station published a screenshot on their Instagram feed of a web page explaining the decision.
The website, called triplejfeed.com, briefly went live on Monday morning with an article called “8 Hilarious But Totally True Reasons You Didn’t Hear ‘Shake It Off’ In The Hottest 100”. The site soon crashed, presumably under weight of traffic.
ABC reporter Will Ockenden did some digging and found that the domain name was registered two days ago, and points to a server in the US, which prompted speculation that the site may have been a prank.
So the http://t.co/LdIXrzNIEP domain was registered two days ago. It points to a Google server in the US (146.148.61.108)
— Will Ockenden (@will_ock) January 26, 2015
Triple J’s Instagram post appears to confirm that Swift has indeed been disqualified, but the station has not officially confirmed the decision. Could they be teasing us? We may not know until the countdown is over.
Meanwhile, the Twittersphere rages.
TAYLOR WAS DISQUALIFIED!? Triple J you are done. De-fund the ABC. Royal commission into the ABC. SACK THEM ALL #Tay4Hottest100
— Harry Tucker (@harrytuckerr) January 26, 2015
Triple J does a lot of things absolutely right. But everything that is wrong with it, is also on show right now. #tay4hottest100
— Brad Wood (@bradwoodradio) January 26, 2015
If you care more about the reasons that #Tay4hottest100 was disqualified & not about the awesome songs they're playing NOW, that says a lot.
— sushf (@sushf1) January 26, 2015
Australia Day 2015: A nation divided. #princephilip #Tay4Hottest100 #auspol #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/VMK65O52WL
— Daniel Gerrard (@Dan_Gerr) January 26, 2015
The ABC has tussled with some powerful enemies the past 12 months. In taking on Swift’s legions of adoring fans, it may have bitten off more than it can chew.
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We’re now one hour into the Triple J Hottest 100, with a lucky 13 tracks down
Here’s 100 – 88
100 Tkay Maidza – Switch Lanes
99 Ball Park Music – Trippin The Light Fantastic
98 Bombay Bicycle Club – Luna
97 Japanese Wallpaper – Between Friends [Ft Jesse Davidson]
96 Safia – Paranoia Ghosts and Other Sounds
95 Thelma Plum – How Much Does Your Love Cost?
94 Sticky Fingers - Liquorlip Loaded Gin
93 Vance Joy – Georgia
92 One Day – Love Me Less
91 Meg Mac – Bridges
90 Thundamentals – Got Love (Ft Solo)
89 Cold War Kids – First
88 Death Rays – Gina Works at Hearts
Eleven of the songs so far have been Australian, with six of them getting their start on Triple J Unearthed, we’re told.
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Prince Philip may have snatched the spotlight, but there’s another well-known Brit celebrating this Australia Day. Shailalah Medhora reports that antiques expert and BBC stalwart Hilary Kay has become an Australian citizen at a ceremony in Canberra.
Kay, originally from just outside Oxford in the United Kingdom, has lived in Australia for eight years. She has been part of the television show Antiques Roadshow since 1978.
Despite loving antiquities, Kay has made the young nation her home.
“Australia is a country that is willing to meet you more than halfway,” she said. “It’s extraordinarily welcoming and people are encouraged to succeed here.”
Kay first visited Australia in the 1980s when she was in her 20s.
She remembers thinking the country was “being drowned by the sunshine” and expressed surprise at how big and spacious the country is.
Kay warmed to Australia’s rich cultural heritage and wants to learn more about its Indigenous past.
She said its migrant history means she’s constantly finding interesting antiques in the most unexpected of places.
“The heritage that people bring with them isn’t young,” she said.
Nationwide, 15,900 people from 152 countries will become Australian citizens.
More than 330 citizenship ceremonies will take place on Monday.
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Guardian Australia’s Melissa Davey reports from Melbourne:
People have placed flowers on the steps of parliament house in Victoria in recognition of Indigenous Australians who have died since their land was invaded.
Organisers also acknowledged Indigenous deaths in custody and ongoing inequality.
A smoking ceremony was followed by a rally and march to Birrarung Marr park.
Melissa’s elegant photo shows a note that begins: “In loving memory of all the innocent souls ... ”
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Data journalism demonstrates its value to the Triple J Hottest 100. Excellent take from Nick Evershed:
Graph: proportion of taylor swift in the #hottest100 #Tay4Hottest100 #DefaultExcelPieCharts pic.twitter.com/1JIZh659qt
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 26, 2015
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Not sure precisely where else Guardian Australia’s Darwin correspondent Helen Davidson expected new Australian citizens to come from:
Darwin's newest citizens have come from across the planet. #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/6nCj51EzUI
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2015
The Guardian’s inteprid Paul Farrell is in Cronulla:
A group of around 35 police officers have just walked out of Cronulla police station to begin patrols of the beach and Cronulla mall. No doubt they are beginning their annual Australia Day peacekeeping exercise, a task that perhaps that should not be underestimated.
Cronulla mall is quite busy and there are increasingly more locals with an assortment of Australia Day hats and the odd flag draped around those most patriotic of teenagers’ lanky shoulders.
A sausage sizzle is underway down by the beach, purporting to be Cronulla’s best sausage sizzle on Australia Day. Rival pop-up stores are making similar claims over at Gunnamatta Bay. This will require further investigation, perhaps even a datablog, but by the end of Australia Day we will definitely be able to say which store had the best sausage sizzle in Cronulla.
No sightings yet of the former immigration minister, Scott Morrison. No doubt his current whereabouts are an operational matter.
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Guardian Australia (unofficial) competition:
And here's new citizen Andreas. Any guesses which country he's immigrated from? @BenDohertyCorro pic.twitter.com/SjpSRMtHrL
— michael safi (@safimichael) January 26, 2015
And straight in at 100 is Australia’s own Tkay Maidza. We interviewed the Zimbabwean born singer - playing Laneways festival this month – back in November and she had the following to say about her country.
I think Aussies are so chilled out and heaps sarcastic. So that’s basically what I am. It’s all for fun and being silly, at the same time as being yourself. That’s being Australian.
Ooohh, the first JJJ controversy/rumour/confected outrage for Australia Day 2015:
BREAKING: Taylor Swift is NOT in Triple J Hottest 100. Disqualified #Tay4Hottest100
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) January 26, 2015
Hottest 100!
So here we are again for another year.
Call it what you want – Australia Day, Invasion Day or Survival Day – but one thing we can all agree on is 26 January is Hottest 100 Day.
Last year our colleague Alex Needham live-blogged Triple J’s Hottest 100 in its entirety. Following his stirling lead, Guardian Australia’s culture team will be listening in and keeping you updated all day on Australia’s biggest countdown since Molly Meldrum’s retirement.
Post a comment, or tweet us @nancyarts or @monicatan using the generally agreed hashtag #hottest100 (or #TAYforHottest100 if that’s your thing).
I’m also on nancy.groves@theguardian.com. We’re armed and ready.
Armed for #Hottest100 duty, complete with finest pound shop tat ... quite literally pic.twitter.com/DtqLF4HvTN
— Nancy Ganz (@nancyarts) January 26, 2015
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Tom Uren, former Whitlam government minister, boxer, soldier, PoW, has died, aged 93
Tom Uren, the former deputy leader of Australia’s Labor party, has died at the age of 93.
He served as a minister in the cabinet of Gough Whitlam as minister for urban and regional development and established the Australian Heritage Commission.
He was a former boxer, once challenging for the Australian heavyweight title, and served in the Australian Army in WWII. He was a prisoner of war, held by the Japanese, and worked on the notorious Thai-Burma railway. He watched the glow of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki from a PoW camp.
The Guardian and ABC have reports here and here.
Labor leader Bill Shorten described him as a “champion of equality”.
Still gloomy in Sydney, but...
.@MClarke23 Clarke running laps of the @SCG in the pouring rain before today's #AUSvIND #AustraliaDay clash. pic.twitter.com/f7Koo47bdL
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 25, 2015
this is good news for the World Cup (though ‘pouring rain’ might be a bit strong CA, steady drizzle more like).
Spraying the electronic walls of the internet with graffiti...
I think even the Queen would have burst out laughing when she got Abbott's letter asking her to appoint her husband an Australian Knight...
— Peter van Onselen (@vanOnselenP) January 25, 2015
.... meanwhile, back in the Imperial Motherland .... #knightsanddames #auspol #DukeEd pic.twitter.com/QG0lzyOY0Z
— Dame Squeeze Larvey (@Bukumbooee) January 25, 2015
The @AusRepublic Movement has slammed the PM’s decision to make #PrincePhilip a Knight in the Order of Australia pic.twitter.com/eUHZaftKTc
— ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) January 25, 2015
Tony Abbott has defended the decision to award Prince Philip a knighthood
He described Prince Philip as a “great servant” of Australia and for a life of duty and service.
He’s the patron of hundreds of organisations. He’s the inspiration and wellspring of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards which have provided leadership training for tens if not hundreds of thousands of Australians over the years.
I’m just really pleased that in his 90s, towards the end of a life of service and duty, we in this country are able to properly acknowledge what he’s done for us.
It is fitting that we pay tribute to an extraordinary life of service.
The Prime Minister dismissed social media criticism of the decision to award the knighthood to the Prince as “electronic graffiti”.
Social media is kind of like electronic graffiti and I think that in the media, you make a big mistake to pay too much attention to social media. You wouldn’t report what’s sprayed up on the walls on buildings.”
Recognising the too-often overlooked contribution of teddy bears to Australia
The Wiggles play at Sydney’s Opera House.
Oh, oh, oh, oh...
Army band belting out 'Working Class Man' @ Darwin #AustraliaDay c'ship. Presumably dedicated to Sir Prince Phillip. pic.twitter.com/2wtt2fCdHg
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2015
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has praised Prince Philip’s decades of public service but reckons the government might have been able to find an Australian more deserving of a knighthood than an nonagenarian Greek-born, UK-domiciled member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg.
It’s a time warp where we’re giving knighthoods to English royalty. I think that on Australia Day, where we’re talking about Australia, Australian identity, the government’s managed to find a British royal to give a medal to, a knighthood to. I’ve just been at citizenship functions, local breakfasts – some people there wondered whether it was an Australia Day hoax.
Prince Philip’s been very distinguished ever since he married the young Queen, I mean he’s had six decades of public service. My reservations are not about him, but I just think that he already has a lot of knighthoods and awards, I just wonder if they couldn’t have picked someone who is Australian in character and activity.
The prince is famous for his extemporaneous remarks/gaffes – catalogues of them are available online. In 2002, he reportedly told a group of Australian school-aged musicians who had performed, apparently admirably, for him: “You were playing your instruments? Or do you have tape recorders under your seats?”
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Reporter Paul Farrell is in Cronulla, New South Wales, where he says Australia Day has got off to an “eerily quiet” start:
While the beach is usually starting to fill up right about now with tattoo- and flag-clad locals, the unseasonal weather has put a distinct dampener on the morning.
In fact, all Cronulla’s beaches are closed due to dangerous surf conditions, and lifeguards told Guardian Australia there was no indication this would be changing any time soon.
The big winners out of this are the surfers, who largely have the beach to themselves, and a choppy south swell that has whipped up some turbulent but rideable waves.
“It’s pretty messy out there but it’s the best swell we’ve had in weeks,” said Glen Thomas, an 18-year-old Gymea resident.
“Even if the weather’s crap it’s not a bad way to spend Australia Day.”
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Here are some pics from the citizenship ceremonies taking place around the country.
Joshua Robertson snapped this lovely pic in Brisbane of proud parents Tejasvini and Niraj Bende, originally of India, with new Australian citizen Yash, 20 months.
Proud parents Tejasvini & Niraj Bende, originally of India with new citizen Yash, 20 months pic.twitter.com/HvGMN4TkPv
— Joshua Robertson (@jrojourno) January 25, 2015
Happy Straya day- Qld Labor in Inala for citizenship ceremony. @7NewsBrisbane #qldvotes pic.twitter.com/PVAF2A1qkR
— Katrina Blowers (@katrinablowers) January 25, 2015
Preparing for #citizenship ceremony at Inala. @abcnews #qldvotes pic.twitter.com/F8xBEyXcie
— Leonie Mellor (@leoniemellor) January 25, 2015
With @IngaPeulichMP and @georgiecrozier at @kingstoncc #AustraliaDay citizenship ceremony. pic.twitter.com/VaXiZXkf0r
— Mitch Fifield (@SenatorFifield) January 25, 2015
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In Darwin, the day began with a 7am fun run. Helen Davidson reports:
Hundreds of people rose at dawn to head to the waterfront for the annual fun run at 7am before it got too hot – just a balmy 29 degrees with 80% humidity. This reporter took part with enthusiasm (standing at the finish line with an ice coffee and a muffin). Some took it seriously, sprinting the 2.5km or 5km track through the city and around the harbour. Others got dressed up and just had fun with it. Some did both – the man in the Morph suit was one of the first over the line for the shorter track.
Darwin funrun this morning for #AustraliaDay Starting early (7am) when it's only a balmy 29 degrees and 80% humidity. pic.twitter.com/w1N0GpYGlq
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 25, 2015
Meanwhile, the Kangaroo sanctuary in Alice Springs wishes you a happy ’Straya Day. Awww.
Happy Australia Day from The Kangaroo Sanctuary in #AliceSprings #NTaustralia pic.twitter.com/7xJxefASeD
— Northern Territory (@AusOutbackNT) January 25, 2015
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Guardian Australia’s Brisbane correspondent, Joshua Robertson, says he is celebrating Australia Day by “sweating it out under a tin roof” at the Gap state high school in Brisbane.
That’s in the seat of Ashgrove, with the campaigning Queensland premier, Campbell Newman, in attendance.
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Darwin reporter Helen Davidson writes:
The Top End’s chief minister, Adam Giles, has congratulated the Territorians among the Australia Day honours.
“I am extremely pleased to see the contributions of those who have dedicated their lives to helping Indigenous Territorians receive recognition as well,” he said.
“Without the advocacy of passionate individuals, many of the issues facing Indigenous Territorians would remain unaddressed.”
The Territorians honoured are:
- ABC broadcaster Charlie King has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to broadcast media and to the Indigenous community of the Territory.
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Kathleen Abbott for significant service to Indigenous Territorians as an advocate for improved health and wellbeing.
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Timothy Nadjowh for significant service to the Indigenous communities of West Arnhem Land.
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Michael Burgess, (former chief executive of the Department of Chief Minister) in recognition of his significant service to public administration in the Territory.
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It’s Australia Day, but do a random assortment of people in Sydney know enough about Australia’s national icons to really be celebrating?
Reporter Michael Safi tests their knowledge in a kind of Australia Day Rorschach test and finds we’re far from universally knowledgeable when it comes to Australiana.
Here’s Melbourne correspondent Oliver Milman:
Drizzly weather in Melbourne hasn’t deterred Australia Day devotees who have swooped upon the prized barbecue spots beside the Yarra river. Groups of people, some wrapped in Australian flags, huddled under umbrellas as they attempted to get the barbies fired up. Hopefully, Melbourne’s reputation for changeable weather will come to their aid by lunchtime.
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Are you planning on going to the beach, a Triple J Hottest 100 party, a protest in the park or a barbecue? We would love to see your photos from today. Contribute to Guardian Witness here.
Eight former Australians of the Year have used Australia Day to call for the immediate release of all refugee and asylum-seeker children from immigration detention, Guardian Australia reporter Ben Doherty writes.
“We are a country of hope, with a commitment to the freedom and dignity of all people … that strives to protect the rights of the most vulnerable,” they write.
“Indefinite detention of children and babies is at odds with these hopes and principles.
“These children and their parents came to us in desperation, seeking our help. They came to us seeking safety, knowing of Australia’s reputation as a fair, inclusive and just society and knowing we are a people who are never afraid to lend a hand to those in need.”
The letter is signed by eight winners of the Australian of the Year award: Prof Ian Frazer (2006), Prof Peter Doherty (1997), Ian Kiernan (1994), Prof Gustav Nossal (2000), Simon McKeon (2011), Geoffrey Rush (2012), Prof Fiona Stanley (2003), and Prof Pat McGorry (2010).
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Here’s a report on today’s cultural events from Guardian Australia’s culture editor, Nancy Groves.
Another year’s Australia Day celebrations kicked off this morning as the Australian and Aboriginal flags are raised side by side on the Sydney harbour bridge after the traditional WugulOra Indigenous ceremony at 7.30am.
Early in the morning in Melbourne too, Aboriginal elders gathered with tissue paper flowers of red, yellow and black to piece together floral wreaths to lay on the steps of Victoria’s Parliament House. And across the country, gatherings such as the Yabun festival will mark 26 January as Survival Day of Australia’s first people.
For some, Monday will be a spent on the water, from the culmination of the three-day Festival of Sails in Geelong to the annual Tall Ships race and Ferrython in Sydney harbour. Others will spend in the sky, including the participants of Perth’s famous Skyworks – which ambitiously combines fireworks and a four-hour flyover of Cessnas, choppers and a RAAF Hawk performing loop-the-loop acrobatics.
But for many it will be a day spent indulging in eccentricities as only Australia can, whether that’s the 11th annual Glenbrook Park gnome convention in the Blue Mountains or Bondi’s Australia Day thong challenge, in which a beach full or revellers wade into the surf carrying only giant inflatable thongs.
And then, of course, there’s the Hottest 100.
Will Taylor Swift upset the apple cart with Shake it Off? Her fans have spoken and we’ll be counting down the tunes all day as, worldwide, more than 3,550 venues throw a Triple J-registered party, including the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, where you can vote for your Hottest 100 works of art, too. Fancy. Not sure they have a Taylor in the collection though, Swifties.
Stay tuned.
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For many, Australia Day is a day of mourning, as Nakkiah Lui wrote in this piece for Australia Day last year. A number of Invasion Day events are planned throughout the country.
- At 10am, a smoking ceremony will take place next to Parliament House in Victoria, followed by a rally. People are encouraged to place flowers on the steps of parliament, in commemoration of the stolen generation and Indigenous people who have died in custody, through genocidal practices and in massacres.
- Thousands of First Peoples are expected in Canberra to join in a sit-in protest at Parliament House.
The former ACT Australian of the Year Dr Tom Calma has urged Australians to reflect on what today means to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, SBS reports.
“In the last survey we did at Reconciliation Australia, about half the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were interviewed felt that discrimination still existed,” Calma told SBS.
“About a third of them actually personally experienced racism in the last six months so it’s alive and well.”
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In the spirit of the Australian larrikin, let’s mark Prince Philip’s knighthood by taking a look back at this article from 2011, which examined some of his most famous gaffes.
And you can find a comprehensive list here.
Meanwhile, here’s some of the reaction from Twitter.
Prince Philip? Memo Abbott, it's #Straya day today, not April Fools day.
— Scott Ellis (@blahblahellis) January 25, 2015
Prince Philip: "Oh look, Lizzie. The colonies are giving me a knighthood! It's like they think they're people." [sips tea & shrugs, baffled]
— Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) January 25, 2015
No, it's not an episode of The Chaser. The PM has made Prince Philip a Knight. For real. Republicans rejoice http://t.co/tHtDQbyBJV
— Martin Pakula (@MartinPakulaMP) January 25, 2015
Prince Philip? He isn't Australian! And he already has a title of a prince. Knighting him is a demotion. @BreakfastNews #welcomeback
— AshGhebranious (@AshGhebranious) January 25, 2015
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Welcome to Guardian Australia’s Australia Day live blog. We’ll be bringing you coverage of the day from across the country, including citizenship ceremonies, Invasion Day events, and the Triple J Hottest 100.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has kicked off the day with his Australia Day address, saying Australians should pledge to make the country a place of hope and optimism in an uncertain world.
“To be an Australian is to have won the lottery of life,” Abbott said.
“But we can’t rest on our laurels and everyone has a part to play in sustaining a country that is strong and prosperous, free and fair.”
About one year after reintroducing the honours of dame and knighthood, Abbott has also issued a statement to say the Queen has accepted his recommendation that Prince Philip and the former Defence Force chief Angus Houston “be awarded Australia’s highest honour as Knights of the Order of Australia”.
Houston told ABC radio this morning he won’t be pressing people to call him “Sir”.
“I’m very comfortable with who and what I am,” he said.
As for Philip – remember that time he asked a group of Aboriginal elders: “Do you still throw spears at each other?”
And in case you missed it: the recipients of the 2015 Australian of the Year were announced yesterday at parliament house in Canberra, with women winning every category for the first time in the event’s 55-year history.
The domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty took the top honour for her work in highlighting the devastation of domestic violence, following the murder of her 11-year-old son Luke by his father Greg Anderson in February last year.
Batty said she’d like to see a government-funded domestic violence public awareness campaign.
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