Category Archives: Republic of Australia

A New Date for Australia Day

The Second Day of The Second Month.
A Second Chance

A painting depicting the arrival of the First Fleet and the raising of the Union Jack in Sydney Cove. Credit: State Library of Victoria

It has become quite obvious that Australia has become divided over our National Day, January 26th.

And this is happening more so with the younger generations that the older. If younger people believe that it needs to be changed, it is only a matter of time before the your generations will have the numbers to affect a change of date.

But it will happen.

And it’s not like we don’t know about “Invasion Day”

In 1888, prior to the first centennial anniversary of the First Fleet landing on 26 January 1788, New South Wales premier Henry Parkes was asked about inclusion of Aboriginal people in the celebrations. He replied: “And remind them that we have robbed them?”

And on the The 150th Anniversary in 1838, First Nations declare the date to be a “day of mourning”.

WE, representing THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA, assembled in conference at the Australian Hall, Sydney, on the 26th day of January, 1938, this being the 150th Anniversary of the Whiteman’s seizure of our country, HEREBY MAKE PROTEST against the callous treatment of our people by the whitemen during the past 150 years, AND WE APPEAL to the Australian nation of today to make new laws for the education and care of Aborigines, we ask for a new policy which will raise our people TO FULL CITIZEN STATUS and EQUALITY WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.’

A Date Change and the Reason Behind it

Here is proposed date, based on the past and the future, but first, to understand why this date is being proposed, let’s take a quick look at the current Australia Day, the 26th of January. 

First, there are many misconceptions about January 26th.

Many people celebrate January 26th to celebrate the day the First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788. 

But that was not the day when the First Fleet arrived.  HMS Supply which was the first ship to arrive and land at Botany Bay on the 18th of January. Over the next 2 days, the 19th and 20th the remaining ships in the fleet arrived.

Other people believe it to be the day that Governor Arthur Phillip proclaimed the colony of New South Wales. 

But that is also incorrect. The formal proclamation occurred on the 7th February.

What was special about the 26th January 1788?

After arriving at Botany Bay, Governor Phillip was quick to realise that Botany Bay was not suitable for a colony. The Bay was too shallow and had little protection from storms, and there was no fresh water.

On the 21st Captain Phillip led an investigation into Port Jackson and found it a much more suitable anchorage and there was a small creek.

On the 26th, Captain Phillip moved the First Fleet to Sydney Cove.

The only “ceremony” that occurred on that day was the raising of the Union Jack.

This is an unusual reason to celebrate a national day. Usually the national day is celebrated the day it gains independence.

It should be noted that the convicts did not disembark until the next day.

What Date for A New Australia Day?

First off, in a practical sense Australia Day should be in Summer – 1st December to 1st March

• December is too busy and there are already 2 holidays: Christmas (25), Boxing Day (26)
• January 1, the logical choice when granted Independence: But is is already a public holiday – New Year’s Day
• At the end of summer and early autumn, there is the Easter four day long weekend. It can occur from the  22nd March to April 25th. (Generally, Easter is observed on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox – March 20.)
• April 25th is ANZAC Day.

As Australia already has 3 public holidays from Dec 25 – Jan 25. (4 if you count the 26th) it should not be earlier than the 25th of January, and with Easter a possibility in late March, it should fall between Late January and Early March.

This makes February the ideal time.

Let’s continue with the past. As mentioned there are three significant dates in 1788. Two are in January and one in February.

As the fleet arrived over 3 days (18,19,20th) we can discard the actual arrival dates. (No, we’re not declaring a 3 day public holiday!)

Therefore, the 2 significant dates for the arrival are:

• 26th of January 1788, the raising of the flag in Sydney Cove
• 7th of February 1788, the Proclamation of the colony of NSW by Captain Phillip

Most people look to the past to find a date for Australia Day, and I will be doing that also; however we will also consider a second concept to add to the date.

The proposed date of Australia’s National Day is the 2nd of February.

For a start, it falls between those two important dates, the Arrival on the 26th and the Proclamation of NSW on the 7th of February. 

But first, take a step back. Imagine the significance of a slightly different time line in 1788…

• 26th January – Raising of the Flag in Sydney Cove
• 2nd February – Making a Treaty with the local Gadigal people of the Eora clan
• 7th February – Formal Proclamation of the Colony of New South Wales

Just imagine how different thing might have been!

And yes, it is understand communication would have been all but impossible impossible, but, nevertheless just consider if the First Fleet and Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in New Holland with the intention with the intention of making a formal treaty with the inhabitants.  In this case that small  group of Aboriginal people from the Eora clan and giving them formal rights — rather than continuing with the Terra Nullis doctrine, the land was “nobody’s land.”

Claim the Date 2/2 now,

and make it more significant in the future

In the future it could be the day we:

• Formalize a Treaty with First Nations people
• The Day we adopt a new Australian Flag
• The day we become a Republic

While I believe all three are important, it is vital to formalize a treaty with the First Nations. 

And this leads to the next reason for the second day of the second month:

The Second Day of the Second Month

A day for a Second Chance

It could also become not just a day to celebrate, but also become a Day of Reconciliation, a day of Forgiveness, A day to correct injustices. A day where we give people a Second Chance. 

• Sign a treaty with the First Nations. It would be a second chance to do it right even if it is 250 years late
• A second chance to reconcile with estranged love ones
• A second chance for people convicted of crimes
• A second chance to repair the damage done with friends

What better day of celebration could there be if we could bring together estranged friends and family or give someone a second chance at making a life for themselves.

As a nation Australia has has prided itself on “a fair go”. A second chance is an extension and broadening of that.

And why not the First of February?

In my opinion a Second Chance on the Second Day of the Second Month “works.”

And while extremely obscure, the First of February has been used previously. In 1927, it was the day that the Northern Territory divided into North Australia and Central Australia, and then four years later, in 1931, North Australia and Central Australia merge to become Northern Territory. (

Yes it is very obscure and I bet you didn’t know that for a short while there was North Australia and Central Australia!

The Second Day of the Second Month appears to be completely free of any significant events

And for those that say it’s all a bit contrived a bit manufactured…The answer is yes, and no.. In 1788 nothing much probaly happened in Sydney Cove on 2nd February

So was the Queen Elizabeth II birthday. (King’s?) If the celebration of the Head of State can celebrated on a manufactured date…

Consultation with Aboriginal People

We need to come together as a nation. It simply is not good enough for people to ignore the plight and pain of our First Nation’s people.

But first, we need to talk with the First Nations people to see if this concept is a way we can move forward and have a day for us all.

I like to think it can work. What do you think?

Some Other Info of Interest

About those first few months in 1788:

Sydney Cove is the location commonly between the Sydney Opera house and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, now known as  Circular Quay.

The Rocks, below Sydney Harbour Bridge, was where the first settlement occurred. 

That small creek, known as the Tank Stream has long since “disappeared” where it is now, no more than a storm water drain hidden underground. It could be considered a metaphor for what was to come. 

Even then, Sydney was not sustainable as a settlement. In April 1788 they explored further west and in November 1788 started the second settlement at Paramatta.

A Brief Timeline for the First Settlement

• 1787-05-13 – First Fleet sets sail for New Holland
• 1788-01-18 – Fleet arrive between 18-20th First Fleet lands at Botany Bay Brig HMS Supply was first to arrive and land on 18th January
• 1788-01-21 – Captain Phillip accompanied with some officers investigate Port Jackson
• 1788-01-26 – FF arrives in Sydney Cove and raise the flag in the evening.
• 1788-01-27 – Convicts disembark
• 1788-02-07 – The formal proclamation of the colony of NSW. It originally comprised more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825. Phillip, as Governor of New South Wales, exercised nominal authority over all of Australia east of the 135th meridian east between the latitudes of 10°37’S and 43°39’S, an area which includes modern New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania and New Zealand.
• 1788-02-11 – At the first criminal court, Samuel Barnsley was sentenced to 150 lashes for assault and Thomas Hill to confinement in irons on a small rocky island at the head of the cove for stealing bread. (Fort Dennison, aka Pinchgut)
• 1788-04-24 It was very quickly realised that Sydney Cove was unsustainable as a settlement. Poor soils and only the Tank Stream for fresh water, Governor Phillip loked further afield and chooses Paramatta with it’s rich soil as the site of the second settlement.
• 1788-11-02 – Rose Hill (now Paramatta) founded
• 1801-05 – Governor King issued an order that Aborigines near Parramatta, Georges River and Prospect could be shot on sight.

Information about the 26th or Australia Day

• 1808-01-26 – First mentioned in the NSW Almanac From 1808 This became known as First Landing Day or Foundation Day 
• 1808-01-26 – The arrest of Governor William Bligh which became known as the Rum Rebellion
• 1818-01-26 – Governor Lachlan Macquarie declares the first official celebration
• 1837-01-26 – Certain events were only available to those born in Australia
• 1838-01-26  – 50th anniversary of the founding of the colony, and as part of the celebrations Australia’s first public holiday was declared.
• 1888-01-26  – The Centenary. Prior to 1888, 26 January was very much a New South Wales affair, as each of the colonies had its own commemoration for its founding.
• The decision to mark the occasion of the First Fleet’s arrival in 1788 at Sydney Cove and Captain Arthur Phillip’s proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern continent on 26 January was first made outside NSW by the Australian Natives’ Association (ANA), a group of white “native-born” middle-class men formed in Victoria in 1871. They dubbed the day “ANA Day”.
• In 1888, all colonial capitals except Adelaide celebrated “Anniversary Day”. In 1910, South Australia adopted 26 January as “Foundation Day”,to replace another holiday known as Accession Day, which had been held on 22 January to mark the accession to the throne of King Edward VII, who died in May 1910.
• 1915-07-30 – The first “Australia Day” was held to raise funds to fight World War I
• 1938-01-26- The 150th Anniversary, First Nations declare the date to be a “day of mourning”.
• 1946 – The Commonwealth and state governments agreed to unify the celebrations on 26 January as “Australia Day” in 1946, although the public holiday was instead taken on the Monday closest to the anniversary.
• 1949 – The Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 came into effect on 26 January 1949, creating Australian citizenship for the first time. Previously, the government-approved residents of Australia had only been “British nationals”; now they had both Australian and British nationality.
• 1988 – 
• 1994 – Australia Day became a public holiday in every state and territory.

Some more useful dates

• 1825-12-03 – Van Dieman’s Land proclaimed a separate colony
• 1829-06-18 – Swan River Colony proclaimed
• 1836-12-28 – Province of South Australia proclaimed.
• 1840-11-16 – New Zealand constituted as a separate colony. (1840-07-01)
• 1846-02-17 – North Australian colony proclaimed. Revoked by Queen Victoria in the same year.
• 1851-07-01 – Colony of Victoria founded.
• 1856-01-01 – Van Diemen’s Land renamed as Tasmania
• 1859-06-06 – Queensland authorized as a separate colony.
• 1863-07-06 – Northern Territory annexed from N.S.W. to South Australia.
• 1901-01-01 – Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed.
• 1911-01-01 – Northern Territory reformed and transferred to Commonwealth control.
• 1911-01-01 – Federal Capital Territory established. Renamed Australian Capital Territory in 1938.
• 1915-07-12 – Jervis Bay added to Federal Capital Territory.
• 1927-02-01 – Northern Territory divided into North Australia and Central Australia.
• 1931-02-01 – North Australia and Central Australia merge into the Northern Territory.
• 1989-05-11 – Jervis Bay becomes a separate Commonwealth Territory

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Australian_history

https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2015/05/26/parramatta-timeline-1788-present

https://theriverinastate.com.au/2017/10/11/evolution-of-australian-states/

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/why-australia-day-is-really-held-on-26-january/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2018/01/23/many-different-dates-weve-celebrated-australia-day

https://www.australiaday.com.au/about/history-of-australia-day/

https://theconversation.com/australia-day-hasnt-always-been-on-january-26-but-it-has-always-been-an-issue-198389

https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/aboriginal-histories

https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/unsettled/recognising-invasions/terra-nullius/

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/convict-cargo

A leading Australian academic and Aboriginal activist has supported a renewed campaign for Australia to become a republic if it recognises the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens and gives them more political representation.

Professor Jakelin Troy, the director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at the University of Sydney, said she “absolutely” supported the notion of Australia becoming a republic but that any new system of governance should correctly recognise that Aboriginal Australians initially owned the country.

“A republic should include more representation in the parliament and a set of rights equivalent to treaty rights enshrined in law so that Aboriginal people don’t have to continue fighting,” Troy said.

Australia remains a constitutional monarchy and has been subjected to British rule since it was colonised upon the arrival of Britain’s First Fleet in Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788.

The fleet’s arrival date is widely celebrated in the country with an annual public holiday called Australia Day, but many Aboriginal people mourn the occasion as “Invasion Day”.

Read The Complete Article

State and territory leaders unanimously back Australia becoming a republic, meaning there is total support across the top two tiers of government for an Australian head of state.

However, division remains over when the switch should be made, even as the push grows for the process to start in 2020.

As part of a campaign by the Australian Republican Movement, seven of the eight leaders signed a declaration supporting the end of the constitutional monarchy.

The declaration posed the simple proposition that “Australia should have an Australian head of state”.

Read the complete article

Labor leader Bill Shorten has urged the Prime Minister to break the shackles of monarchists in his government and lead the push for Australia to become a republic.

The call comes after all of the state and territory leaders expressed support for a republic amid a push for a plebiscite for an Australian head of state by 2020.   
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to work together with him on an Australian republic.

Mr Shorten is expected to use his Australia Day address in Melbourne on Tuesday to call for Malcolm Turnbull to drop his insistence that constitutional change is only possible after the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

Seven of the eight state and territory leaders have signed a declaration by the Australian Republic Movement calling for an Australian head of state. WA premier Colin Barnett did not sign the declaration but confirmed he, too, supported a republic.

Read the complete Article

The first time a British royal came to visit Australia he was shot. Prince Alfred survived the assassination attempt in 1868 and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital was named in his honour.

It was an inauspicious beginning to royal tours of Australia but a century and a half later the nation is still constitutionally wedded to the British monarchy. Prince Charles – the future King of Australia – finished, on Sunday, his 15th visit to the country. While there have been no assassination attempts, nor has there been the outpouring of adoration that marked the Queen’s inaugural visit in 1954.

Why is Australia still attached to the monarchy?

read the article by Benjamen T. Jones at The Conversation

Published as: Long live King Charles? An Australian republic is in Turnbull’s hands for now

From Peter FitzSimons – Chair Australian Republican Movement

As you may know as a progressive Australian, I have taken over as Chair of the Australian Republican Movement.

I recently did a speech on the Republic to the National Press Club, which sets out our position:

http://goo.gl/YBk4oF

If you don’t have time to watch it, here is a transcript of that speech:

http://goo.gl/Vfs5vq

While we have received a lot of good will since, we need more than that. We need membership.

Could you please encourage your strong network to join us on this link:

https://goo.gl/jVwReA

We are very, very grateful.

We want a new Australia, not reduced to finding our Heads of State from one family of aristocrats, living in a Palace in London.

We want an Australia where any one of us can be Head of State.

As to what kind, we will democratically decide.

My own model, however, can fit in a tweet.

Current system: PM chooses GG, asks Q.

New system: PM chooses GG asks Parliament.

And that is IT.

Nothing else need change, not even the name “Governor-General,” and we can remain also “The Commonwealth of Australia.”

Others prefer the Direct Election Model, and that too is very possible.

If that is the one we Australians democratically decide on, I will support it.

Please feel free to pass this email on, with my email address, to your network. We are doing this transparently, and have no need to hide anything.

We are very grateful for your support,

I am, you are, we are Australian, and we are on the move!

JOIN us!

Tks,

Peter
Sydney Morning Herald

Tweet: @Peter_Fitz

Australia’s pro-republic Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday scrapped knights and dames from the nation’s honours system, less than a year after a furore sparked by the award of a knighthood to Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a staunch monarchist, reintroduced the antiquated honours in 2014, provoking criticism that he was out of touch with public sentiment. Abbott was ousted by Turnbull in a party coup in September.

The politically disastrous decision to give Prince Philip the nation’s highest honour, Knight of the Order of Australia, on Australia Day, has been cited as the beginning of the end for Abbott.

Read the Reuters Article Here

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten used discussion of anachronistic laws dictating who can become monarch to call for constitutional change — and to niggle Liberals on their own succession moves.

Australia is one of 16 “reals” in the Commonwealth whose governments have to agree to changing the succession laws so an older sister can take the British throne ahead of a younger brother.

At present only men can become monarch and women can only be crowned when there are no brothers available, as happened to Queen Elizabeth.

And they can’t marry Roman Catholics.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor backed the move to scrap laws going back 243 years.

(About time!)

Read the full Article at News.com.au

 Social media reacts to Prince Philip’s knighthood

Is it Australia Day – or April Fool’s Day?

That was a question being posed on social media after an early morning statement from Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealed the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, (or as he officially known: His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Member of the Order of Merit, Grand Master and First and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Order of Australia, Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, Extra Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Canadian Forces Decoration, Lord of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Councillor of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom.) had been awarded a knight of the Order of Australia, the country’s highest honour.

Australia Day Honours. By a Brit – for a Brit: Tony Abbott, what on earth were you thinking? Not only do we have the indignity of a foreigner as our Head of State, the Highest Honour Australia has has been awarded to her husband — who is also a Brit.

Abolish the Constitutional Monarchy, Abolish the Knights & Dames – take  back the titles from those who received them after 14 February 1975 when Gough Whitlam established an Australian Honours system to replace British Honours for Australians. 

(And while we’re at it can we stop electing Brits as PM.)

Read the full article in the Canberra Times

The Australian Republican Movement has welcomed Tony Abbott’s reintroduction of knighthoods and damehoods, declaring it has re-invigorated the republic cause and prompted a boost in members.

The bizarre outcome was among the unintended consequences of Tuesday afternoon’s surprise announcement, which sparked a tide of ridicule in Parliament, newspapers, radio and social media.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asked if the country was in a time warp, noting that not even John Howard had revived the British titles in his almost 12 years as prime minister.

Read More

Governor-General Quentin Bryce has publicly backed both Australia becoming a republic and gay marriage in a landmark speech in Sydney.

Ms Bryce, delivering the final Boyer Lecture of the year on Friday night, said she hoped Australia might become a nation where “people are free to love and marry whom they choose”.

“And where perhaps, my friends, one day, one young girl or boy may even grow up to be our nation’s first head of state,” she said.

Read the full article at the ABC

Uluru. Northern Territory founded 1911. photo pixabay.com

On January 1st, 1901, without war or revolution, the self-governing colonies of Great Britain became the federated states within the Commonwealth of Australia.

From the day when Captain Arthur Phillip finally landed at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788, with the First Fleet, it was inevitable that His Majesty King George III’s  penal colony of New South Wales would one day become a nation.

It is just as inevitable that one day the nation of Australia will become a Republic, with an Australian replacing the British Monarch as Head of State.

Australians are all too aware aware that over past decades, there has been much discussion and debate about Australian Republicanism. But it is not a new discussion. Many will be surprised that this discussion dates back to the mid 1800’s, and is as old as the move to nationhood itself. And it is as contentious today as it was then.

In recent times there has been one major vexatious issue: 

Should an Australian Head of State be elected by the people of Australia or should the Head of State be appointed by the Prime Minister, the Federal Government or a “Council”, without the people having a direct say?

Both models have their supporters who have a strong and unshakable belief that their solution is the correct one.

This site will present an alternative model which will bring both groups of supporters closer together and ultimately to Australia becoming a republic.

The case put forward and called The State Election Model (SEM), would a be method unique to Australia. 8 candidates will be selected from the states and territories by the people and their elected Representatives will make the final decision on who shall be the Head of State

The SEM has been put into several sections and each section has a dedicated page where you can read and then comment:

1. Preamble – An Introduction to the State Election Model (SEM)
2. Nomination of a Candidate
3. Election of a State or Territory Representative
4. Selection of an Australian Head of State
5. Consideration – Such as dismissal, length of term, and other issues
6. Petition of  Support

With a belief that by working together, Australians can create a model acceptable to the majority of Australians in the majority of States. Feel free to add comments that will contribute to the discussion at the bottom of each respective page.

Now is the time where all Australians can have a say in the way in how Australia  moves to a Republic.

All Australians should take ownership of this important responsibility now!

To step away from this decision now, will allow future generations to create a Republic of their choosing, one in which which the Australians of today will possibly have no say.

 ~

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