Australians are a proud bunch, but for all our chest-beating we lack two very key dates in our annual diaries to reflect this.
Our nation has five national public holidays to celebrate a Middle Eastern religion, one to celebrate a Roman calendar, one to celebrate workers and one to celebrate the Queen
That last holiday we care so little about many local governments have changed when we mark the date to coincide with festivals, ag shows and horse races which have nothing to do with Queen Lizzy.
Oh, yes, Australia Day I hear someone wearing a flag as a cape yell with a mouth full of VB and lamb.
Well, the reality is that is a day to celebrate how good the British were at sailing and lying about land not being occupied in the 1700s, and I would argue there is nothing less Australian than celebrating the Brits.
ANZAC Day does bring us together but in commemoration, not celebration.
Throw in a spattering of State holidays and we have our public holiday mix.
Curiously, there is no national day to celebrate Australia together, nor our First Nations culture.
Canada and New Zealand are always the two countries worth turning to for comparisons.
Both have annual national public holidays to celebrate their true culture. In Canada it is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30.
They also celebrate the day Canada became independent from the Brits on July 1, but we have not quite got there yet. In fairness, like us they also celebrate colonialism and generations of brutality towards First Nations people with Thanksgiving Day.
New Zealand has both Waitangi Day on February 6, to mark the 1840 signing of Treaty, and Matariki in late June, Maori New Year.
We could have this in Australia too. Celebrating First Nations culture on Mabo Day on June 3 would honour the end of the Terra Nullius shame. Sorry Day on May 26 is also a worthy option.
And to celebrate togetherness nothing says this more than the anniversary of the highly symbolic 1967 referendum to count Indigenous people in the Census.
Once the Indigenous voice is enshrined in the Australian constitution, that could also be a powerful date worth considering.
This could be an easy fix and one which could be done without adding extra public holidays to the mix (as much as I would love extra holidays).
Australia Day is the obvious one to replace. As for the second one that is open-ended.
The Queens Birthday appears the clear choice given we do not care about it, but I would argue that is better off changing permanently to mark the local holidays it has become.
Easter to me is the target. We do not need five public holidays to celebrate a religion which is not ours in a nation becoming increasing secular.
Then again, being able to enjoy the last gasp of sun before winter sets in with extended Easter-ANZAC holidays is quite nice.
- Tom Zaunmayr is the National Indigenous Times editor
