Australia Day

I decided that as I was late getting my blog done I would give myself a break and have a week off. Which is why I am now determined to get this one done. Because I can't just let it slide again. Even though I am jetlagged for the second time in two weeks. Although the consolation is that I am sitting on the floor of the lounge room of my friend's house in Redding, California, USA, which means that I've had an extra day thanks to time zone changes, not that it's done me any good.

So, during the week and a half that I was back in Australia it just happened to be Australia Day. Which was a little strange in that only a year ago Australia Day was my 'Bronvoyage' farewell party. Actually being back at all was strange, I had a whole 'was the last year a dream?' thing going on, which I found a little disconcerting. Then I decided to go with it, after all, I have spent like ninety seven percent of my life in Victor so everything should be fairly familiar even if new cafes have opened.

January 26. Australia Day. The celebration of the coming together of a bunch of independent British colonies on the date that the first of those colonies was established. (I think? Seriously, does anyone know the history of Australia Day?). Of course there is also controversy surrounding this day considering the Aboriginal people were perhaps not so thrilled with the arrival of the white people.

Stereotypically celebrated with beer and sport. Stereotypically ending with hangovers and interesting sunburn patterns.

Spending the last year in a country that was not Australia I have had plenty of time to think about what it is that identifies us as Australian. It's not something that I would particularly think about usually, or even care about, but when in a country that is not your own and being asked by the locals what it is about my country that I love, I had to question my patriotism.

When asked about Australia while in Uganda, I have to admit that I made use of Google search a LOT. I'm not really bothered by the fact that I had to, it just made me aware of how much there is to know.

Like the fact that the largest cattle station in the world is in Australia. And that our largest industries are mining, agriculture and tourism. Or that in 2001, 23.1 per cent of Australians were born overseas.

It was always fascinating to me to see the reaction of Ugandans when they realised that like Uganda, Australia was a British colony and that unlike Uganda, Australia has never declared it's independence. Which is shocking and unthinkable to the Ugandans. I try and explain that there is a difference in circumstances, that as the indigenous people of Uganda they had a vested interest in becoming independent, whereas the indigenous people of Australia never had the opportunity to, as they quickly became a minority after colonisation.

Maybe their disbelief mirrors my own when I look at the history of Uganda and see not a nation that is independent but one that is controlled by poverty and has disfunctioned through a series of dictators who have come to power through violence and whether rightly or wrongly, have ruled with entitlement, through corruption or fear.

In fact, on January 26, Uganda celebrates NRM Day, the day when Museveni and the National Resistance Army took power in 1986. Which I guess will be celebrated until the next party gets in, either through democratic election, or another coup, which is not that unlikely.

I'd really like to be making some kind of point here but the room is swaying and I have typed and retyped many sentences only to delete them again. So I'll leave the point making to you. Maybe you can make some sense of it all. Or maybe there is no sense in it. Maybe it's just a crazy mixed up world where being in power means taking from others. Kind of glad I belong to a different kingdom (I'm talking about the kingdom of heaven for those of you not in the know). In that kingdom the first are last and the last, first. Which, when I see so many injustices here on earth, makes me happy.

Blessings

bron