[Editor: This article, about Australia Day, was published in The Irwin Index and Victoria District Gazette (Mingenew, WA), 28 January 1950.]
Australia Day
One hundred and sixty-two years ago last Thursday a British naval captain unostentatiously unfurled the Union Jack at Sydney. The King’s health was toasted and with just over 1,000 souls in the colony — 717 of them convicts — there opened quietly the first chapter in the story of a country which to-day plans to have a population exceeding ten millions by the end of another decade. Australia will commemorate the notable occasion, at which Captain Phillip was the principal figure, in holiday mood next Monday.
Professor Ernest Scott has written that “to few men has been given so great an opportunity as that which fell to Arthur Phillip. He was the founder of a new European State in a land where civilised man had never lived before. There was not one among all the subjects of King George III whose place in history was more assured than his. The ambition to live in the memory of posterity for ages is common among mankind. Monuments of bronze and marble, public requests and endowments, gifts and foundations, are favorite modes of cheating oblivion; and the age in which this history was being worked out saw many great reputations made and many efforts to perpetuate fame by various means. But who amongst them all did a piece of work to compare with Phillip’s? And who amongst them all overcame such difficulties with such imperfect material and reaped so small a material reward?”
The same historical authority remarked that “at the end of a despatch wherein he had had to chronicle the loss of cattle, conflicts with savages, insufficiency of food, illness among the convicts, and even earthquake, Phillip trumpeted his conviction as to the future: ‘Nor do I doubt but that this country will prove the most valuable acquisition Great Britain ever made’.” Looking back in 1950 at the storied past, one might with justifiable pride recall that the faith and courage of that Navy captain was of the same calibre which distinguished later the pioneers of the bushlands and the soldiers whose daring, initiative and fortitude blazoned to the world the truth that Australia was a nation — and a nation to be reckoned with.
It is fitting to-day that we should turn our thoughts to the great heritage which has been handed us and the great people who labored in its making. Not all of them are the eminent figures whose names bestrew the histories and the Hansards. Thousands died unhonored and unsung — save in the verses of Henry Lawson and other poets, or by the novelists who shared in the admiration of simple folk with sturdy faith. The drovers, the bush folk who carved farms out of the wilderness, and the gold fossickers, whose sole reward in numerous cases was death from thirst in the sun-scorched waste-lands — though they were playing no conscious role in the nation’s destiny — were moulding its character in enduring manner. Theirs was a philosophy which enabled them “to meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” Theirs was a blueprint in grit and optimism. Theirs was a life with an inspiration for posterity.
To-day we may rejoice that we are one people with one flag and one destiny. Whatever our political differences and our individual preferences for particular Parties, we go forward together. On basic principles we are united. Our cherished White Australia policy, guaranteeing our racial purity and our living standards, may not be understood in its biological and economic background by captious foreign critics — and indeed may even be misconstrued and resented — but it typifies the fact that the overwhelming majority of Australians on the great fundamentals speak with a common purpose in mind.
Into the sporting activities, which will be a feature of the Australia Day celebrations, will be carried another national characteristic — observance of the dictum that “fair play is bonny play.” If sport inculcated no more than that, it would still be accomplishing something more than ordinarily worth while. For in another and sterner sphere it connotes the upholding of the principles of international righteousness — even to the point of resort to arms in the protection of the weak against the oppression of an aggressor.
Occasionally an overseas visitor remarks that the Australians view their sport far more seriously than they do their politics and that it is a sorry commentary that they have to be virtually hounded to the polls with the threat of fines. If one is to ponder upon the election violence — in the form of beating-up and shooting — in some other countries where polling is regarded with grim seriousness, perhaps it will be conceded that the Australian way of life still has its pre-eminent recommendations.
Into the commemoration of Australia Day citizens will throw themselves with joyful hearts but simultaneously with sound sense, which will ensure there are not the tragic excesses that too often have characterised America’s celebration of Independence Day. The occasion should not only fire our pride in the achievements of the past but also, when we cogitate upon our traditions, strengthen our resolve — in the terminology of the services — to “carry on.”
Source:
The Irwin Index and Victoria District Gazette (Mingenew, WA), 28 January 1950, p. 2
Editor’s notes:
captious = having a disposition to pedantically or unreasonably criticise or find fault, especially regarding frivolous, pedantic, petty, or trivial items; having a nature which is pleased to find faults or make criticisms, even over minor mistakes or trivial matters; carping, cavilling, hypercritical, nitpicky
cogitate = to think deeply about something, to gravely consider an issue, to ponder
despatch = (an alternative spelling of “dispatch”) a communication, memo, message, or report (especially an official report sent as a matter of urgency, or a military communication sent to a headquarters or to a commanding officer)
dictum = a short statement, declaration, maxim, or saying, which gives advice or expresses a general truth, principle, or rule for behaviour (e.g. “Don’t get mad, get even”, “Pride cometh before a fall”, “You are what you eat”; for doctors, “First, do no harm”); a wise saying; an authoritative (or formal) assertion, opinion, pronouncement, or statement
gold fossicker = someone who searches for gold, especially by picking through dirt that has already been worked on
Hansards = plural of “Hansard” (the official record of parliamentary proceedings)
Henry Lawson = Henry Archibald Lawson (1867-1922), author and poet; he was born in Grenfell (New South Wales) in 1867, and died in Abbotsford (NSW) in 1922
See: “Henry Lawson”, The Institute of Australian Culture
Independence Day = in the context of the United States of America, the 4th of July (an annual celebration), being the day on which Americans celebrate their independence from Great Britain in 1776
storied = made famous in history or in stories; celebrated or recorded in history or story; fabled, legendary
to meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same = a quotation derived from “If—”, a poem by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), which includes the text “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same”; the meaning of the phrase is said to be to carry on with your life’s work irrespective of fleeting highs or lows, to not be distracted in seeking one’s goals by spending too much time paying attention to temporary ups or downs
See: 1) Rudyard Kipling, “If—”, Poetry Foundation
2) Anthony Pellegrino, “Triumph and Disaster: Treat those two imposters the same”, PerformanceXtra, 19 December 2019
3) Joseph Merz, “Meet with triumph and disaster”, Sterning
4) Deodutta Kurane, “Life lessons from the poem “IF” by Rudyard Kipling”, LinkedIn, 29 May 2021
5) “If— by Rudyard Kipling”, Poem Analysis
6) “If—”, Wikipedia
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