[Editor: This article, regarding Foundation Day (Australia Day), was published in The Register (Adelaide, SA), 27 January 1910.]
January 26 or August 22?
Which date is correct as that of the foundation of Australia? Sr. Sir Josiah Symon raised the point at the A.N.A. celebration on Wednesday night. He said he was going to offer a criticism, and make a suggestion.
To him January 26 was not the foundation day of Australia at all. That was the day on which Governor Phillip arrived in New South Wales, but the system of colonization then started was not a colonisation of which Australians were particularly proud.
He did not complain of January, because that month was famous in Australian as in British history. On January 20, 1863, was the day of the funeral of Burke and Wills, and the following day Adelaide welcomed home its heroic explorer, Stuart, from that world-famous journey across the continent and back. (Applause.)
Their own foundation day, he submitted with great deference, the real national celebration was and ought to be August 22. It was on August 22 that Capt. Cook unfurled the Union Jack on Possession Island and took possession of the whole of the eastern shore of Australia for the King of England. (Applause.)
He hoped that so long as they lived they would hold strongly the country that Capt. Cook had given them. (Applause.)
Source:
The Register (Adelaide, SA), 27 January 1910, p. 4
Also published in:
The Observer (Adelaide, SA), 29 January 1910, p. 35 (Late Edition)
The Advance Australia (Melbourne, Vic.) 15 February 1910, p. 41 (entitled “What date is Foundation Day?”; in this version, the spelling of “colonization” was changed to “colonisation”)
Editor’s notes:
A.N.A. = Australian Natives’ Association (a fraternal patriotic organisation and mutual society which was founded for the benefit of Australian-born white people; the organisation was originally established in April 1871 as the Victorian Natives’ Association, but in 1872 it extended its coverage to all of Australia)
See: “Australian Natives’ Association”, Wikipedia
Burke and Wills = the Burke and Wills expedition (1860-1861), led by Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861), with William John Wills (1834-1861) as his deputy; the expedition was created with the aim of exploring the Australian interior and finding a suitable path for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line; they set out from Melbourne, in August 1860; a small group of the original expedition made it to the mangrove swamps of the Gulf of Carpentaria, but both Burke and Wills died on the return journey in June 1861
See: 1) “The Burke and Wills expedition (1860-1861)”, The Institute of Australian Culture, 20 August 2022
2) “The Burke and Wills expedition [list of articles]”, The Institute of Australian Culture, 21 April 2019
3) “Burke and Wills expedition”, Wikipedia
Capt. = an abbreviation of “Captain”
Capt. Cook = James Cook (1728-1779), an officer of the British Royal Navy, explorer, and discoverer of the eastern coast of Australia (1770); he was born in Marton-in-Cleveland (Yorkshire, England) in 1728, and was killed at Kealakekua Bay, in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), in 1779
See: 1) “Cook, James (1728–1779)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “James Cook”, Wikipedia
Cook = [see: Captain Cook]
Governor Phillip = Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), an officer of the British Royal Navy, commander of the First Fleet, and the first Governor of New South Wales (1788-1792); he was born in London (England) in 1738, and died in Bath (Somerset, England) in 1814
See: 1) B. H. Fletcher, “Phillip, Arthur (1738–1814)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Arthur Phillip”, Wikipedia
Josiah Symon = Sir Josiah Symon (1846-1934), lawyer, politician, and Attorney-General of Australia (1904-1905); he was born in Wick (Caithness, Scotland) in 1846, came to Australia in 1866, and died in North Adelaide (South Australia) in 1934
See: 1) Don Wright, “Sir Josiah Henry Symon (1846–1934)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Josiah Symon”, Wikipedia
Stuart = John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866), an Australian explorer; he was born in Scotland in 1815, migrated to Australia in 1839, went on several expeditions of exploration, subsequently became poor in health and virtually blind, and (after going to Britain to visit family in 1864) died in London (England) in 1866
See: 1) Deirdre Morris, “Stuart, John McDouall (1815–1866)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “John McDouall Stuart”, Wikipedia
Union Jack = the flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (and of the British Empire)
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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