What is Australia Day?

In case you're not familiar with Australian holidays and celebrations, January 26th is Australia Day. I've always been a bit torn about how I feel about Australia Day and so never really know how to celebrate it. Typically it's a day off work where you have a BBQ and drink a lot of beer and that's about it. We're Aussie's, all we care about is having a day off work (preferably on Friday/Monday in order to get a long weekend), adding a BBQ and booze into the equation just sweetens the deal, really.

Personally I get a bit irked by all of this "Aussie Pride" business that's been going on the last few years. It's not that there's anything really wrong with being proud of your country but it's always been kind of un-Australian to make a fuss about it. We're laid back people who sort of have this silent agreement with one another that yes, we do live in a bloody great country and we're all very lucky and proud and all that. Being overly patriotic is more of an American thing to do and god knows we don't want to be like those damn Yanks!

But the younger generation (which just so happens to be my generation) have decided they want to be loud and proud about how much they love being Aussie. So now they all wear Australian flag's as capes and basically cover themselves in as many flag-motif items of clothing they could get their hands on. They even like putting little flags on their cars for the month leading up to Australia Day (which is so bloody daggy, might I add). But probably the worst of all is how many young people are getting the Southern Cross as tattoos these days. I am against these tattoos for many reasons, though mostly because I hate generic tattoos and wonder why they even bother getting tattooed if that's the best idea they could come up with. If I felt like getting a tattoo to represent my being Australian, I sure as hell wouldn't get a southern cross and would get something personal and relevant to me and me only (but that's more of a "I hate generic tattoos" sorta rant). I don't necessarily agree with how people call these tattoos Austicka's because not all people who get these tattoos are the typical, racist yobbo we all hate so much. But it does instantly label you as a bit of a douchebag, whether you are one or not.

To be honest, I will always be one of those quietly-proud Aussies who doesn't make a big deal about how much I love Australia and cringes a bit when kids in their early 20s run around, pissed as parrots, carrying the Aussie flag, Southern Cross tattoo on their necks (what's with that placement, by the way?) and bellowing "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" in everyone's faces. It's not that they're bad people, and certainly not all of them are bogans who put stickers on their utes that say "We're full, get out" or "Love it or leave it", it's just something that's going to take me a lot to get used to. Because as much as I'd love to think it's just a fad that will disappear in a couple of years, I'm starting to think it might be a trend that's here to stay.

Some interesting articles I found on the subject, if you please:

Since when did dumb-arsed nationalism become compulsory?
Australia Day Is Still Ok
Why Australia Day is rubbish
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck
Enough with the Australia Day backlash

Originally published at rubyvelour.com.