Australia Day as we know it, is a day to have off work, and spend time with family and friends, often having a picnic or barbecue – just having a lazy day. But it wasn’t always like this. In fact it wasn’t even a public holiday in all states until 1994.

To quote from the Australia Day website …

The tradition of having Australia Day as a national holiday on 26 January is a recent one. Not until 1935 did all the Australian states and territories use that name to mark that date. Not until 1994 did they begin to celebrate Australia Day consistently as a public holiday on that date.

So we find that in 1915 Australia Day was in fact held July 30th. Why that particular day I don’t know, but it was, and it was used not only to have a celebration,  but also commemorate those who went to war, and used as a means for fundraising for the war.

The article from South Australia’s ‘Register’ newspaper, dated 2 August 1915 describes what the Gumeracha district (which covers the town of Gumeracaha, as well as the neighbouring towns of Forreston, Kenton Valley and Cudlee Creek) did on this day.

Australia Day at Gumeracha, The Register, 2 August 1915, p. 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59422226

Again, we have to thank Trove newspapers for being there when we need it, and for providing information that we otherwise wouldn’t have found.

The photographs below are from a collection held by local historian, Alan Phillips. Grouped together in a box titled “Cudlee Creek”, it is believed that the following photographs are taken on Australia Day 1915 (or around then). Sadly not all are captioned, but those that are, have the captions noted below.

Australia Day, Cudlee Creek, c.1915
Back L-R: Arthur? Roepke, E.G. Ludewigs, Fred Tippett, Ted Pool, Bill Schlein, Fred Schultz, Stephen Redden, Ted Lambert
Middle L-R: Fred Langley, Bill Hille, Ern Hanaford, Bill Menz, Elliott Hannaford
Front L-R: Arthur Nagle, Ted Gallas, Le Lambert

possibly Australia Day, Cudlee Creek c.1915
L-R: Roy Pritchard?, Ted Pool, Bill Menz

Australia Day celebrations, Cudlee Creek

Australia Day, Cudlee Creek

Australia Day, Cudlee Creek, c1917

We all know that Australia Day is celebrated on 26 January? Right?

Sure! But did you know that Australia Day wasn’t always celebrated on this day?

Really? Yes, really …

But before going into that, for the sake of the non-Aussies who are reading this, let me just mention that Australia Day is Australia’s official national day which these days is commemorated with a public holiday. Held annually on January 26, this marks the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales in 1788, and the raising of the British flag at that site by Governor Arthur Phillip.

But yes, over time the date for our Australian national day has changed. And it has also has also been variously named “Empire Day”, “Anniversary Day”, “Foundation Day”, and “ANA Day” (Australian Natives Association) as well.

24 May
Back in the early 1900s Australia Day was actually celebrated on 24 May, which was also known as Empire Day, and was Queen Victoria’s birthday. Celebrating Australia Day on this day was a contentious issue back then, as many felt that it was wrong to make Australia’s national day an English Queen’s birthday, and one who was already dead, having passed away in 1901.

The old newspapers on Trove has many Letters to the Editor written about this issue. Here’s a portion from one written in 1909 …

“We celebrate Empire Day, salute flags and other things on 24th May, Queen Victoria’s birthday, but Queen Victoria is dead. Australia is alive, or should be, and will probably stay alive for a few decades, unless an earthquake or the Japs, or some other calamity strikes us-and strikes us very hard.”

You can read full article here.

28 and 30 July
With the Great War starting in August 1914, it was decided in 1915 to make 30 July Australia Day, and to make it a fundraising event. This went well, and with the war still going in 1916, Australia Day was held on 28 July. You can read more about this on the Australian War Memorial website.

The Catholic Press (NSW), 29 July 1915, p. 24.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115208345

26 January
By 1919, Australia Day was held on 26 January at least in some parts of the country. This date was one that commemorated the landing of the First Fleet and settlement of New South Wales, and was originally known as “First Landing Day” or “Foundation Day”. There is evidence of these celebrations taking place that date back to the early 1800s. However it wasn’t until 30 years after the landing, that the first official celebrations were held in 1818. But as each Australian state was it’s own colony, and politics being politics, it took until 1935 to settle on a uniform date for all states to agree on, and named in Australia Day.

Queensland Times (Ipswich), 29 August 1930, p.6 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115352854

So that’s just a little history behind Australia Day. Of course both Wikipedia, and the Australia Day website (and numerous others) have far more detail. But I thought it was interesting that Australia Day hasn’t “always” been held on January 26.

And here’s another tidbit … did you know there were rules as to how you should celebrate Australia Day? And no, it wasn’t inviting all your friends around for a barbecue and having a few beers. Check this article from 1915 out …

Adelong and Tumut Express and Tumbarumba Post, 16 July 1915, p. 2.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112677230

Happy Australia Day everyone 🙂

Yesterday was Australia Day, and I would have loved to participate in Pauleen’s Australia Day Challenge 2014, but unfortunately with my current work commitments (ie. a cruise in a week’s time), time didn’t permit me at present. So instead I’ve decided to do my own Australia Day blog post, and for this I want to share with you two of my favourite “Australian history” books.

Australia Day is here, and I’ve just finished working on my post for the 2013 Australia Day Blog Challenge which is to write about my ‘earliest Australian ancestor’ as suggested by Helen V. Smith.

So I’ve spent two weeks pondering just WHO to write about. And you know when you get married the whole “what’s-yours-is-mine- thing”, well that means I’ve adopted all of my hubby’s reli’s too, so I’ve decided to write about Mr Lonetester’s earliest Australian ancestor, his 5x great grandpa (which makes Mr Lonestester a 7th generation Aussie). Anyway meet …