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Australia Day - 26 January
The tradition of noticing 26 January began early in the nineteenth century with Sydney almanacs referring to First Landing Day or Foundation Day.
That was the day in 1788 when Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet from Great Britain and the first Governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove.
Aboriginal peoples had already been living for more than 40,000 years on the continent we now know as Australia. At least 1600 generations of these peoples had lived and died there.
In 1818, Governor Macquarie acknowledged the day officially as a public holiday on the thirtieth anniversary. The previous year he accepted the recommendation of Captain Matthew Flinders, circumnavigator of the continent, that it be called Australia.
In 1888, representatives from Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand joined NSW leaders in Sydney to celebrate the Centenary. What had begun as a NSW anniversary was becoming an Australian one. The day was known as Anniversary or Foundation Day.
In 1901, the Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Melbourne was the interim federal capital. The Australian Capital Territory was created out of New South Wales in 1908, the federal capital named Canberra in 1913, and the Parliament House opened there in 1927.
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.
The evolution of Australia Day has included a number of nationally significant events, including the strong emergence of the Indigenous rights movement on the sesquicentenary of 1938, and the huge bicentenary celebrations of 1988.
A detailed history of Australia Day, written by Dr Elizabeth Kwan and commissioned by the National Australia Day Council, can be found on the Australia Day website:
www.australiaday.org.au/history
Group of Eight names 2010 European Fellows
Eight early career researchers from Poland, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania and the Czech Republic were named as the successful Group of Eight European Fellows in 2010. Each fellow will receive benefits worth $20,000 to travel to Australia and work at a Go8 university for up to six months.
From Hungary Dr Reka Benczes will conduct her Fellowship at Monash University in the Linguistics Department. Dr Benczes’ research looks at word formation and the relationship between language and thought.
For further details click here
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