On the 26th of January 1788 the First Fleet sailed through the heads
and sailed up Port Jackson and dropped anchor in Sydney Cove.

This was the biggest event in 60,000 years !

Somehow I think that has to be a day worth celebrating.

Ben Pobjie writes:

" The prospect of being sent to the far end of the world,
to a strange unknown land, was terrifying . The powerful
emotions generated by the discovery of their fate, were
eloquently expressed in the classic old song - 'Botany
Bay" :

"Farewell to old England forever
Farewell to my rum coes as well
Farewell to the well known Tim Bailey
Who used to teach me to spell
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li addity
Singing bing-bong-dum-doo-dad-fi-fay
Singing spinkly pom pinkly bom baddity
It's shyte down in Botany Bay".

Australia has come a long way these past decades.
From its humble beginnings it has become a thriving,
wealthy nation. Who would have thought when the
unhappy First Fleeters were huddled hungry and
desperate on the shores of Port Jackson that one
day Australia would grow so powerful and confident
on the world stage.

If we;re going to acknowledge our history - we need to
acknowledge all of it - including our British heritage.
There are those who tell us that - there's no point in
looking towards the past that the important thing is to
look towards the future.

But how can one know where ont is going if one doesn't
know where one has been? Hope for the future will always
be based on respect for the past. And in re-capping the
history of Australia, including Australia Day, let us
hope that we can learn something about ourselves.

Australia Day comes once a year
And to so many it is quite clear
The Brits came sailing to our shores
Resulting in Indigenous wars

The natives fought
The natives lost
History was written at great cost
But a tale of conquest became blessed
With the nation's quest for the very best
Let's not forget that today - we are one
So let's continue to get the job done!

Idealism cost way too much in every sense !

There are many reasons for positivity. They can be found just
as easily as finding reasons for negativity. It merely
needs a change in perception.

Getting out and enjoying the outside world instead of
spending every day on your computer also helps.