In a little over a days time on January 26th, 2013 we will once again celebrate our Nationhood - but is this really the correct date?

Please read Governor Phillip's instructions:
http://foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw2_doc_1787.pdf

Now read Queen Victoria's Proclamation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_Declaring_the_Establishment_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Australia
http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/federation/constitution-website/stories/britain-holds-out/pods/royal-proclamation/index.html
(Strangely, this crucial legal document to the founding of this nation is missing from here: http://foundingdocs.gov.au/area-aid-2.html)

Is it more than obvious which document has a national purpose in our modern world.

I think January 26th was chosen because January 1st was simply impractical. I think the powers that be in London rightly thought at the time, that our new nation should come into being on the first day of the 20th Century.

But, in hindsight and for the purposes of practical celebration maybe they should have chosen the day before, December 31st. It was at midnight December 31st, 1900 that the Queen Victoria's proclamation did come into force (add 1 nano second) and we finally became a nation.

As a non - Aboriginal , I am not offended by 26 January being the date . However , acknowledging Aboriginal sensitivity , I suggest that the Queens Birthday be renamed " Australia Day " and celebrated on a uniform date throughout the country .

There is no need to appoint another date for the Queens Birthday . Scrap it !

If people object to my suggestion , because it will mean one less public holiday , Each State government can compensate by adding a day to some other long weekend .

26th January is the only feasible date.
Otherwise 112 years of hard work and dedication would be ignored.
It was those 112 years that witnessed the major development of the
country that laid the foundation of all that has followed.

Baz, you must remember that the men and women who fought long and hard to achieve Federation have all been forgotten. If they had not succeeded we would have ended up like New Zealand; where each Premier of the various Colonies would have simply renamed themsleves Prime Minister.

The 112 years of hard work and dedication, should be celebrated at the State level as the various anniversary or foundation days.

Jaylex, I think Australia Day must be celebrated on the anniversary of Australia's founding. We usually don't pick a random date on the calendar to celebrate our own birthday.

Regardless of any celebrations that were held on January 1st 1901 in Centennial Park, Queen Victoria's Proclamation came into force and with it Australia as a new nation at or about midnight December 31, 1900.

December 31st would be a great lead-into the build up for New Years Night. In some years this would allow back-back 4 day weekends over the Christmas new year break.

<< As a non - Aboriginal , I am not offended by 26 January being the date . However , acknowledging Aboriginal sensitivity>>

Contrary to Jaylex’s assertion, January 26th is a particularly appropriate day.

And it is appropriate for the following reason: about 4000 years ago the Australian continent had another of its inflows of boat people. This early group of boat people didn’t come seeking hand-outs (like most post-Rudd arrivees). They actually brought a higher technology which was to diffuse through the whole continent and, according to researchers interviewed on ABC Radio National, lead to a huge jump in the technological development and by consequence the living standards of the continents older residents. Many things that we now hold iconically Australian –iconically indigenous, are likely to have arrived with these as yet unsung fore-bearers.

These new arrivees came from the Indian subcontinent.

Now it just so happens that India – the origin of those early arrivees – also has it’s national(Republic) day on January 26th!

So what could be better than to share a national day with a region which has contributed so much to our gene pool and early culture.

And, as some are wont ask, each time we modify our immigration policy:"what would our Asian neigbours think?"

It would be akin to Japan airbrushing the nasty bits of WWII from its history books.
It would to akin to Pakistan airbrushing all the nasty bits about the Islamic conquest and occupation of the subcontinent from its books.
And it might even be viewed worse --like, us re-introducing the White Australia Policy!

Move Australia day to another date –perish the thought