Australia Day

Yesterday was Australia Day, a national holiday commemorating the arrival of the British First Fleet in Sydney Harbour. This was undoubtedly the start of bad times for, literally, boat loads of people - not to mention the folks that were already here - but for better or worse, a generally unified and prosperous nation now thrives.

Here's what went down:

John Howard took the opportunity to criticise Australian history education as being simultaneously non-existent and too cuddly and apologetic. Seems he feels that since Australians spent a few years locked in their rooms appreciating diversity, they're now allowed to get back to dates and places and straight-forward nationalism. I applaud his emphasis on history (as I got the impression no one knows the origins of Australia Day), but I'm a bit skeptical of his curriculum.

Some indigenous Australians took the opportunity to burn the Australian flag in protest, kicking off a nationalistic debate ala the U.S. as to whether this should be a criminal act (Howard voted "no"). Meanwhile, an artist who had a piece containing a burned Australian flag had his work seized last Friday in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray despite the fact that no infraction was committed. Apparently, someone was offended.

Researcher Ian Frazer was named (along with his Scottish accent) Australian of the Year for his work in developing a vaccine to prevent human papilloma virus.

Nicole Kidman was named a companion in the Order of Australian, the nation's highest civilian honor, for her work in the arts and charitable giving. Kidman is now set to become a UN goodwill ambassador.

Victoria continued to burn.

And let's not forget the beer, barbies, and fireworks.

Not being Australian and, more importantly, because it was freakin' hot (again), we hid out in the air conditioned confines of our apartment and watched tennis.