Do we need a national day?

It was Downunder's national holiday yesterday. It should have been a time of "celebration". Instead much of the news last night was given over to the "protest" rallies, gatherings and marches. Much was made of the fact that it is "a day of mourning" for some. Pro-Palestinian protestors joined in with those protesting about  "colonisation" and more.

Oh yes, there was a little piece by the Prime Minister about what a great country we live in. There was a news item about those who have become the 2024 Downunderites of the Year too. But, that was about it. There was far more about the 0.003% of the population who were protesting and mourning.

I actually spent most of yesterday, a public holiday, working. It often happens. I was lucky last year I managed to get Christmas Day off to be with family.  I worked on all the other public holidays, not eight hours (or more) but I still did some work.  There was nothing unusual in that. It no longer bothers me.

I see myself as a citizen of the world, not of any one country. I am not a flag waving patriot. I have never been that.

What concerns me is the level of bitterness and anger that the national day here generates. All too often it comes from people whose own ancestors were responsible for the actions they are now protesting against. Some of their ancestors were the people who came here in the 18thC and committed what these people like to call "genocide". These are the ancestors who get dismissed. Only their "indigenous" ancestors are of any importance when these protests are taking place.

My own ancestors came from Scotland in the 19thC. They were crofters, teachers, seafarers, cartographers, engineers, farmers and more. They were not rich. They worked hard, very hard. I am grateful I belong to such a clan. 

We are not responsible for what happened in the past and I do not see why I should be continually told how bad colonisation has been for this country. Was it really? The idea that those who inhabited the country before white settlement led a comfortable, peaceful, prosperous existence is simply wrong. The lives they lived were precarious. They were not comfortable. They were brutal. The old and the sick were left behind to die when nomadic people moved on. Domestic violence was rife. There were constant clashes between tribes. There were no permanent settlements and, despite Pascoe's claims to the contrary, there was no farming. People were hunter-gatherers. The wheel had not been invented and people could not read or write. 

All this is ignored by the protestors who claim that the land was stolen, that there is a need for reparations and a treaty and "truth telling". Yes, of course there was wrong doing when the first convict settlers arrived but they did not deliberately bring "measles infested blankets" to commit "genocide".  Even if they had done so the following generations, those not born at the time, cannot be held responsible for what happened in the past. 

We don't need a national day at all in a so called "multi-cultural" society. We most certainly don't need it if it feeds the "anger" of those who say they resent history.