Change the date, change the flag,

change the national anthem and become a republic?
One of Downunder's unfortunately more influential columnists has apparently said that and then added "but just to be clear I love my country".
Hold it right there - unless you want to change the name and return everyone to the country their ancestors, no matter how far back, came from. You can't do it.
You can't wipe out the past.
I said a couple of days ago that I am not a flag waving Downunderite. I never will be. Even as a very young child I felt faintly ridiculous at being told to hold a flag and wave it. (I can - just - remember a visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Busloads of flag waving children were taken to various points. I felt sorry for the Queen because of it.)
But, if we are going to have a flag at all then I am strongly opposed to changing the present one. Why? Because it is a representation of the past. There is no point in denying it was once a British colony. That takes up a quarter of the flag. The rest is made up of the stars of the Southern Cross - and they have meaning for those who inhabited the country before the First Settlers turned up. What is more having something from the night sky is much more inclusive in a so-called "multi-cultural" country than anything else could hope to be. 
Our national anthem sounds like a dirge. It has to be one of the worst in the world. The words are appalling - and most people don't know them anyway. The late Judith Wright was completely correct when she said that it was not possible to write the words to a national anthem in the modern world. As a poet she understood words and the power of words better than most.  
We are effectively a republic now and the "need" to change to one does not exist except in the minds of those who refuse to recognise that fact. The Governor-General does not need the Queen's approval to do anything. It would cost billions to make the change and it might, depending on how it was handled, destabilise the economy every time a new President was appointed. 
And the day itself? Okay, I'll say it. It's ridiculous. There are many boasts about this country being the "most successful multi-cultural country in the world". If that's the case and so many people are being encouraged to retain their many and varied heritages then why have one day which is supposed to be about being something else? 
Let's stop having a "national holiday". Let's leave the flag as it is, at least wipe the words from the national anthem and acknowledge that we are already a fully independent country.  Then we might just start to feel a little more grown up. 
Yes, I am fed up!