Time to Celebrate all things Australian!

JUST a few weeks ago we celebrated New Year's Eve, that time of year when we reflect on the year that's been and make resolutions for the year ahead in our personal lives.
Now we're coming up to Australia Day, a day which is a bit like that for our national life. In between the barbecues and the fireworks, we have a chance to reflect on what we are as a nation.
On Regatta Point in Canberra stands the National Capital Exhibition, a building that honours the story of our nation's capital. Just inside the doors, you'll find these words: "A nation is an act of the imagination and will. In this act we create a place to which we belong. A part of the earth for which we have collective responsibility. A place of memory and tradition."

I think those words are very powerful indeed. They reflect beautifully what it is that we're here to celebrate on Australia Day. They remind us that Australia isn't just a landscape, but rather something that we create together. Each and every one of us will play a part in shaping the Australia of tomorrow, whether you are one of the thousands of people who will take out citizenship this Australia Day, or whether you were born here. Together, we get to imagine and invent the nation of our dreams. It's a pretty high ideal, and one that comes with a great deal of responsibility, both for the land and for each other.

 

Australia has grown over the years into a strong and vibrant community that I for one am very proud to be celebrating on Australia Day.

Our challenge for the years ahead is to continue to build on this grand tradition of Australia - acknowledging both the good times and the bad - and to put our own stamp on the Australia of tomorrow.

 
Adam Gilchrist, chairman of the National Australia Day Council