The longest night of the year is coming soon for the southern hemisphere. On 21 June, the South Pole has its maximum tilt away from the sun, resulting in a winter solstice. How do Canberrans celebrate? Some may go to parties. Others, however, brave the cold for charity.

The annual Winter Solstice Nude Charity Swim raises money for the charities Love Your Sister and Lifeline. Participants plunge naked into the icy Lake Burley Griffin at daybreak. Last year, a bagpiper played before the intrepid swimmers launched. Although the event started with only four people three years ago, it is growing. Last year, sixty people participated, and this year, an estimated 31 teams and 122 people are signed up so far, with two days to go. The chilly dunk is scheduled for sunrise at 7:12 am, and the morning forecast is for partly sunny skies with the temperature a little below freezing.

The other charity event is the tenth annual CEO Sleepout sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Australia. On 20 June, one of the longest nights of the year, leaders across Australia in business, government, and communities will sleep without shelter to raise money to battle homelessness and poverty. In Canberra this year, the CEO Sleepout will be held at the airport, in Hangar 47 on the Fairbairn RAAF base. Airport representatives say that temperatures regularly fall to below freezing and “aircraft noise will be a constant reminder of the harsh realities of sleeping rough.” The hope in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is to raise at least $700,000 AUD for services to help the homeless.

While I don’t think I’ll be shivering in Lake Burley Griffin or sleeping rough in a hangar on this winter solstice, I’ll be supporting the people who do and celebrating the arrival of the longer days to come. 

The Kemal Ataturk Memorial recalls the heroism and sacrifices made by soldiers on both sides. Rather than demeaning adversaries or seeing them somehow as less than human, it asks us to instead acknowledge our shared humanity—a worthwhile thing to do on ANZAC day.

Unfortunately, the massive undertaking was a failure from the start. Even during construction, rabbits hopped around the fence, moving ever farther west. While the rabbit-proof fence may have been ineffective at stopping rabbits, it did serve as a landmark for three girls trying to find their way home.

The Aborigines Act of 1905 allowed the Australian government to forcibly remove indigenous children from their families and resettle them to assimilate into white culture. These children became known as the stolen generations. In 1931, Dolly and her younger cousins Gracie and Daisy lived in Jigalong, a settlement that had been established to maintain the rabbit-proof fence. The three girls had white fathers, and the government’s removal policy focused on "helping" those that were part-white by moving them away to  assimilate quicker. The three girls were torn from their families and moved to Moore River Native Settlement, around 1000 miles away from Jigalong. Dolly soon decided to escape, trusting in her bushcraft and ability to follow the fence to lead her and her cousins back home.

Author Doris Pilkington Garimara recounts the story of her mother Dolly’s epic trek in the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. The book was later made into an award-winning 2002 movie by Phillip Noyce.

About 3.5 hours away from us on New Year's Eve, Sydney will be staging a stupendous display of fireworks, with a show at 9 pm for families and one at midnight to usher in 2019. Sydney's world-famous fireworks for the new year began in 1976, and the displays have grown in size and popularity. This year's show will be one of the largest and most technically advanced in the world. Just looking at the numbers is impressive:

Given that the big event only lasts about 12 minutes, I'll be staying comfortably at home this year and watching it on TV. Happy New Year, everyone!

While my friends and family celebrated Father’s Day months ago, I’m doing my gift-shopping now. The United States and the United Kingdom both honor dads in June, but Australia waits until early September. (Australia celebrates Mother’s Day in May like much of the world.) Different sources date the first celebration of Father’s Day in Australia to 1935 or 1936. An article from the Western Herald in 1964 dated the celebration to 1935 and explained that it was now officially designated as the first Sunday in September throughout the Commonwealth.   

Various theories explain why Australia celebrates Father’s Day in September. I call my two favorites the Empty Calendar Theory and the Retail Therapy Theory.

The Empty Calendar Theory

According to this theory, Australia’s spring calendar is too crowded. There’s the long weekend for Easter, ANZAC Day, and the Queen’s Birthday. There’s also Mother’s Day, Labour Day, and May Day.

Dads need their own space, so Australians wait until September to celebrate.

The Retail Therapy Theory

This is the retail version of the Empty Calendar Theory. Retailers prefer their holidays spaced out because consumers need some recovery time after all the spring holidays mentioned above.

Also, when Father’s Day falls in September, it’s at the beginning of spring Down Under. Retailers can market gifts for Dad like camping, fishing, and sporting equipment—all big sellers with the coming of warmer weather.

This year, we decided to embrace the Australian way of celebrating Father’s Day. Next year, my husband promised, he’s lobbying for celebrating both in June AND September.

Many of Australia’s public holidays are different from those in the United States, so I have eagerly anticipated each one and the chance to learn something new.  

This Monday, 11 June, is the public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday. Australia’s states and territories celebrate it on the second Monday in June with two exceptions. The state of Western Australia celebrates the public holiday on 24 September, while Queensland waits until 1 October.

The holiday is celebrated because Australia is a constitutional monarchy and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The official head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, the Monarch of the Realms. She is also the head of state of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and many other countries and territories. Crowned in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest reigning British monarch in history.

I discovered that Queen Elizabeth’s real birthday is April 21, 1926. If her birthday is in April, then why do we celebrate in June? History provides the answer.  

In 1788, Australia celebrated for the first time a public holiday to mark the Monarch's Birthday on King George III’s birthday. The holiday continued to be celebrated on the actual date of the monarch’s birthday until 1936, when King George V, Elizabeth’s grandfather, died. His birthday was 3 June and since then the holiday has been celebrated in early June.

While tradition seems to account for the June date, I’ve also read speculation that celebrating on the Queen’s actual birthday would place the holiday too close to Easter and ANZAC Day.

The Queen’s Birthday is celebrated with sporting events, including an Australian Football League (AFL) game played between the Collingwood Magpies and the Melbourne Demons at the Melbourne Cricket Club. Public fireworks displays and parades are also part of the festivities. In Canberra, the Royal Military Academy at Duntroon holds the Queen’s Birthday Parade every year. The Queen’s Birthday honors list is released as well. This list includes the new members of the Order of Australia along with those who have received honors from the Australian government or the Queen. The Queen’s Birthday also marks the official start of the snow season in the mountains of New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, and Tasmania.

This long holiday weekend features lots of things to see and do, and I’m looking forward to celebrating the Queen’s Birthday.

In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) this year, 28 May is the first Reconciliation Day Public Holiday. It’s an opportunity to focus on reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and to come to terms with Australia’s history. As Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister, noted: “There comes a time in the history of nations, that in order to embrace fully their future, they must fully reconcile with their past.”

When European colonialism began in the late 1700s, thousands of indigenous Australians were forced from their land. They died from disease or were killed by the colonists. By the 1850s, what was left of the indigenous Australian population was confined to reserves (similar to the experience of Native Americans in the United States). Between 1910 to 1970, government officials removed many indigenous children from their families, placing them into state care for “assimilation” into white culture. These children were known as the
stolen generations.

In the 20th century, a civil rights movement in Australia led to a referendum in 1967. More than 90 percent of Australians voted to remove clauses from the constitution that discriminated against indigenous Australians. In 1993, the Native Title Act allowed indigenous Australians to claim land when they can establish unbroken occupancy of an area. In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a national apology to the stolen generations.

Despite these advances, there’s still a long way to go. Indigenous Australians still struggle with basic inequalities in healthcare, education, and housing as compared to the rest of Australia’s population.
 
ACT’s new Reconciliation Day public holiday is another step in a long road and part of a National Reconciliation Week in Australia, which runs from 27 May to 3 June.

Australians observe other ANZAC Day traditions as well. Some participate in the game “two-up” that WWI soldiers played in the field. A spinner tossed two coins in the air, and the soldiers gambled on how the coins would fall. Playing two-up is illegal across Australia except for on ANZAC Day.

Many people have the tradition of baking or eating ANZAC biscuits, a type of sweet biscuit that the soldiers ate. Because the recipe is made without milk or eggs, the biscuits had a long shelf life and didn’t spoil during transportation.

This year, I feel honoured to take part in the rituals and traditions of ANZAC Day.