DEAR News Of The Area,

WITH all the discussion, and controversy, about celebrating Australia Day on 26 January each year it is interesting to note that the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed on January 1,1901, not 26 January 1788.

The proclamation, declaring the establishment of the Commonwealth, was issued by Queen Victoria on September 17, 1900, and it federated the six separate British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The proclamation was issued under the authority granted by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Before 1 January 1901, the land that is now known as Australia was referred to by different names.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have lived on these lands for at least 60,000 years called it by different names in their respective languages

The Dutch, who visited the western coast of Australia in the 1600s, named the western half of the continent New Holland.

The British, who established colonies in the late 1700s, referred to the land as New South Wales

The name Australia was officially adopted on 1 January 1901 when the British colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania united to form the Commonwealth of Australia.

So isn’t it logical that Australia Day should be celebrated on 1 January each year?

New Year’s Day and Australia Day in one!

Just sayin’!

Regards,
Grant KENNETT,
Corlette.