I’ve seen many crap suggestions for a new post-rule-Britannia Aussie flag design, mostly featuring Kangaroos and/or the Southern Cross. The kangaroo is a beaut looking animal but unlike the Canadian Maple Leaf, which has a simple and beautiful symmetry, the roo is all gangly arms, legs and tail which makes it an awkward fit in a national flag.
So… I’ve had a go at my own crap designs. I think the symbolism is pretty easy to see, including the boomerangs in the above suggestion which symbolise inclusion.
Another simple idea for an Aussie flag
Oh, and before you say it… no there’s no Southern Cross and no Federation Star (that 7 pointy thingy for the 6 states and a 7th for territories and future states) Really!! Do we need to advertise that. Also, I think we all know that in the southern hemisphere, you can see the Southern Cross… Woopdeedoo. And anyone who thinks that blue, green and gold belong together, try wearing it without attracting giggles.
Although the red might be a bit too nuanced for the flag snobs (heraldic tradition and all that), there are plenty of flags out there that also flout heraldic tradition in order to look beautiful.
So, What do you think?
Note: To be honest, I would have preferred the existing red, yellow and black Indigenous Flag that often flies from government flagpoles around the country but unfortunately, that flag is copyright and its designer has specifically rejected its adoption as our national flag.
I’d just like to chuck this out there and see what happens…
I know that there is significant and understandable disquiet with the current Australia Day, January 26, a celebration day that might feel like it’s been around forever but hasn’t and a day that causes anguish for many indigenous Australians. The current Australia Day only became generally accepted throughout Australia in 1935 and only came into real prominence when the public holiday shifted from a long weekend to the actual date in 1994.
Of course indigenous Australians are reminded every year that their country (or rather, the colony of New South Wales) was annexed by Governor Arthur Phillip for Britain on that colonisation date. So for many, it is a day of sad reflection on their history after that date rather than a day to celebrate. Imagine a Tanzanian being asked to celebrate, as their national day, the date that they became a British possession rather than, Uhuru Day (freedom day) – 9 December, the day in 1961 that the country gained its independence.
The overwhelmingly obvious celebration day for Australia is the date we joined to become a united Australian federation on January 1, 1901. However, having a dual celebration of a New Year combined with a national day would dilute both (and even worse, deprive us of a cherished public holiday).
An alternative, May 27, would celebrate the day in 1967 that Australians voted to amend the Constitution to recognize the indigenous population (previously they had been excluded from the population census and were not full citizens) and the right of the Commonwealth to make law relating to indigenous Australians (previously that had been a state prerogative). While there might be a compelling case for selecting this day, I believe a strong argument could also be proffered to instead choose the date 3 June 1992 when Mr. E. Mabo won his momentous High Court ruling that overturned ‘Terra nullius‘ (which had previously assumed Australia to be uninhabited prior to British colonisation). Both these days celebrate an unfinished process of inclusion and reconciliation that may never be completely realised but will certainly not be satisfied until an indigenous treaty and/or full constitutional recognition is achieved.
In the meantime I’d like to suggest January 25 and 26 as ‘Australia Days’, with the public holiday shifted to the 25th. These two days symbolise the critical demarcation between ancient and modern Australia while providing an opportunity to showcase indigenous cultural heritage and celebrate the immigrant nation that is Australia. And, as a trivial aside, the days are a lot warmer than a wintery day in May or June and… hell, how many countries devote a whole two days to celebrate their nationhood?
I’d also like to suggest that May 27 be declared Australian Citizenship Day, the day when Australia voted to confer citizenship rights for all Australians, including the first nations. The current Citizenship Day is 17 September, a day which recognises an obscure event in 1973 when the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 was renamed the Australian Citizenship Act 1948.
I thought the amazing Bugatti Veyron was as mad as it gets but I was wrong….
This thing has to be the most bonkers car ever dreamt of! The Pagani Huayra.
• Check out the Top Gear gushfest:
If I had the money, I’d donate it to a worthy cause….
No I wouldn’t, I’d get one of these!
Letterman telling it like it is.
Yea, I know… where was I.
I didn’t get to see this 2012 clip until it was posted by a friend on Facebook.
I remember when Gasland came out and it was said by industry types in Australia, that coal seam gas would be extracted in a different and much safer way than that depicted in the film. Well guess what, that was just spin; the Frackers are doing it in exactly the same dangerous way. Even taking a benign view of Fracking in Australia, it still involves the waste of vast quantities of precious groundwater just to produce the gas. This groundwater depletion for coal seam gas production has by itself, made the extraction of water for human consumption and agriculture much more difficult.
The past informs the future and that tells us that no industrial process is without risk, it’s just a matter of deciding how much you’re willing to lose. No matter how safe offshore drilling was said to be, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico still happened. No matter how safe nuclear power plants are, according to proponents of nuclear power, the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster still happened.
Whereas Fracking elsewhere in the world might contaminate one of many aquifers, in Australia, Fracking contamination anywhere in Queensland and northern New South Wales would destroy the world’s greatest aquifer, The Great Artesian Basin.
“The Great Artesian Basin provides the only reliable source of freshwater through much of inland Australia. The basin is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over a total of 1,700,000 square kilometres.” (Wikipedia).
• Also see here for a map of the Great Artesian Basin.
The Qld and NSW governments need the Fracking tax cash so in this age of short-termism, they’re prepared to give Australia’s Frackers the benefit of the doubt right up to the point when Australia’s Great Artesian Basin is totally fracked. When that inevitably happens, they’ll squeal: “it was a terrible accident” or “the company responsible will be held to account”. But by then it’ll be too late and as inland towns, livestock and crops die, who will hold our politicians to account. In the meantime, some chemical contamination of the groundwater, as a consequence of Fracking, is inevitable. It’ll just be a matter of ‘authorities’ determining how much carcinogenic water we’re prepared to tolerate.
So good on Letterman for having his rant but he forgot to mention we elect governments to prevent this sort of economic rape, so wherever it’s happening, there’s a fracking government watching.
From now on, I think I’ll replace the ‘u’ with ‘ra’ and use frack, frackers, fracking instead. Hey, it’s PG enough to use round kids and you never know it might become a byword for this evil industry.
As I was approaching home after my morning stroll I met an angry young man (probably about 18) in a hurry, heading towards me in an old Hyundai with a cranking and much younger audio system. He was very annoyed at having to indicate and move out to go around me and stopped to yell at me to, “Walk on the f***ing footpath, arsehole”. I replied, “Thank you for taking the time to stop and remind me.” I think he missed the irony as he hurtled off.
When did life get so tough that using an indicator and turning a steering wheel could be so traumatic?
Bullying is repeated and sustained verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour by an individual or group, aimed at another individual with the intention of belittling, intimidating or controlling that individual. Bullying is also an insidious and traumatizing process for the victim. In a school, it invariably involves a stronger or older student targeting another younger, weaker or vulnerable student with sustained verbal or physical abuse over an extended period. In the workplace, bullying invariably involves the exploitation of a power imbalance and is often perpetrated by an insecure manager with low self-esteem who targets a vulnerable subordinate.
I’ve watched the devastating effects of bullying and it can have lifelong impacts…
Bullying… is not, an incident!
It annoys me when such a wholly despicable thing as bullying is lumped together with good old bad behavior and reported as: Australian swimmer Matt Targett “reprimanded” over a bullying incident which involved 5 times Olympic medalist Alicia Coutts (pictured). She was allegedly subjected to an incident of aggressive physical and verbal behaviour from Targett which occurred at the Perth tri-series meet in January.
Not nice for Alicia but if it’s one incident then it doesn’t rise to the level of bullying.
Stretching the meaning of the word, bullying to include any nasty interaction between individuals, dilutes and diminishes the value of the word in describing what it actually represents. This type of hyperbolic misuse of the word also serves to downplay the devastating impact that actual bullying can have on an individual.
Words matter.
Have you experienced bullying?
Are there other words that suffer from this type of hyperbolic misuse?
Crap cellphone coverage!!! There’s an App for that. For all those Vodafone users who complain noisily about suffering frequently from crap coverage and drop-outs… here’s the app for you.
An Aussie Flag…
:: Posted 12 January 2017, by Zak de Courcy ::
I’ve seen many crap suggestions for a new post-rule-Britannia Aussie flag design, mostly featuring Kangaroos and/or the Southern Cross. The kangaroo is a beaut looking animal but unlike the Canadian Maple Leaf, which has a simple and beautiful symmetry, the roo is all gangly arms, legs and tail which makes it an awkward fit in a national flag.
So… I’ve had a go at my own crap designs…..
Australia Days…
:: Posted 11 January 2017, by Zak de Courcy ::
I know that there is significant and understandable disquiet with the current Australia Day, January 26, a celebration day that might feel like it’s been around forever but hasn’t…
Of course indigenous Australians are reminded every year that their country (or rather, the colony of New South Wales) was annexed by Governor Arthur Phillip for Britain on that colonisation date….
Young Man in a Hurry!
:: Posted 30 April 2013, by Zak de Courcy ::
As I was approaching home after my morning stroll I met an angry young man (probably about 18) in a hurry, heading towards me in an old Hyundai with a cranking and much younger audio system… Continue reading →
:: Posted in Gotta Life ≈ Leave a comment ::
– ≈≈ –
Bullying, not bullying!
:: Posted 19 April 2013, by Zak de Courcy ::
Bullying is repeated and sustained verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour by an individual or group, aimed at another individual with the intention of belittling, intimidating or controlling that individual…
Bullying… is not, an incident!…
It annoys me when such a wholly despicable thing as bullying is lumped together with good old bad behavior…
Crap Coverage App:
:: Posted 20 March 2013, by Zak de Courcy ::
Crap cellphone coverage!!! There’s an App for that. For all those Vodafone users who complain noisily about suffering frequently from crap coverage and drop-outs… here’s the app for you… Continue reading →
:: Posted in Gotta Life ≈ Leave a comment ::
Zak From Downunder 