Australia Day

Today is Australia Day which is a public holiday which commemorates the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet which had been sent to establish a British colony in the country that would become Australia. The country was already settled by the Aboriginal people. Over the years Australia has become home to many peoples from all around the world and Australia Day celebrations usually reflect these different cultures.
In recent years there has been more and more discussion in the Australia-wide community, that January 26 represents Invasion Day to the indigenous people and that the date should be changed, so that the Australian national day is separate from the anniversary of the First Fleet.  And who knows if that will ever happen? Until then, the day will be filled with people gathering in parks, beaches, private homes to celebrate with BBQ s, lamingtons, pavlovas, TimTams, Vegemite, meatpies and all the other Aussie 'things'. 😉
I was fortunate enough to be born in Australia but I thought I'd show you 'what this Aussie is made up of'...

Still on the subject of Australia; the other day I saw a Swap that was coming up on Instagram. It didn't involve (frantic to get finished)  sewing, just send 3 six inch squares to 8 other people in a group you would be put in.

The fabric should represent your country in some way...

Too easy! I knew I had a zippered bag full of Australiana fabric, so I was 'half way there' 👍. I signed up and when email arrived with the details of my Swap buddies, I was the only Aussie with the majority being from the US, 1 from Sweden and 1 from NZ. Then...
A search through my fabric stash didn't reveal a bag of Aussie fabrics...oh dear! But I did find these...luckily they were categorized differently and in other zippered bags.
It needs a good iron, but this is a fun, novelty Australiana fabric...

A fabric design copying the style of indigenous art...bought at a craft show years ago and still in its cello bag.

A perfect representation of an Aussie summer...

A fabric design with maps overlaid with images of old Holden cars, FX and FJ models from the 1950s.

Australian placenames...

Aussie animals fat quarter in my 'Children's Novelty Fabrics' storage cube...

Often farm themed fabrics are not Aussie...but this one is! ( also in the Children's Cube)

And then I realised that I had some Jodie Carleton fabrics; a few 5 " squares and hexies have been cut out of each fat quarter but still plenty left to cut some 6" squares. Jodie is an Australian who not only designs a great range of craft patterns (especially her felt animals) but a few years ago she started designing ranges of fabrics. So fabrics designed here would be an excellent representation of my region.

So... Murphy's Law would suggest that as soon as I mail all these squares that I will cut out of the pictured fabrics, my bag of other fabrics will turn up. 😏. No problem though, while looking for it this morning, I found so many delightful fabrics that I'd forgotten about...especially some that I can do some baby/toddler sewing with. So that's always a bonus and time looking then, is not really wasted is it?

Australia Day 2017

Today, being January 26, is the public holiday here known as Australia Day. This date commemorates the date that Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrived here to start a British penal colony in 1788. (The Aboriginal people already lived here but that is a whole other story, as it is in other countries colonised by more powerful nations.)
There are plenty of things to do on Australia Day, and being summer here, much of these activities focus around beaches, parks, clubs and pubs. DH and I are enjoying a quiet day...not even a family barbeque this year. Our young ones, (extended family included) now they are all grown up, 'have places to go' but I must admit I've enjoyed having the chance of working on a stitching project and DH is enjoying the sport on television.
One year I wrote a post here, about Aussie sayings and our tendency to shorten words and put an 'o' on the end of that!

This year I'm posting about some trivia and a tea towel I own...and some photos of that tea towel :-)
I'll let the photos 'speak' for themselves...
Yep...it's comparing sizes of a few other countries and 2 continents with the size of Australia. Those early settlers must have been quite overwhelmed with the size of their new home after what they were used to in the UK...as would those who came out in the big migrations from Europe after WW2.

I guess the tea towel wasn't big enough to show comparative sizes of Canada, Russia and China...having flown over the latter two I would say that they are much larger than Australia. And Canada is probably a lot larger too.

DH and I will dine on a 'good old fashioned Aussie roast dinner' tonight. Sorry to any readers who are vegetarian...it will be roast lamb. Most years we have a BBQ and maybe some seafood...the typical Aussie food is varied but today I predict that a lot of lamingtons and pavlovas will be scoffed.

Oh! -_o, _o, _o....All those 'o' s ! (Australia Day) .

Now some readers may have arrived looking for the Grow Your Own Blog Party post, well it's here, and a big welcome to you! 

Today is January 26 which is celebrated as Australia Day. It marks the date  in 1788, when the first boatloads of Europeans arrived to set up a British Colony, which had been named New South Wales by Captain James Cook in 1770. There of course had been people already living in this land; the Aboriginal people...what must they have thought? Their descendants now consider Australia Day as Invasion Day. 

But I'm going to write a different sort of post to celebrate Australia Day...Australia was a British colony but we pretty soon developed our own slang, sayings, idioms, colloquialisms etc. Some of these have their origins in UK too of course. Having had training in TESOL/ESL, (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and English as a Second Language) I try not to use too many colloquialisms in blog posts as it can made it difficult for readers whose first language is not English...and of course the online translation programs can't handle these sayings. 

But a few times I must have used the term, 'arvo' and have received emails asking what an arvo is. 

I realised that Aussies love to shorten words and put an o on the end of the shortened word...so 'afternoon' is shortened to 'arvo' :-/. DH and I sat down one day and we thought of all the other shortened words with an o added on the end...here's our list. 

Ambo...ambulance officer

Smoko...a break from work for a cup of tea...and a smoke

Garbo...the rubbish collector

Journo...a journalist

Aggro...describing someone's aggressive behaviour

Paddo...Paddington

Johno...the surname Johnson

Jacko...the surname Jackson

Robbo...the surname Robinson or Robertson

Bizzo...business, as in 'mind your own business'

Bottle-o...nowadays, the liquor or bottle shop...old days, the men who came around the streets collecting empty bottles from residents and paying a few pence to people

Servo...Service Station where petrol/gas is sold

Thingo...thing, when you can't remember the name of something. Sometimes used when a person's name has been forgotten.

Metho...methylated spirits

Nasho...A person called up for National Service in the army...no conscription though nowadays.

Rego...registration as in 'My car rego is due'...

There are many other slang words ending with o...such as 'drongo'and 'yobbo'...Can you guess what they mean? It's tricky because they aren't abbreviations with an o put on the end :-)

I will finish off with one of DH's favourite greetings that he likes to use...

'Gidday, Ocker, Digger, Cobber, Mate! How ya going?' ( basic translation, 'hello my friend, how are you?' The words Ocker, Digger, Cobber are all Australianisms meaning mate/friend) land DH uses them all at once! Lol

Happy Australia Day...

Today is Australia Day and most cities and communities have various activities which people can attend. Other people have BBQs (barbeques) with friends and family to celebrate. Other people just enjoy having a day off work! January 26 is often referred to as 'Invasion Day' by the aboriginal people as it commemorates the day the British settlement at Sydney Cove started, led by Captain (later Governor) Arthur Phillip thus usurping the indigenous people's ownership of the land. For some aboriginal people the day is not one for celebration!

Some of our 'Australiana' that comes out each Australia day!

Australia day has gradually become a 'big deal'! By that I mean that the shops are stocked with merchandise depicting the Aussie flag for months! Community groups, Clubs, hotels and shopping centres host 'family events' with toad races, free sausage sizzles, face painting, jumping castles, rides, concerts etc. People can be dressed like an aussie flag, in flag shorts, shirts, thongs and hats. They can drink from flag waterbottles, flag stubby coolers, put their bbq supplies in a flag esky. They can dry off after a swim with a flag towel...and so the list of items goes on. I don't remember the fervour when I was growing up or for the next 2 decades. The best thing about these celebrations is the fact that those participating reflect the many faces of what an Australian is...many, many cultural backgrounds, but all proud to be Aussies! Today DH and I celebrated at a friend's house by having a lunchtime BBQ. And didn't we have lots of fun!