Australia's birthday bash begins

Press, 26 January 1988, Page 1

Australia's birthday bash begins

NZPA Sydney Australia will celebrate 20® years of white settlement today against a backdrop of majestic tall ships, fireworks, Royalty and Aboriginal protests.

While bicentennial festivities will take place throughout Australia, it will be in Sydney that they will be the most spectacular. Authorities expected two million people to converge on the city centre and the harbour foreshores. At dawn, the nine vessels remaining in the First Fleet reenactment, including the New Zealand brigantine R. Tucker Thompson, will weigh anchor. They will sail from Botany Bay to Sydney Harbour on the last leg of a journey retracing the voyage of the 11 ships that brought the first settlers from Portsmouth. However, organisers said the planned re-enactment of the landing of the settlers at Circular Quay would not go ahead for security reasons. In the afternoon, about 200 tall ships from around the world, including the barquentine Spirit of New Zealand, will sail through and out of the harbour in a majestic parade of sail. The tall ships, some of which called at other ports in Australia, have been a big attraction in Sydney. On Sunday, 750,000 people visited the Darling Harbour site where the ships have been anchored for the last week

Taking the salute at the parade will be the Prince and Princess of Wales, who arrived in Australia yesterday for a 10-day visit.

A 200-gun cannonade from H.M.A.S. Brisbane in the evening will precede a harbourside fireworks display set to music. But, while flag-waving and unabashed patriotism will be to the fore, the build-up to Australia

Day this year has been marked by increased debate over the plight of the Aboriginals. In a message to be delivered today, the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, said modern day Australians should remember what they owed to their predecessors, including the Aboriginals. “Australia Day is a focus in our bicentennial year when, as well as celebrating our present achievements, we can remember the past and what we owe to the people who have been before us — the Aboriginals who have lived on this continent for some 40,000 years, those who settled Australia in 1788 and those who have made Australia the home of their choice since then,” he said. Australians should remind themselves that they lived in a wonderful country. “We can all feel proud of our country, for whether it is in matters of domestic economy, in the international arena, the arts, science, medicine, or on the sports field, we have proved time and again that Australians are achievers,” said Mr Hawke. “One thing and one thing only defines an Australian today, and that is a commitment to Australia and its future. “Australia’s successful pro-

gress into the twenty-first century depends so much on the efforts of every single Australian, regardless of our origins, wherever we live,” he said.

Last September, Mr Hawke, proposed a “compact of understanding” ’ between black and white Australians, but his critics charge that he has since taken no concrete steps to carry out his plan.

Among those critics is Australia’s Nobel Prize-winning author, Patrick White, who told television viewers yesterday morning that Mr Hawke was the “greatest bull-artist ever” .and described the Bicentenary as a “circus.” “I can't really see a lot to be proud about in our past, and certainly not in our present, with so many dishonest politicians about, legislating to get monuments to their own glory.” Some Aboriginals are planning their own events today as part of their “Year of Mourning.” About 15,000 Aboriginals from throughout Australia are expected to march through Sydney in the afternoon for a rally at Hyde Park. The co-organiser, Mr Gary Foley, said the protest would be a peaceful one and there would be no violence initiated by the demonstrators. “In the 20 years of my involvement in Aboriginal action, the only violence that has occurred has been initiated by someone else,” he said. Almost 2000 police will be on duty in central Sydney, and Chief Superintendent Ken Chapman said they did not expect any serious violent confrontations during the march, although there

could be some minor conflicts "where personalities come to the fore.” “The great majority are lawabiding people “There may be a few militant people in that group and we have more than enough police to handle the situation.”

Bicentennial feature, page 13