Today is Australia Day. It is a national holiday, and as you read this I hope that I am still asleep in bed. It is a day for family and bar-b-cues (no, not shrimp, we call them prawns) and be grateful to having the luck to be living in this wonderful country.
Ivy Shilling, 1913
Afternoon tea in a Gilderoy giant tree, ca.1900
Antoinette Hurley knitting whilst her son, Frank Junior, plays with a stuffed toy, 1924
Bifocal glasses on a chicken at the Royal Agricultural Show, New South Wales, 6 September, 1962
Bondi beach girl 1962
Fancy dress parade of internees, Torrens Island internment camp, South Australia circa 1915
Soap making, Banka Banka Station, Northern Territory, c.1963
The First Australians by Belinda Wright, National Geographic 1988
Wombat on a trike. Cary Bay Zoo, Lake Macquarie, NSW, 1954.
Dr Penfold’s first vineyard at Magill, Adelaide for medicinal purposes circa 1958
Fern by Paula McManus
Fireplace of the first office of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company 1885 (BHP)
kangaroo baby
Ayer's Rock or Uluru
It doesn’t get much more random than high tea in a tree, bifocal glasses on a chicken, and a trike-riding wombat!
We are Australian!
Another superb collection.
We are being very unAustralian today and doing nothing to celebrate. But then maybe that is Australian!
Agree with GOF re photos. I never could work out who Girt was and why she lived by the sea, having been reared on God Save The Queen. Teachers kept saying she didn’t “reign over Russ” it was “reign over us”. I always fancied Waltzing Matilda, but the Bunyip Aristocracy don’t think it is pretentious enough, hence we have an anthem which many don’t know the words and can’t sing – well us fossils will die out and they will have batches of graduand school kids (taught by FD, no doubt) all knowing who Girt is. – Ratty
Girt living by the sea had me laughing out loud for real! I personally dislike Matilda, as who wants to honour a sheep thief. I remember my youthful protests of refusing to stand to God Save the Queen. And obviously Russ was big Russ Heinze!
Those rose colored chicken glasses are funny, AND real. I guess chickens will attack things with blood on them, so a farmer back in the 60’s developed rose colored glasses so they wouldn’t see red…..I don’t think they sold too many, because putting glasses on a hundred chickens or so would suck. hahaha
Oh, and I would love to own a tricycle riding wombat….
I wonder what the job title would be for the person who puts glasses on chickens? Chicken glasser? Fowl Spectalcer?
When Daughter1 and her husband Mr Boy were in Germany one city zoo had a newly arrived Vombat. Signs were all over the city announcing the arrival of the Vombat. It is amazing how a society considers something ordinary, such as we do with our wombats and another society will think it exotic.
so funny!!!! the chickens stuff. Loved the other photos.
A little taste of Australia – you should try us sometime!
Nice piccies and very Australian, FD. I do think we are fortunate to live here, but I cringe a bit at all the flag waving, cockroach racing and barbies bit. I like to celebrate Australia day every day of the year without the need to go on about it. Maybe I’m just getting old…
And the window banging! I was ashamed to see our Prime Minister dragged from a building for her own safety. What has happened to Australia?
Speaking of cockroaches, why are they importing NSW cockies and allowing them to run free and breed big in Qld. I think think the Breakfast Creek Hotel has something to explain.
Did you watch the Channel 9 report of the so called riots? Gillard was classy enough to suggest that Abbott would need an escort out of the building too. Couldn’t see Tones returning the compliment.
And yes, Toowoomba cockies would show those NSW ones a thing or two.
Yes, I was so proud of her. Tony caused the issue in the first place and she saved him. I bet he doesn’t say thank you either.
And after she said “We’ll pull together” he gave a halfsmart eyebrows raise, after she turned her back of course.
Actually, most exciting Australia Day we’ve had for years when you come to think of it…
Australia Day seems to bring out the worst in some people.
Hello,
I see that you have included one of my photos in your gallery. Could you link my photo to my portfolio so that I receive the photographic credit please?
http://www.redbubble.com/people/paulamcmanus/works/7348617-fern
Thankyou, Paula
I certainly will. I found on pininterest and couldn’t locate a creator so I am glad the you notified me.
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!
Hopefully you’re calling them prawns correctly for shrimp and prawns aren’t the same. The differences? Check it out:
But prawns can be small and shrimp can be big. The best way to tell the difference is to check out the animal’s abdomen before it’s been peeled or deveined, says Darlene Crist, media relations representative for the Census of Marine Life. Take a look at the underside of the tail and pay careful attention to the second plate. On a shrimp the second plate overlaps both the first and third plates, but on a prawn the second plate will only overlap the third plate.
Australians only use the term prawns. We call them by their varieties. King prawns are the large ones. The small ones are “cocktail prawns”! Shrimp to us is only an American term.