PRIME Minister Tony Abbott when at a function recently, was asked to select (from 100 selected options) the time in Australian history that best characterised the Australian of today, by definition, what made Australia the great nation it is.
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"The first settlement in Australia" was his reply.
May I suggest that there have been several moments in time that have contributed to the yet unanswered question that is, what does it mean to be Australian?
Starting with some forty to sixty thousand years since the settlement in this land of Australian Aboriginals, one could then mention Gallipoli, World War II and Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
European settlement in the late 40s early 60s.
Eddie Mabo and Bob Hawke's contribution and commitment to Indigenous rights (the lack there of). Paul Keating's Redfern address and Kevin Rudd's apology.
The expansion in the last 40 years and ongoing of the multi-cultured development that has embraced all cultures, and the acceptance of refugees in growing numbers.
I arrived in Australia in 1950 as a nine-year-old immigrant from Scotland. I am proud to be Australian - whatever that means.
The first settlement Prime Minister Abbott, the invasion of this land, I likened to the Islamic State and the Russian invasion in the Ukraine.
Times thank God have changed, in Australia, such is democracy.
— SYD EDWARDS, Launceston.
