KALGOORLIE: 26th January 2006 -- Why Kalgoorlie,
where's Kalgoorlie, what's Australia Day....? Let's get all this
in order. Why Kalgoorlie? It just happens to be that tiny
place on the Australian continent where the Australia Day celebrations
began for 2006, and where Khoa Do, Young Australian of the year told
the Governor General Michael Jeffrey what Australia means to him as a
nation. That young Australian's name might give a clue to
answering the third question, but the second one comes first - where is
Kalgoorlie? It is in Western Australia, a gold-mining town
and is about as far from anywhere as you could imagine. But it is
on the main highway between Adelaide and Perth and is a welcome sight
after crossing a long stretch of desert (a day or two's drive worth of
desert) and before heading into another stretch!
Australia Day marks the day Captain Arthur Phillip
from Britain took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales in
1788. Some of the onlookers on that occasion might not have
marked the date with such enthusiasm - nobody then knew how long they
had been there, and for Britain, as indeed for maps held in the Vatican
at the time, 'Terra Australis' was also 'terra nullius' meaning that it
was considered unoccupied or certainly unoccupied by anything
resembling civilisation. Nobody knew or cared that the occupants
who were in fact there had been there at least 40,000 years. Not
a good argument to get into.
Khoa Do (pronounced, probably, Kwa Doe) may save the
day for us - his name suggests Vietnam, and that is precisely where he
was born. It is also the country he left as a refugee on a
fishing boat. Khoa Do is an exceptional young Australian now (he
will always be an exceptional young Vietnamese too, of course, but he
has adopted Australia and taken citizenship). He is a writer,
actor, film director and teacher. He completed his schooling
(Catholic school, St Aloysius) in Sydney and went off to
University. In his spare time he works voluntarily for
disadvantaged children. He made a film with and about these
children at risk, called it The Finished People. It is now an
internationally acclaimed film.
So Australia Day is all about what makes Australia a
great nation, a warm and accepting nation, even if there have been some
rather unaccepting and unacceptable moments in its history. On
this day, the nation also recognises its achievers and
contributors. Some years back, the current Provincial, Fr Frank
Moloney, was awarded the honour of being a Member of the Order of
Australia and carries the initials AM after his name, along with SDB
and a few others, and just as proudly.
By the time Australians receive this their day
will be over unfortunately! The Rome-Pisana server has conspired
against anyone trying to send emails today, except for a window of an
hour or so when the other item went through. But no matter, bear
a thought for Australia today and a prayer or two as well.
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