On 26th January we celebrate Australia Day commemorating the arrival of white settlement in this land. In his remarkable book, “A Commonwealth of Thieves”, Thomas Keneally tells the story of the birth of this nation through the arrival of the First, Second and Third Fleets. Most of those sent to a land 17,000km from England were simply so impoverished by the class system they were forced into stealing in order to eat. Keneally tells of the horrors of the sea trips, with over 30% of the convicts on the Second Fleet dying due to poor care during the sea voyage. Nonetheless, the convicts, and later free settlers, most from the cities of Britain, tamed much of the ‘Sunburnt Country’ with its contrasting ‘droughts and flooding rains’.
Today we live in the finest country in the world. Our government has been built on Judaic-Christian principles, with equality for all citizens and we welcome those from other lands seeking a new life free of persecution and war. We may not always get things right but one need only travel abroad to realise how fortunate we are to live as we do. This week take some time to reflect on God’s goodness to us in this great land of Australia. So, let’s hear it, “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!”
Pastor Bob