Today is Australia Day. It is the 230th anniversary of the arrival of several British ships in what became the port of Sydney, Australia, loaded with convicts from Great Britain. These were the first white settlers in the continent of Australia.
I don’t have any direct genealogical connection to Australia, but it does remind me of the party I attended at the annual meeting of the International Iron and Steel Institute on the Sydney Wharf in early October in 1990 (which was springtime there). Wow, has it been that long ago?
The iron and steel industry of Australia really laid out the welcome matt for steelmaking leaders attending from around the world. A feature of the evening was a three-screen audio-visual show (remember them?) portraying the first arrival of what would become known as convict ships. As the show was ending, fireworks were set off over Sydney Harbor; then there was plenty of food and drink.
As a result of meeting people on this trip and in my other travels as a trade magazine journalist, I have concluded that the Aussies are the people most like Americans. Well, of course, Canadians are like Americans also.
Anyway, happy Australian Day.
If you want to read up on this bit of history, Wikipedia has a concise article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day
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