Australia Day

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
27 Jan 2002

There was then a migrant hostel nearby and the pupils came from more than sixty different national backgrounds.

The grade sixers sang for me "We are Australians" a song that a love and a favourite of many school choirs. This performance was different because all the singers, boys and girls, had a large piece of paper, which had the flag of Australia drawn on one side and on the other side each child had drawn the flag of his country of origin. As they sang different verses they displayed alternate sides.

a am often moved when young Australians sing this song, but it was particularly powerful symbolism that day. The children were already proud and happy Australians, who knew they belonged to one another.

The school spirit there was better than most, but it was not untypical. The playground was always crowded and hectic, as young Vietnamese greeted me raucously in strong Aussie accents. In the question and answer session the twelve year olds would often ask me where a came from; what about my parents? How long had my people been in Australia? The sigh of admiration which went up after a explained that all my people had been in this part of the world since at least 1860 was genuine, and wide spread.

Most schools do not have such a mix of national backgrounds, even in our capital cities. But we should not take for granted the achievements of our primary and secondary schools, State, Catholic and private, which have successfully moulded old and new Australians into genuine communities, while working to preserve the students' respect for these diverse traditions. They have done a great job.

The school is usually the first Australian institution experienced by migrant children and parents. The overwhelmingly happy and useful experiences in such schools for successive generations of immigrants since the Second World War have laid the foundations for the basic racial harmony which still prevails among us, and empowered many of these youngsters through a good education to contribute to the vitality and prosperity of our society.

Australia Day is one occasion when we should celebrate our achievements. It is not a time to emphasise our mistakes and weaknesses, even as we do not turn a blind eye to the darker side of the ledger. Highlighting our weaknesses is for another occasion and only so we can do better.

What unites us as Australians? What good reasons do we have for pride?

Some suggest that all we have in common is that we live together on the same large island, an old continent plus Tasmania. But this doesn't take us very far at all.

Australia's biggest treasurers are our fellow Australians, from the original inhabitants to the newest arrivals. An old Irish saying explains "It is in the shelter of each others lives that the people live".

We owe an enormous debt to those who went before us, transforming a convict settlement into one of the world's oldest and most successful democracies. They settled a continent, peopled it with stable prosperous communities, steadily raised educational and living standards, fought two World Wars, battled a mighty Depression and recessions.

The spirit of the Australian people, yesterday, today and tomorrow is the main reason for celebrating Australia Day.