January 26th is Australia Day! Australia Day is much like the 4th of July here in the United States. It’s a national holiday often celebrated with BBQ and fireworks!
January 26th is the day that Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in present day Sydney in the year 1787. This is often known as the arrival of the “First Fleet.” When he arrived, he claimed Australia for the British Empire. From then on, the anniversary of that event was celebrated. It started out as small celebrations but eventually became an officially recognized day in 1818. Originally it was known as Foundation Day. Twenty years later, in 1838, it become the first ever public holiday in Australia. Today, it is marked by huge gatherings around the country. To learn more about it’s history, you can read about it on the Australia Day website or on the Australian History Timeline.
Australia Day is especially intriguing to us because of some of the great connections we’ve made with classes through blogging. We’ve become very close with 2KM and 2KJ who live in the state of Victoria on the southern coast of Australia. You may recall that we even did a collaborative story writing project with them earlier this year. It’s been so interesting to learn about the history of the country that they live in!
If you’re looking to celebrate Australia Day, whether you’re from there or not, you may want to start with some of the things that they often eat. You may want to try a recipe for pavlova or lamingtons. Or, if you’re hungrier for more than just dessert, you may want to try a meal of sausages or what they call snags. They typically eat them on bread with tomato sauce.
Looking for some Australia Day activities? Click through the pictures and links below to print out some things you can for at home!
Australia Day Wallpapers
Click to enlarge and then right click to set as your background!
Make Your Own Mask
Click to enlarge and then print out to color in and cut out!
Other Activities
Click on the link and then print out for fun Australia Day activities!
Australia Day Crossword Puzzle
Australia Day Word Find
Australia Quiz
We wish all of you a very happy Australia Day! We hope it’s wonderful!
How are Australia Day and the 4th of July similar and different?
What are some of your 4th of July or Australia Day traditions?
Hi Iām a intermediate student in New Zealand and we recently had Waitangi day to celebrate the signing of the treaty between the Maori and Europeans so they could have the same amount of land as each other.
Yours Sincerely
Alexandra
Hi. I’m a Intermediate student from new Zealand and we recently celebrated Waitangi Day. Waitangi day is when the Europeans and the Maori tribes signed a treaty over the amount of land there was to share.
Yours Sincerely,
Briney
Dear Mr Avery,
My name is Brooke and I’m from an intermediate school in New Zealand.
I think that it is very neat that you celebrate Australia day and that you tasted vegemite. Just recently on the 6th of February, we celebrated Waitangi Day. We celebrate this day because it was when the Moari and the Europeons signed a the treaty of Waitangy.
Kind regaurds,
Brooke
Dear Dalton,
Thank you for commenting! It was really fun doing that last year! I bet the same thing happens for Australia Day, too! We also have a barbeque, eat tons of fruit, and watch fireworks! Thanks!
~ Emma W
Happy Australia Day! It’s so cool that Australia Day is just like 4 of July. Last year Emma, my mom, my dad, and I all went to Cape Cod with our cousins. We had a rock contest to see who could do the best painted rock and everybody got 1st place because we all had unique ones. I hope we have the same thing happen again!
Australia- Mommy has always wanted to go to Australia for the wildlife.(I’m not a big animal person) Do you think we can camp there? Maybe our family.
Sincerely,
Tara B.
It’s nice to recognize holidays around the country. Emma’s grandfather and most of her family on that side are all from Canada. Her grandfather lived here since he was 7 but never became an American Citizen. Proved to be a little bit trickier when we went on family holidays….and Elections!
Great job on all of your work on the blog. Emma really enjoys it and loves to share the work with all of us in her family.
Have a great day!
Tara W(Emma W’s mom)
Dear Mom,
Thanks for commenting! It is so cool to know that my relatives are from a different country, but celebrate the same holidays as us! Thank you for commenting!
Dear Mr. Avery,
What an interesting post about Australia Day. I guess many countries have special holidays celebrating their discovery or independence from previous reigning powers. It is a good thing to be proud of where you come from and to celebrate your national pride… and I can’t think of a better way than fireworks and a BBQ. Love it.
Sincerely,
Liz P.
Hello Mr. Avery,
Happy Australia Day to you and your class! How exciting that you and Mrs. Morris have connected across the ocean! We have had Wilbur Wombat visiting us for a looooong time, and your post has made him homesick! I think I had better exchange him back for our Haida Bear stuffie soon!
š from Mrs. Boekhout in BC, Canada
Mrs. Boekhout,
Nice to hear from you! How’re things going up in Canda? How’s the weather been?
How long have you had Wilbur Wombat for? What are some of the things that he’s done while being with your class? It must be tough for him to be away from home for so long!
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hi Class,
You need to check out the Australian History Timeline link that Mr. Avery posted – it has a ton of great information.
Emma’s Dad
Dear Dad,
Thanks for commenting! It was cool learning about Australia Day! It is just like our 4th of July! Happy Australia Day!
Dear Mr. Avery,
What an interesting holiday! We usually go over friend of Liz’s house for a BBQ and the kids have a great time in her pool! It is interesting seeing what Liz will talk about next! š I have to go!
Sincerely,
Mr. Princiotta
P.S happy Austrailia day 2KM and 2KJ! š
Dear dad,
I love going to Lisa’s house for the 4th of July. You make the best burgers too!
Love,
Tessa
Dear Mr. Avery,
Australia Day sounds really fun. Those holiday masks look really interesting. I have never celebrated or even heard of Australia Day. However, I do celebrate the fourth of July. Every year we go down to a beach and watch the fireworks.
Happy Australia day,
Morgan
Hi Morgan,
Australia Day definitely sounds like a lot of fun! It sounds almost exactly like our Fourth of July. The only thing that really sounds different is the type of food they eat.
For the Fourth of July, I usually always try to go see fireworks somewhere. I love a great fireworks show! It sounds like your Fourth is always a lot of fun!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Taite,
I can’t believe that today was Australia Day was today in January if we celebrated it here it would be freezing outside and we would be able to even have a BBQ! Well, Taite just got her green screen today after my dad and I have left to go to buy Taite’s and I basketball shoes. Taite is making a video for it right now.
Sincerely,
Tristan
Dear Tristan,
Thanks so much for commenting on the blog! Sorry I had a late reply. Tomorrow we find out who is gonna win the blog from Mr. Avery and I am very nervious!!!! Thanks so much again.
Sincerely,
Taite B.
Dear Mr Avery and class,
What a thoughtful surprise to see that you commemorated Australia Day with us!
This is a popular public holiday although isn’t really a day off for us teachers and students as we’re always on holidays on Jan 26th anyway!
Many people have a BBQ with family and friends and you’re right, snags are a popular choice!
I think one similarity between Australia Day and 4th July is the fireworks that lots of towns hold. I hope I can be in the US for 4th July one year…maybe even this year!
Mrs Hembree was right about our biscuits, she might have been thinking of ANZAC biscuits.
Thanks again for a great post!
Your Aussie friend,
Mrs Morris
Dear Mrs. Morris,
Thanks so much for commenting on the blog!
We were more than happy to celebrate Australia day with a blog post. We even talked about the history of Australia as a class. I hope you can make it down here for the 4th of July too!
Sincerely,
Will G.
Dear Mrs. Morris,
Thanks so much for writing a comment on the blog! Mr. Avery told us a little bit about Australia Day and the history was very interesting! Thanks again for commenting.
Sincerely,
Taite B.
Dear Mr. Avery,
I enjoyed reading your post about Australia Day and learned a lot too! Some of my Australian librarian friends have been telling me about cookies they like to eat, except they call them biscuits!
Thanks for the lesson!
Mrs. Hembree