Earlson Forbes in Sydney in Email Memo to Michael Roberts, 9 February 2024** as a Comment on this TPS Item viz https://thuppahis.com/2024/02/08/anzac-day-outdoes-australia-day-in-the–scales-of-dinky-die-australian-nationalism/ ……….. Note that the highlights in black are those by Earlson, while the other coloured segments are those of Editor Roberts.
Whilst the author of this email has made many interesting observations, I think clarification is due on some aspects of the contents. The email in question states. ‘The first fleet arrived in Botany Bay on 18th January. The 26th was chosen as Australia Day for a very different and important reason. The 26th of January 1949 is the day Australians received their independence from British Rule’.
The comment regarding the arrival of Captain James Cook is correct. James Cook did not bring the First Fleet to Australia. Many years before the First Fleet arrived in Australia Captain Cook was on a voyage to the mid Pacific. Cook’s voyage took him to Hawaii where there was a fierce encounter with the Hawaiians and Cook was killed in the skirmish on 14 February 1779.
