Celebrating Australia: A History of Australia Day essay
Written by Dr Elizabeth Kwan
The tradition of having Australia Day as a national holiday on 26 January is a recent one. Not until 1935 did all the Australian states and territories use that name to mark that date. Not until 1994 did they begin to celebrate Australia Day consistently as a public holiday on that date1.
What drew Australians together in this way? Did Australia Day become a day for all Australians to enjoy?

 Photo: Rohan Gunaratna - Spin Profile > http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Rohan_Gunaratna
"...Given the Parkin case, it seems pertinent to wonder what role the Sri Lankan government has played in the current assessment. After all, it’s already been alleged that Sri Lankan officials have been allowed to question Tamils in Indonesia. That would be, mind you, representatives of the same Sri Lankan government leading an army caught on camera systematically shooting prisoners, a government with one of the worst human rights records in the world, and a documented tendency to regard all Tamils as terrorists; indeed, the same government whose persecution has led to the Tamils being officially declared refugees. It is, of course, possible that the five individuals — even the little kids — are, in fact, exceedingly dangerous people. But in that case, why not make the information available so that the public can make up its own mind?..."

The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil associations in Australia and New Zealand, would like to express its disappointment on the total lack of response from the international community, after Philip Alston, the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, calling anew for a "genuine and independent investigation" by the Sri Lankan government into war crimes violations allegedly committed by Sri Lankan soldiers against Tamils.