This post’s featured image shows two young Australians, having a lovely time on Australia Day.
It is reasonable to assume that they had zero awareness of – let alone ardent opinions about – the “rights” and “wrongs” of national flags, what we “should” or “should not” celebrate on Australia Day, and “appropriate” v “inappropriate” dates.
At 2.40 pm, one of Mandurah’s more popular tourist attractions floated by.
It flew no nation’s flag; this was particularly appropriate, given that the vessel purported to be “a pirate ship”!
Presumably, the members of its motley “crew” would have held various opinions on the “rights” and “wrongs” of Australia Day; it was pleasingly obvious that those views had precisely zero negative impact upon their obviously-mutual enjoyment and bonhomie.
On Australia Day afternoon there was a lot happening in, on, around, and above Mandurah’s Mandjar Bay.
All of it was friendly, relaxed.
Some of those who were “jumping right in” did so from the bridge above us, rather than from the pictured, “proper” launchpad, in front us.
The bridge-jumpers really made a splash! They were probably behaving “illegally”, but nobody did anything idiotic; those who leaped always looked, first.
Walkers, wheelchair-users, fishers, small children paddling in clean shallows, picnickers enjoying shaded grass and free bbqs, delighted dogs… all were benefiting from being in a place that has a lot of intelligently-designed, safe “public space”.
Yes, not a few folks were aboard millions of dollars worth of private boats, but most of what made the afternoon so evidently-pleasurable to everyone-present were things available to everyone, gratis – even the good quality public transport that had brought us here.
I witnessed not a single instance of sullen or anti-social behaviour.
At that time and place, at least, I felt that “being Australian” really was a remarkable stroke of unearned good fortune.
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