Things to do on Australia Day

Here is your definitive list of Australia Day must-dos. Any one of these makes you a thoughtful Aussie. Do all 22 and you’ll end up with an Order of Australia.

1.Start the day with Vegemite on damper and Weet Bix;

2.Wear eucalypt silvery-green and deep gold clothing. Make an effort with the hues; lime-green and canary yellow just won’t cut it;

3.Fly a large Australian flag at home so your neighbours can see it. Bonus points for a huge flag flown proudly atop a permanent flagpole in your front yard;

4.Host an Australia Day BBQ at your place;

5.Wear a sprig of wattle on your lapel;

6.Give someone you love a bouquet of native flowers;

7.Sizzle all-Aussie beef steaks and burgers with a native bush tomato and mountain pepper berry rub;

8.Serve burgers with beetroot and an oversized Queensland pineapple ring. Bonus points for onion and a BBQ poached egg;

9.Make an Australian dessert like pavlova, lamingtons, Iced Vovo tart, vanilla slice or fairy bread;

10.Recite Mackellar’s My Country aloud before the family. Bonus points for Banjo Paterson’s The Geebung Polo Club done with rhythm and build-up;

11.Play a hotly-contested, raucous game of backyard cricket. Bonus points for loud, speculative appealing and protestations when turned down;

12.Do anything at the beach. Absolutely anything!

13.Tweet your unreserved appreciation and love for Australia;

14.Recite the Oath of Allegiance even as a lifelong citizen;

15.Share with family and friends what you love about Australia;

16.Play Slim Dusty, Nelly Melba or Percy Grainger, as your taste dictates. Just make sure the music is Australian;

17.Self-consciously use old Australian dialect words. Bonus points for: “You’re bonzer, cobber. It’s the Pom who’s gone troppo, a fair dinkum drongo. What a galah!”

18.Fly the flag from your car and drive around your neighbourhood;

19.Photograph a beautiful Australian scene and share on social media;

20.Sing loudly and without any hint of self-consciousness any of the following: I Am Australian, I Still Call Australia Home, Waltzing Matilda or Advance Australia Fair. Bonus points for including the second verse or for leading a group to sing all of them with you;

21.Debate who is Australia’s greatest author; and

22.Prepare and deliver a short summary of the life and adventures of an Australian explorer.

I love Australia, its freedoms, its opportunities, its outdoorsmen. I love our individual flair, our explorers, our flinty pioneers and adventurers. That a mere 26 million in a mere 236 years have, with sweat, turned this wide, brown land into a beacon, a free and liberal home for all.

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