Australia Day (feat. our correspondent Ken Oathcarn)

Australia Day. It's a day of high jinx, high revelry and high people in Australia; a day when a large and vocal majority come together to "celebrate what's great" about this country.

But what is the meaning of all this fanfare? What is the true origin of this passionately marked day of facepaint and binge drinking? Is everyone in Australia so keen on this particular anniversary?

To get to bottom of these questions, and more, join your amiable host Robert Foster as he conducts a high-octane, high-frequency satellite link-up with a representative of the Mainstream Australian media: multi-Logie award-winning broadcaster, entertainer, emu-wrangler and true blue Aussie, Kenneth Oathcarn.

WARNING: contains adult Australian vernacular - viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Written, produced and performed by Hugo Farrant (Robert Foster) & Giordano Nanni (Ken Oathcarn).

Maggie's Australia Day Pavlova

MAGGIE Beer shows how to make Australia's favourite dessert, writes Simon Wilkinson.

So what will you be putting on top of the pavlova this Australia Day? That magical circle of billowing white meringue is a blank canvas, as much at home with the wildly fragrant fruit of the tropics as the peaches, nectarines and berries of the southern climes or classically the passionfruit that's grown on a vine trailing over the back shed.

That expression of person and place is one factor that makes the pavlova an Aussie icon just as much as that other spectacular white structure on Sydney harbour. A meringue opera house now there's a thought.

The people who voted in our poll on taste.com.au certainly think so, declaring pav their choice of dessert for Australia Day, ahead of other frontrunners lamingtons and peach melba.

Thumbs up for Barbie Girl - 2012 Lamb Australia Day Video Advert

AGFORCE'S Richard Pietsch has given a big "thumbs up" to this year's Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) Sam Kekovich Australia Day lamb campaign, but says the lamb industry still has a way to go before hitting the highs of 2011.

The AgForce Sheep and Wool president says while it is certain the Kekovich campaigns have given lambs sales a incredible boost over the past eight years, consumption was down in 2011 compared to previous years.

"MLA reported that for 2011, tighter supplies and a 9 per cent jump in retail prices during 2010-11 had quelled consumer demand which had risen steadily for the previous 10 years," Mr Pietsch said.

Australia's weekly servings of fresh meat during 2010-11 increased 3pc compared with the previous year, to average 135.5 million serves.

Lamb was served 22.55m times in January and February 2011, up from 21.86m serves on the same period the previous year.

In 2010-11, lamb represented 16pc share of total fresh meat sales at retail outlets. Beef purchases were steady, on average accounting for 38pc of total sales.

Pork and chicken purchases edged up over the 12 months to June 2011, to 13pc and 29pc, respectively.

Mr Pietsch says this year's summer barbecue-themed Sam Kekovich Australia Day lamb campaign, based on the pop song Barbie Girl from the 1990s band Aqua, was likely to be effective, but may not be everyone's cup of tea.

"I'm not sure that this year's campaign appeals to me, but when we are selling lamb to consumers, Sam's ads in the lead-up to Australia Day have a significant effect," Mr Pietsch said.

"The real test of the campaign is increasing lamb sales and ensuring the profitability of the entire industry."

Lamb producers have enjoyed strong prices through 2011.

AgForce Sheep and Wool policy director Rachael Pratt said this year's Sam Kekovich ads had certainly drawn a mixed reaction from Queensland lamb producers.

"Some producers certainly don't like it," Ms Pratt said.

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Chops on for Australia Day

AUSTRALIA Day is synonymous with barbecues and the great outdoors and this year will be no exception with temperatures expected to be in the high 30s towards the end of the week.

In the lead-up to the public holiday, butchers around the region are busily preparing in a bid to meet (or should that be meat) demand.

Lamb is the choice of the day when it comes to Australia Day celebrations thanks to the highly publicised Sam Kekovich campaigns.

And at a local level, butchers are also expecting to see an increase in lamb sales during this period.

Geoff Williams of Willhome Farm Fresh Meats said lamb was always a top seller in the lead-up to Australia Day.

"The emphasis on Australia Day is having something good and quick to prepare for the barbecue and lamb fits that bill," Mr Williams said.

"We expect to be quite busy this week."

These sentiments were echoed by Greg Sait of Sait's Family Butcher.

He said while there was a strong emphasis on lamb for Australia Day, gone were the days where families were restricted to the traditional lamb cutlet.

Gourmet lamb sausages, marinated lamb and other fancy lamb cuts were proving to popular amongst his customers.

Meanwhile, Jodie Fordham of Doeys Meat said "quick and easy to prepare" was the key when it came to Australia Day preparations.

She said while they did sell a lot of lamb during this period, there was "an overall barbecue theme across the board" with sausages, chops and kebabs a popular choice.

Meat and Livestock Australia general marketing manger, Glen Feist, said the Sam Kekovich campaign had set the scene for strong lamb sales during this key promotional period in the past.

"Australians spent a total of $2.2 billion on lamb in 2010-2011," Mr Feist said.

"Our 2011 campaign supported retailers to set a record for sales during the Australia Day week, with Australians spending $17.1 billion on lamb, 12 per cent higher than the same time in 2010."

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Darling Harbour Australia Day - FREE

Get everyone together to celebrate Australia Day at Darling Harbour with a huge day of free entertainment including the official NSW Australia Day Spectacular.

Children's Stage
The Village Green, Darling Quarter
11.30am - 4.30pm
Join Playschool star Jay Laga'aia, indigenous musical group Circular Rhythm, ARIA Award-winning children's show Chrissy's Island Family and energetic African musicians Afro Beats.

World Music and Dance Program
Palm Grove
12 noon - 6pm

Six hours of the best world music featuring the energy and rhythm of Afro Moses and Moses O'Jah; Celtic favourites and originals from Seltic Sirens; Assyrian party music from Azadoota; and gypsy, Cuban and Zimbabwean dance music courtesy of Marsala.

Australia Day Spectacular
Cockle Bay
7pm - 9pm

The biggest event on the NSW Australia Day calendar! Includes address from the Governor of NSW, boat parades, an action-packed Water Police rescue, culminating in a breathtaking symphony of light, sound, music and fireworks.

THROUGHOUT JANUARY

Circus Oz
Tumbalong Park
4-29 January

Circus Oz is steamrolling into Sydney this January with their special brand of madness and fooling around in the unconventional and fantastical world of Steampunk.

Visit www.circusoz.com/2012
For bookings call Ticketmaster on 136 100 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.au

Australia Day - A Historical Timeline

The Australia Day timeline was compiled by historian Dr Elizabeth Kwan, who wrote a history of Australia Day for the National Australia Day Council

Before 1770 - Aboriginal peoples had been living for more than 40 000 years on the continent we now know as Australia. At least 1600 generations of these peoples had lived and died here.

Europeans from the thirteenth century became interested in details from Asia about this land to the south. From the sixteenth century European cartographers and navigators gave the continent various names, including Terra Australis (Southern Land) and New Holland.

1770 - Captain James Cook raised the Union Jack on what is now called Possession Island on 22 August to claim the eastern half of the continent as New South Wales for Great Britain.

1788 - Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain, and the first Governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove on 26 January and raised the Union Jack to signal the beginning of the colony.

1804 - Early almanacs and calendars and the Sydney Gazette began referring to 26 January as First Landing Day or Foundation Day. In Sydney, celebratory drinking, and later anniversary dinners became customary, especially among emancipists.

1818 - Governor Macquarie acknowledged the day officially as a public holiday on the thirtieth anniversary. The previous year he accepted the recommendation of Captain Matthew Flinders, circumnavigator of the continent, that it be called Australia.

1838 - Proclamation of an annual public holiday for 26 January marked the Jubilee of the British occupation of New South Wales. This was the second year of the anniversary's celebratory Sydney Regatta.

1871 - The Australian Natives' Association, formed as a friendly society to provide medical, sickness and funeral benefits to the native-born of European descent, became a keen advocate from the 1880s of federation of the Australian colonies within the British Empire, and of a national holiday on 26 January.

1888 - Representatives from Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand joined NSW leaders in Sydney to celebrate the Centenary. What had begun as a NSW anniversary was becoming an Australian one. The day was known as Anniversary or Foundation Day.

1901 - The Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The Union Jack continued as the national flag, taking precedence over the Australian red and blue shipping ensigns gazetted in 1903.

Melbourne was the interim federal capital. The Australian Capital Territory was created out of New South Wales in 1908, the federal capital named Canberra in 1913, and the Parliament House opened there in 1927.

1930 - The Australian Natives' Association in Victoria began a campaign to have 26 January celebrated throughout Australia as Australia Day on a Monday, making a long weekend. The Victorian government agreed with the proposal in 1931, the other states and territories following by 1935.

1938 - While state premiers celebrated the Sesquicentenary together in Sydney, Aboriginal leaders met there for a Day of Mourning to protest at their mistreatment by white Australians and to seek full citizen rights.

1946 - The Australian Natives' Association prompted the formation in Melbourne of an Australia Day Celebrations Committee (later known as the Australia Day Council) to educate the public about the significance of Australia Day. Similar bodies emerged in the other states, which in rotation, acted as the Federal Australia Day Council.

1948 - The Nationality and Citizenship Act created a symbolic Australian citizenship. Australians remained British subjects.

1954 - The Australian blue ensign was designated the Australian national flag and given precedence over the Union Jack. The Australian red ensign was retained as the commercial shipping ensign.

1960 - The first Australian of the Year was appointed: Sir Macfarlane Burnet, a medical scientist. Other annual awards followed: Young Australian of the Year, 1979; Senior Australian of the Year, 1999, and Australia's Local Hero, 2003.

1979 - The Commonwealth government established a National Australia Day Committee in Canberra to make future celebrations 'truly national and Australia-wide'. It took over the coordinating role of the Federal Australia Day Council. In 1984 it became the National Australia Day Council, based in Sydney, with a stronger emphasis on sponsorship. Incorporation as a public company followed in 1990.

1984 - Australians ceased to be British subjects. Advance Australia Fair replaced God Save the Queen as the national anthem.

1988 - Sydney continued to be the centre of Australia Day spectacle and ceremony. The states and territories agreed to celebrate Australia Day in 1988 on 26 January, rather than with a long weekend. Aborigines renamed Australia Day, 'Invasion Day'. The Bondi Pavilion protest concert foreshadowed the Survival Day Concerts from 1992.

1994 - Celebrating Australia Day on 26 January became established. The Australian of the Year Award presentations began alternating between Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane.

2001 - Centenary of federation. The National Australia Day Council's national office had returned to Canberra the previous year. In 2001 the Council transferred from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to that of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Australians' growing familiarity with the Australia Day holiday led the Council to focus on shaping their awareness of its significance and meaning.

2004 - The presentation of Australia Day awards — the focus of Australia Day — became fixed in Canberra.

Fantastic Australia Day Website

2012 City of Perth Australia Day Skyworks

Start Time: 8:00PM

End Time: 8:30PM

Location: Perth Water

At 8pm when the sky explodes with the famous Skyworks fireworks display, the accompanying MIX94.5 soundtrack will pay special tribute to our unique people and culture and celebrate the spirit that unites us.

We hope you enjoy the 2012 City of Perth Australia Day which we expect will be the most successful event now it its 28th year, with hundreds of thousands of people gathering in harmony to watch the renowned pyrotechnics display its surely an event not to be missed.

Perth Skyshow: 2012 City of Perth Australia Day Skyworks