Heavenly Beverley : What a Combination! The East End Gallery Sundowner and The WA Day Long Weekend!

Saturday 2 June 2018

What a Combination! The East End Gallery Sundowner and The WA Day Long Weekend!

We are gearing up rapidly for our Famous Sundowner. Five o'clock has just come and gone. We have already had a ripping day, with both day-tripper guests and others up for the WA Day long weekend. The fire is blazing, the bush poet is in attendance, the muso is coming and the BBQ will be fired up at any moment. What a chance to party for three days! Just don't pretend that this long weekend has any historical connection whatsoever.

Until 2012, WA Day was known as Foundation Day. Apparently, this was because WA had been founded on 1 June 1829. Except it wasn't. Albany, on the south coast, with a magnificent deep water harbour, was founded on 26 December 1826, a full two and a bit years before Captain Stirling and his party were anywhere near the Swan River.

And anyway, another bloke named Captain Fremantle had sailed up the Swan River for a spot of exploring between 2 and 4 May 1829. Which is how Fremantle was given its name. Our hero Captain Stirling arrived on 31 May 1829. And they didn't found anything on 1 June as they were struggling to save a ship and plonked all the women and children either on another ship (if their husbands were officers) or on Carnac Island. Five days later, everybody was moved to Garden Island and the first settlement was established there. Then on 17 June, still on Garden Island, Captain Stirling read a proclamation to the assembled colonists.

So, 17 June could have been Foundation Day. Well, there was still the problem of a more permanent settlement, so on 12 August, the King's birthday, Perth was founded. Now that could have also been the date for Foundation Day.

Guildford, now a suburb of Perth and York, in the Avon Valley, were both established by the end of 1830. Albany, which probably should have been the capital, became an extremely important landing point being in the vicinity of the splendid King George Sound.

So Foundation Day became WA Day on 2012, on 1 June. Both sides of government were in consensus. The indigenous population, who I suspect had their wishes ignored, probably don't give a toss about the name that politicians chose. For them, that was the beginning of forced colonisation.

Hang on a minute. If WA Day falls on 1 June, we should have celebrated yesterday. That would have been no good then, as there may not have been a long weekend. And although my calendar makes mention of the holiday on Monday, there is no mention whatsoever that WA Day was on 1 June.

I am highly amused by all these shenanigans. The rest of the country celebrate the Queen's Birthday holiday on Monday week. Which doesn't fall in June. The Queen turned 92 0n 21 April, quite a while ago. But the English don't actually have a public holiday for her birthday. Celebrations tend to be held on a Saturday in June, when the fickle English weather tends to be more reliable for outdoor activities.

As for us, public holidays make absolutely no difference. The East End Gallery will be open on WA Day/Foundation Day. So wherever you live in this great Southern Land, have a great long weekend this week or next week.

So, if anyone is at a loss about what to do on this long weekend, take a ride up here to Heavenly Beverley and have a really good squizz around our town. And remember to drop into the East End Gallery!