Journey to Oz

Australia Day is the celebration of the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip to Australia. He arrived with some poor people and some convicts. These were the first settlers of Australia.

The traditions of Australia Day in Canberra: People would go to the town square where they have a breakfast BBQ. They serve lamb, sausage, fruit, and other foods. Children would make some crafts. There would be some bands that play traditional classic songs such as: "We are one" and "Waltzing Matilda." People would either wear something Australian or would wear the Australian Banner. Later in the night, they would set off fireworks neer the James Cook memorial.

What I did for Australia Day: We went to the town square and got ourselves some sausages and fruit. We sat around and listened to a band play Waltzing Matilda. We met some people from our ward and some of their friends. We then walked around the park where we saw some some black swans and some ducks in a pond. There were lots of ponds with lilly pads and some water litllies. We went to the playground and let the little ones play there for a little while. My mom was very impressed with the playground and she said that she wanted one. I said that I would do it for 50 bucks, and she said that she would take it. Then I said that I meant that I would do it if my weekly allowance would be raised to 50 bucks.

We then went to a little greenhouse with some bonzais. Bonzais are regular trees that have been "trained" to be small; "training is the excess of pruning and sticking wires around the branches. They wrap wires around the branches into the position they want. They are all about 2 ft tall and some have been trained ever since the 50s. Here are my favorites of the bonzais.

Afterwards, we went to a nearby lake where we met our friends, Hannah and Josh Shea, and Cregon and Sue Shirley. We swam in the lake and ate some dinner. Afterwards, we went to the history museum where we watched the fireworks.

Today is the 25th of January which means that it is my birthday! I am now 15 years old. Tomorrow we are having a party with our friends Sue and Cregan. Tomorrow it is Cregan's birthday.

Anyways, the real reason that I am blogging is that last Saturday, we went to the National Museum of Australia. I learned some stuff about the Aboriginis' life before and after the colonization of the British into Australia.

In the thousands of years that the Aboriginis lived in Australia, they develouped tools. They made hammers out of stone, stick, and bees wax. They used this hammer sometimes for combat, but it was used mostly to make kimberly points.

I will explain how kimberly points are made. The Aboriginis used to take softer stone than the stone used to make the hammers; sometimes glass or shell pieces are used. The hammers would pound the softer stone into many pieces called flakes; this process is called flaking. The Aboriginis would then take the flakes and shape them with smaller stones into points; these are kimberly points. Kimberly points were very important because they made arrow heads, spear points, and knife blades. So important and valuable in fact, that the Aboriginie tribes traded kimberly points and other such stones. Some Aboriginis had the tools an knowlege from the white men to make metal tools and weapons. The Aboriginis had grinding stones which were used to grind plants and seeds etc.

During the war, the Catholic Church, with permission from the government, took Aboriginal children to an island to raise them. This because they wanted the children away from their familys' Aboriginal cultures. Also to raise the Aboriginal children like white children; teaching them the white man cultures.