Skip to main content
Search IntMath
Close

Happy Australia Day and Indian Independence Day

By Murray Bourne, 26 Jan 2007

Jan 26th is a special day in India and Australia.

Australia Day

On 26 January 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip arrived from England and took "formal possession" of the colony of New South Wales. Of course, the aborigines had been there for over 40,000 years, but that was conveniently overlooked at the time.

The country was called "Australia" after Federation in 1901. This was after the colonies of New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland became states.

oz flag

The Australian flag includes the Southern Cross (a prominent constellation visible in the Southern hemisphere) and that Union Jack which should have gone long ago.

Indian Independence Day

For the Indians, Purna Swaraj (complete independence) Day was first observed on 26 Jan 1930, as part of the push to free India from British Rule. So they observed the day before they got their hard-won independence.

Seems that Australia was one of the few countries that simply told the Brits to go home, and it happened.

Happy Australia Day and Indian Independence Day.

See the 2 Comments below.

2 Comments on “Happy Australia Day and Indian Independence Day”

  1. Preetam Rai says:

    Actually it is the Indian republic day. The day when the post-independence constitution was accepted. Independence day is on 15th August.

  2. Murray says:

    Thanks Preetam. From Wikipedia:

    1930 - The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence)

    This declaration was long before actual independence - so what I have is not actually wrong, right?

Leave a comment




Comment Preview

HTML: You can use simple tags like <b>, <a href="...">, etc.

To enter math, you can can either:

  1. Use simple calculator-like input in the following format (surround your math in backticks, or qq on tablet or phone):
    `a^2 = sqrt(b^2 + c^2)`
    (See more on ASCIIMath syntax); or
  2. Use simple LaTeX in the following format. Surround your math with \( and \).
    \( \int g dx = \sqrt{\frac{a}{b}} \)
    (This is standard simple LaTeX.)

NOTE: You can mix both types of math entry in your comment.

top

Tips, tricks, lessons, and tutoring to help reduce test anxiety and move to the top of the class.