I heard that "Australia Day" is the Aussie equivalent of the American "4th of July", so have a beer for me. But from what I hear, it shouldn't be a Foster's... youtube video "Is Foster's really Australian for Beer?" Speaking of Aussie beer, back in 1986 I took a vacation as part of a tour group to Australia, first stop, Cairns. As our tour bus was riding into town I saw a place with a big sign "XXXX". First thought it was an adult movie theater.

Australia Day is Thursday Jan 26, so you're a day early.

And quite unlike July 4, it celebrates they day the Brits claimed the continent and began their rule.

We've never declared independence from Britain and various political attempts to make Australia a Republic have failed, so we remain a curious thing called a constitutional monarchy, like Britain itself.

Although Queen Elizabeth is officially our head of state, in practice it's an arrangement observed more in the spirit than otherwise these days.

Nonetheless, regardless of its origins, Australia Day is our national day and is celebrated accordingly.

And as for beer, the way things are going we'll be lucky to have one brewer still owned locally, apart from a handful of boutique ones.

I heard a tale once that XXXX came about because the founder of the company couldn't spell BEER. I am not sure if this is true or not.

As GTC said, Australia Day is a celebration of the event that included Captain Arthur Phillip of the Royal Navy sailing into Port Jackson and hoisting the Union Jack at what is now known as Circular Quay, the date being the 26th January, 1788. It's a sad fact that a lot of people here think it celebrates Federation but that is a different event entirely and didn't happen for another 113 years.

As for the republican issue, many of those who supported a change to a republic are now too apathetic about the issue to continue to support it. If a referendum was held today it'd yield the same result as in 1999. I'm not so sure our system of government needs changing but the government itself could do with a big change.

Whilst beer is still brewed in many places in Australia I think I do miss a lot of the brands that used to be popular: Reschs, Tooth, KB, etc.

Brad, what about the lamb bbq. there is nothing like lamb & beer to celebrate that great day flying the Australian Flag high and proud of it!
Have a good one on the 26th all.

Wa2ise

Fortunately XXXX has not succumbed. Don't think Queensland would function without it.

http://www.xxxx.com.au/history/

Having been taken over by Lion Nathan, while it can't be called Australian owned, at least it is ANZAC owned.

I do miss a lot of the brands that used to be popular: Reschs, Tooth, KB, etc.

In my pub haunting days in the 70's, Reschs was drunk by my father's generation (and usually mispronounced as 'Reeshes' by them too). We called KB kiddie's beer. I drank Tooths Old.

I always found Fosters undrinkable, along with Millers.

These days I drink infrequently and when I do it's likely to be Hahn or Blue Tongue.

Celebrating Federation as the national day makes more sense to me, however they chose January 1 for that so it's not a good date to use.

Apart from apathy, the philosophical split between election of a President by the people and appointment of one by parliament caused the debate to fracture hopelessly. I think Oz will end up becoming a republic in a few generations time. We can still be a republic and a member of the Commonwealth and I think that would be a pretty good arrangement.

Bad news there - Kirin owns Lion Nathan...

Calala: The barbie will be red hot for lunch and tea on the 26th.

Maybe even brekky too. Bacon and eggs, lamb chops for lunch and bangers for tea. Shame about the bloody weather - Sydney will be rained on all day, so the BoM says.

Yep, La Niña is probably going to make a mess of my plans this year. I usually go out after sundown (and the usual January heat) to see the fireworks.

"Bad news there - Kirin owns Lion Nathan..."

To lose Vegemite & Arnott's is one thing, but XXXX!!!

It's bigger than that. Lion also owns Tooheys and a few other brands. They also bottle Pepsico products in Australia as far as I remember.

One thing that a foreign company will never buy, however, is the spirit of Australia and that is what tomorrow is all about I reckon. The rest, unfortunately, is in the hands of our governments.

"As our tour bus was riding into town I saw a place with a big sign "XXXX". First thought it was an adult movie theater"

ROTFLMAO