14 June, 2010

but, her birthday is in april....?

happy long weekend to all! so in the eastern states of australia we celebrate the queen, our monarch's birthday today. the problem is her actual birthday is the 21st of april.... so why do we have it in the second weekend of june? this has always bothered me, until today when i decided to consult the magical machine that is google.

it turns out that there is a very cool and rich history behind why we get a day off work; unless of course you work in hospitality and then, yay extra money. it all began way back in 1788 when governor arthur phillip declared the holiday in celebration of king george the 3rd (who was born on the 4th of june). the holiday did jump around to coincide with the birthday of the reigning monarch until it was decided after the death of george the 5th (queen elizabeth the 2nds grandfather), whose birthday was on the 3rd of june to keep it on its original weekend.

not going to tackle the issue of an australian republic because well, i'm not sure if i have a solid opinion on it. i don't like the idea of inherited wealth and privilege but i also equally like having a long weekend that usually falls around my own birthday.

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