Aussie Emma with her Pommie boyfriend Rich at the Great Australian Breakfast at The Lawn in Lincoln
When my mum and dad moved to Australia from Ireland 35 years ago, I doubt they thought that one day their two daughters would be using their Australian passports to get a free breakfast in the East Midlands of England.
But on Sunday morning my sister – visiting from London – and I, excitedly whipped out our Aussie passports at the entrance to the 21st Great Australian Breakfast at The Lawn in Lincoln to score some really free-range eggs, hot coffee and the company of a band playing tunes that reminded us of home.
Each Australian passport holder’s name was being recorded at the front desk, and I was very surprised to see that I was the 31st Aussie through the gates that morning. I was excited to think that this meant 30 people inside knew thongs can get wet in the rain and are best worn on your feet. That there were 30 people inside who knew no one in Australia actually drinks Fosters; who could shorten sentences into just a few grunts; and whose longest serving Labor Party Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, (now aged 80) recently sculled (chugged) a full pint of beer at the cricket when asked to ‘have one for the country’.
I walked into the main dining hall of The Lawn wanting to track down these Aussies, but the combination of bright yellow helium balloons, smiling stilt walkers, and the hand clapping crowd made everyone look like a smiling Aussie celebrating a nation lucky enough to be defined by its quirks and natural beauty.
Ironically, it was my English-born boyfriend who read about the Great Aussie breakfast while flicking through a guidebook of Lincolnshire, and I was lucky enough to be served my eggs by a man who knew all about the history of the event. He informed me that it started when the Mayor of Lincoln 21 years ago, David Jackson, visited Port Lincoln, Lincoln’s twin city in South Australia. A place where very similar Australia Day celebrations occur – outdoors no doubt.
While Australia Day officially commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet into Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the land, these days Australia Day is a time to – as the first line of our anthem suggests – ‘ let us rejoice for we are young and free’ as well as reflect upon with sobriety the devastating impact of colonisation on indigenous cultures.
And it’s also a time – if you find yourself celebrating Australia Day while sitting in a hall full of great smelling breakfast and good tunes in Lincoln – to get a bit homesick and dream of warm weather.
