PM Transcripts

FOR PRESS: P. M. No. 8/ 1967
AUSTRALIA DAY MESSAGE
From the Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Holt
Today we Australians celebrate the 179th anniversary
of our founding. Ours is not a long story as the history of many other
nations is counted but in that time we have evolved our distinctive
national identity and character. We have been assisted to do so by our
heritage of British democracy and the cultures of European civilisation.
We owe much to the courage, the industry, the enterprise and the endurance
of earlier generations of Australians.
We are a fortunate people enjoying, in an environment
that is stable, peaceful and yet stimulating, one of the world's highest
living standards. We are growing both in maturity and stature.
But increasingly Australians of today are finding their
thoughts dwelling on the challenges, opportunities and the obligations
which derive from our proximity to the teeming countries of Asia and our
neighbours in the Pacific.
We face our tomorrows 1' n good heart. Our rich and
varied resources are being developed with skill and energy. We rank
already amongst the great trading nations of the world. And so we should
celebrate this national birthday with high expectation and confidence in
our future and with gratitude for our past.
It is a happy coincidence for me that this national day is
also the first anniversary of my own government. Confirmed in strength
so recently by the electorate, it will be my continuing endeavour to
promote the peaceful progress of the nation with fair dealing to all.
CANBERRA, January, 1967.