The New Year pyrotechnic shows in our cities are over but we should remember that the holiday on   January 1 is the real Australia Day, not   January 26. On that day in 1901, Queen Victoria signed a document that created the Commonwealth of Australia out of the six colonies which were retitled states.
While the NSW-based prime minister Ben Chifley gazetted   January 26 officially as Australia Day shortly after World War II, this day is really only a Sydney holiday that marked the settlement or occupation of Sydney Cove in 1788 by Captain Arthur Phillip and his first fleet of criminals.
Adrian Jackson
Middle Park, Vic