Queen's Birthday

The Queen's Birthday is a public holiday in Australia. The holiday used to be held in June for Queensland but only this year the day and month has been changed to October because there is too many public holidays during semester one.

 

Do you believe we should have Queen's Birthday as a public holiday? Some Australians have a day off work because most businesses aren't opened. For many, it is a chance to do something with their family, friends or attend to some event over three days. There is only a couple of times in the last two decades I had the long weekend away but most of the time I just hanged around locally.

 

Why have Queen's Birthday? Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the official head of state is the Monarch of the Realms. This is currently Queen Elizabeth II. She is also the head of state of many other countries and territories, including Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. She was born on April 21, 1926, although her official birthday is celebrated on a range of dates in the different countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. Most of the states in Australia still have the public holiday in June but only Western Australia and now Queensland has different dates in semester two.

 

The Monarch's Birthday was first celebrated in Australia in 1788. In that year, King George III was the Monarch and Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark his birthday. Originally, the Monarch's birthday was celebrated on the anniversary of the actual date of birth of the King or Queen. However, after the death of King George V in 1936, the date remained close to his birthday, which was June 3.  Should it be known as an anniversary not a birthday?

But why a public holiday???  Do normal people have a public holiday because it's their birthday??