Australia didn’t become a nation until March 3,  1986.
Camera IconAustralia didn’t become a nation until March 3, 1986. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Opinion: Australia date facts

Ian Webb, Victoria ParkSouthern Gazette

WITH regard to Joan Penn’s desire to have January 1 as the day we celebrate our nationhood, sorry, we didn’t become a nation until March 3, 1986. That was when the eight Australia Acts came into effect simultaneously at 5am on that date.

They were the official, legal declarations by the British government, the Australian government and the state governments that from that moment on, Australia was a sovereign, independent and federal nation.

Up until then, we were merely a self-governing part of the British nation with the status of a dominion. Therefore, we were British nationals within a British dominion.

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IAN WEBB,

Victoria Park.