ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to move on to a case where the nationalism is more explicit, to an official program of nation formation which announced and defended its intentions of serving the interests of all Australians. The 1988 Bicentenary has been widely criticised for the often crude chauvinism of its claims on the national interest, and for the entrepreneurialism of the events which took place under its aegis. The Bicentenary might be thought of as a set of sites and processes where we can witness the official production of nationalism in Australia for once reaching its limits. Australia Daze documents the Australia Day celebrations in a particularly comprehensive fashion. In the most frequently repeated television advertisement, a large cast of Australian celebrities were collected in front of Ayers Rock/Uluru waving flags, punching their fists in the air, and singing 'Celebration of a Nation', Their dress and demeanour were that of participants in a bush picnic.
