The Queen of England has died. Although Australia has been its own country since 1900, it is a member of the Commonwealth. Meaning the Queen of England is the executive head of state. Australia elects its own members of parliament, but they are the legislative branch of government. The executive is directly appointed by the crown of England. It's complicated.
So a head of state has died, albeit a distant one.
The Prime Minister declared a National Day of Mourning on a Thursday. A one-off national holiday.
Coincidentally, that day coincided with the date I was scheduled to give a presentation in a meeting for University research leadership. And the date that the Vice Chancellor was scheduled to visit our Faculty.
So big day! All cancelled.
And coincidentally, that day also coincided with my birthday.
Happy birthday to me!
I made great plans to take the day off. We ordered a Nintendo Switch! Shipped Monday, to arrive Tuesday, well in time for Thursday!
It didn't come.
Delayed. Late. Now, the following Saturday, possibly lost.
We are cancelling the order, and maybe we'll just pick it up at a local shop -- which we probably should have done in the first place. But now without a day off.
And what about the Queen?
I did not grow up in a country where she was my head of state. To others, she was the face of their country for 70 years. I understand that her death, to them, might feel like the end of an era. For me, in the 1990s, the death of the friendly little man who was head of my church through my childhood and teenage years felt a bit like that. In the 2000s, the death of my grandparents felt like that. They were old, it wasn't a shock that they would go. But it meant that certain good times would never return.
And to others in this country, the queen was the face of apocalypse. She represented the invaders who had stolen land, forcibly taken children, and made many great nations live in slavery. Continued slavery. Continued loss of land and children, throughout her reign. And she did nothing. There was little sadness among aboriginal Australians over the death of a woman representing colonialism. And don't say that colonialism only happened in a previous century, before our time. Just last week the news told of the courts overturning a decision to allow a private, white-owned mining company to desecrate the lands of the traditional owners. Land is still being stolen. Children are still being taken.
It is a complicated, messy world that we live in. And the leaders I used to look to, with confidence they could fix things, cannot seem to fix things. Like the friendly little man who was the head of my church.
Sometimes, you crave a day away from all of it. Maybe immersed in a new video game. Maybe on your birthday.
What a mess.
