I woke up this morning (June 8th) and was surprised to find there was
no traffic in the street. I did some checking on the Internet and
discovered that it was a public holiday celebrating the Queen's
birthday. (I'm retired so I don't have to keep track of public holidays -
every day is a holiday for me.)
Funny thing though - the Queen was born on April 21st so why are we celebrating her birthday on June 8th?
Well her grandfather was born on June 3rd !
No seriously.
Up
until 1936 Australians had always celebrated the monarch's birthday on
the actual anniversary of their birth, but when King George V died in
1936 we said, "Fuck it, let's not keep on changing the dates for all the
future monarchs, let's always have the public holiday early in June
each year; same as we did for King George V last year.
So that's why we celebrate the Queen's birthday on June 8th this year
Except in Western Australia where the Queen's birthday is celebrated in late September each year !
And in Queensland next year where they are going to celebrate her birthday on October 3rd.
So now you know?
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