SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – A dawn ceremony in Australia’s desert heartland on Monday opened festivities marking the 100th anniversary of the day Australia’s provinces united as one country.<\/p>\n
Seven men from the Arrernte tribe beat sticks in a sand bed of the dry Todd River in the central city of Alice Springs soon after dawn in a symbolic message to all Australians to join the party.<\/p>\n
Later Monday, Prime Minister John Howard and Governor General William Deane – the British queen’s representative in government – joined state leaders in recreating the Jan. 1, 1901 ceremony that marked federation.<\/p>\n
Howard called the centenary an opportunity to reflect on the country’s history.<\/p>\n
“The Australian achievement of the last 100 years has been massive, by any standard,” Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.<\/p>\n
“We’ve gone through depression, we’ve gone through enormous changes of mass migration, we’ve gone through the challenges of modernization and globalization – and yet we do remain a very cohesive society,” he said. “That, I believe, is our crowning achievement.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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