As the jury entry generated a lot of emails from overseas*, I thought I’d mention a uniquely Australian event. Here the first Tuesday in November isn’t election day, vole appreciation day, or International Talk Like a Politician Day: it’s Melbourne Cup Day.
The Melbourne Cup is a horse race. It may be Australia’s major horse race, the highlight of the Spring Racing Carnival, and attracts entries from all over the world, but really it’s just a horse race.
However it’s more than a horse race. I can almost feel my head exploding each year as the phrase ‘the race that stops the nation’ is trotted out yet again, ad nauseam. All over Australia people dress up and have lunches and/or large afternoon teas while sipping bubbly, women purchase dresses and hats or the ever fabulously fabulous ‘fascinator’. And these aren’t just the people actually attending the race at Flemington, where ‘Fashions in the Fields’ sometimes eclipses those horses running around on the grass; these are people who wouldn’t normally know if a horse race is even being held. Or care.
Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday in the state of Victoria (where it is run) and in the Australian Capital Territory. There’s been talk of making the Melbourne Cup a national holiday.  I think that if it was a national holiday, fewer people would take notice of it.  This is the race that stops the nation because it’s an excuse to stop. I’ve been involved in office sweeps and had wine and nibblies in conference rooms, however if it was a holiday I’d be out doing things I actually enjoy.  I know I’m not alone; the attraction of the Cup to office workers is that it interrupts your day at the office. And I’ve still never worn a silly hat to celebrate!
* Yes, judges here do wear ‘those wigs’. As do the judge’s assistant, prosecutor, and defence counsel.
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