Happy Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day in Australia, so I’ve dug out some shots of fathers and children around the world that I’ve taken over the past few years.

My own dear old Dad is no longer with us, but still it’s nice to see other families celebrating their Dads and thanking them for the role they play in their lives.

My grandson Ollie will be helping his Dad celebrate his second Father’s Day this year, but it will be a different, more subdued day, as they are in lockdown in Melbourne, Australia’s worst-Covid-affected city. With only an hour a day to go outside and enjoy the fresh air, I’m sure they’ll be making the most of it.

Father’s Day honours fathers and celebrates fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. According to Google, Father’s Day was founded in the United States in 1910 by a woman called Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father, Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised six children. His daughter felt there should be a day to complement Mother’s Day and set about creating one.

In the USA, Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June, but here in Australia (and in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji) it is the first Sunday in September.

Yes, it has (like Mother’s Day) become very commercialised, but if it gives an added reason to say “thank you” to one of the most important men in your life – why not?

To all the wonderful fathers in my family – and to all the fathers, step-fathers, grandfathers and men who fill that role for fatherless children – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY. I wish you all a great day. Enjoy these images of fathers and their children around the world.