My diary suggests that in August we have bank holidays in NSW and the ACT, a picnic day in the Northern Territory and in Queensland the Brisbane Ekka (the Royal Queensland Show), not to mention the lead up to the major football finals.
Then, of course, we have the Ashes series winding up in England.
Did you know August was originally named Sextilis in Latin because it was the sixth month in the old Roman calendar, which started - wait for it - about 735 BC under Romulus and then it comprised only 29 days.
The legendary Augustus rose to power in 8 BC and, because of two significant events along the way, he decided to take two days from the month of February and give them to August.
As an aside, its flower is the gladioli or poppy and its birthstone is peridot, which is associated with married happiness.
Oh, by the way, in common years no other month starts on the same day of the week as August, although in leap years February does start on the same day.
And if you’ve some Irish blood in you some of that nation’s greatest battles took place in August including the Battle of Knockdoe in 1504, the Battle of Castlebar in 1798 and more recently in 1969 the Battle of the Bogside.
August 1 is the Swiss National Day and the 6th is Bolivia’s independence day. Then on the 9th, South Africans celebrate National Women’s Day.
And very importantly on August 6 the end of the Second World War was brought about following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on the 6th and 9th respectively.
August 15 is the Catholic Feast of the Assumption and on the same day in 1769 Napolean Bonaparte was born, Korea became independent in 1945, India likewise two years later and in 1959 on August 21 Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States of America.
The month is also famous for the annual Edinburgh Festival, it’s also National Immunization Awareness month and it celebrates women’s small business activities.
Other names
There are some countries in the world where you will find August under another name.
For instance, in Dutch the name is Augustus and in Finnish it is elokuu, which means the month of reaping or literally the month of life.
Maybe that’s why the word august is said to inspire awe, reverence or admiration,
and the word can also be applied to majestic and imposing.
I’m also told that there was an Augustan Age which was a period of Latin literature in which such famous writers as Horace, Virgil and Ovid flourished.
But I prefer to think it will be the month when the St George–Illawarra Dragons take vital further steps towards making club history by winning the NRL’s minor premiership. | 
