IT was one of the most beautiful, incredible moments of my life so far, seeing my daughter Grace Lillian being born.

She was born on July 18 weighing in at 6lbs 12 oz (3,065 grams) and measuring 49cm. 

Now at the age of only six-and-a-half weeks, she is a healthy and alert little bundle of joy who I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

There will be a plethora of ‘firsts’ in both her’s and our lives - her first words, first steps, first day of school, meeting her first boyfriend (and hopefully me approving of him!), getting her driving licence, first car, etc. 

Sunday marks my first ever Father’s Day, and I plan to spend quality time with Grace and my wife Phoebe.

I guess, for many dads, Father’s Day is probably just another day. Some might even be sick of the commercialisation of the whole thing, with many dads receiving the cliched gift of socks or undies.

But, for me, my first Father’s Day will be something special and from now on it will always be something special. 

In Australia, Father’s Day is usually held on the first Sunday in September, which traditionally heralds the first sign of the Spring season.

For Fathers' in other parts of the world, it may have already happened, with the date of Father’s Day varying (from February 23 in Russia through to Boxing Day, December 26 in Bulgaria, for example). But traditionally in the U.S and the U.K, Father’s Day is celebrated in the middle of June. 

Scholars believe that the tradition of Father’s Day originated more than 4,000 years ago in Babylon (now modern-day Iraq) when a young boy named Elmesu carved a message on a card made out of clay and wished his father ‘good health and a long life’.

But the modern festival of Father’s Day as it is today was first thought of in 1910 in the town of Spokane in the American state of Washington by a woman named Sonora Smart-Dodd.

Ms Dodd was only 16-years-old when her mother died in 1898, leaving her father William Jackson Smart to raise Sonora and her five younger brothers on their farm in a remote part of Eastern Washington.

The previous year in 1909, Ms Dodd heard a Mother’s Day sermon given at the Central United Methodist Church in Spokane, and it was then that she was inspired to propose that fathers also receive equal recognition. 

So in 1910, with help from her pastor the Reverend Dr Conrad Bluhm of the Old Centenary Presbyterian Church, Ms Dodd took the idea to the Spokane branch of the YMCA.

Initially, Ms Dodd suggested that June 5 (which was her father’s birthday) be established as Father’s Day, however the pastors needed more time to prepare, and so June 19, 1910 was therefore designated as the first Fathers Day.

So I hope all the fathers of Goulburn had a happy Father’s Day like me and I hope your wives and children spoil you rotten.