I shared a coffee with a friend of mine last week and he was recounting an all too common story of being tailgated by a young hoon in a hotted-up ute with "mag" wheels.
At the traffic lights, the music was blaring and the young man was proudly flashing tattoos on his sun-bronzed arms and played with his goatee beard as he tapped the steering wheel aggressively.
As the lights turned green, the ute raced off, wheels screeching.
My friend and I agreed that while this sort of behaviour is indeed stupid, beneath the young man's aggression and "loudness" was probably a young man who was essentially insecure, immature, unsure of his place in the world and desperately trying to make a statement about who he is.
It was an ironical discussion because shortly after we started talking about Australia Day.
"I love Australia Day," my friend said. "Already got the flags flying on my car; the barbie is ready to go and the beer is cold. Bloody brilliant. I am an Aussie and proud of it!"
As the discussion expanded into a conversation about who we are, where to next for Australian society and issues of immigration, my mate told me that people who came to our country could "either be Aussies or f... off".
It's interesting really, as I love my country and I am very proud to be Australian.
Yet come Australia Day, many of us seem to have this desperate need to be loud and to drive around telling anyone who will listen that "we are Aussies" and saying silly things like, "if people don't like it they can piss off".
We also seem to enjoy the occasional punch-up, and getting drunk.
It all makes for a great day, it seems, to celebrate who we are.
We also seem to be so focused on January 26 as our "Australia Day" - and totally overlook the real Australia Day, or independence day, a celebration of when our nation was born on January 1, 1901.
But as my friend said: "Mate, that is such a lousy date; it would never work as we are all so hung over from the night before."
So much for serious patriotism, but I guess he is right.
So for now, Australia Day remains January 26 and my friend can enjoy the beer, the flags, the barbie and the right to be loud about who we are.
To be honest, not all of us are like that. But maybe on this Australia Day we should reflect a little as to why we are still a bit unsure of our place in the region in which we live, dominated by Asia, including emerging superpowers like China, India and Indonesia.
And why we still feel warm and fuzzy when the Queen comes out to see us. And why we still feel insecure about the possibility of "going it alone" as a nation in a very insecure world.
And perhaps we should ask why some of us still feel a little uncomfortable about migrants coming to our country despite the astonishing contribution they have made to our economy, our social fabric and our way of life.
Can you imagine if we hadn't let the Italians and Greeks come here back in the 1950s and 60s? So much for pasta, pizza and a cappuccino, or alfresco dining at local cafes.
Australia is a wonderful example of how a multicultural country can work, and how we can save ourselves economically by allowing migrants to come and live here.
We are young as a nation - 111 years since Federation and our birth as a nation - and we still have a lot of growing up to do.
But let's hope that we can find the political leaders who will give us a dream to follow, the vision for a bright and vibrant future so we can really achieve the greatness of which we are truly capable, rather than just muddling along trying to be tough and loud.
In the meantime, I guess we will have the Australia Day barbie and still get drunk and still stick our flags on our cars and on ourselves to tell the world that we are "bloody Aussies mate".
Hopefully we can also contemplate where we are at present in our journey as a nation. And if we are not sure, perhaps we could just ask the young hoon in the ute.
20 Comments
Interesting article, albeit nothing new. How many white migrants are still not Australian citizens but agressively reserve their right to vote and to complain about people who don't 'fit in'. I mean if we all 'fit in' isn't that just Marxism? Celebrate diversity, goodness knows you don't want to be exactly like people with "F... off we're full" stickers on their utes.
4 RepliesI recently made a comment to the effect that I thought soccer was a great game, and was subsequently told to "go back to England", which seemed somewhat harsh, 'cause I love Australia, and haven't seen or been to the UK since the 1960s.
1 ReplyTell me, if Soccer is considered to be such an unacceptable West Aussie game, why is it that so many of the TV adverts feature, not an Aussie Rules ball ... but the dreaded SOCCER ball?
2 RepliesI was going to tell Ross Taylor that if he didn't like how we celebrate Australia Day he should leave. But then that would just prove his point! :) We are indeed young and brash, but we are OK. Just a few bogans around but the rest of us are doing fine with our flags and bbq's etc. Interesting take on it though!
ReplyRoss Taylor is a true Ambassador to Oz and has been for umpteen yrs. Not the paid political flyaround the world kind. He has been and still is a member of many organisations promoting Oz, particulatly in Indonesia. The comments you hear for him are closer to the way the world sees Australia and Australians, not the subjective way we want to see ourselves. There is no malice in his comments and he is an Australian.
ReplyI think Blaxmax is correct. Countries in our region-or those people I talk to - do find us a bit strange in the way we ignore our 'Independence Day' and use a day when our 'mothers' fleet arrived. And how we still are unsure about of regional neighbors. Its therefore good that we do get someone saying this is how others see us. To which we can say "P...s-off, we are Aussies" but then that just reinforces the point Mr Taylor has correctly made. We need to...
ReplyDo not forget the original Australians. Locked into infested remote communities and treated little better than animals. All that wealth yet they have been mercilessly ripped off with a century late apology. WELL DONE AUSTRALIA! WELL DONE AUSTRALIANS. BE PROUD TODAY@
3 Repliesdont like it here ,,, leave . easy isnt it ....
2 RepliesRuffie it's attitudes like this which exemplify the negative aspect of Australia Day and Australia in general. Time to show some maturity as a nation and be prepared to look seriously at all aspects of our nation and accept that there are some pretty strong negatives which exist and have existed for some time. Criticising your country to promote positive change, is every bit as patriotic as defending it.
ReplyMaybe Australia is like this because in terms of our maturity in our 111 years as a nation we are equivalent to the young man in the ute. We are only recently making some serious dollars and spending up, we are trying to find our identity, we make some illogical decisions and waste a lot of money, overindulge on alcohol with a focus more on social than work. We go for the quick dollar and not the long term benefit. It's encouraging though as, like the young man, Australia too will mature...
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