The AUSTRALIAN Psyche - a WEIRD MOB
Written: Oct 04 '00
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Pros: humour, friendly
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| SMITHSWOODSIDE's Full Review: Australia |
Review Topic: Overview
Okay, so just what does make up a nation’s psyche, in this case my country Australia. It would seem rather obvious to start at the start, with the first inhabitants, and then look for the clues from notable events.(see - this one smart fella Aussi!)
The first Aussies were the Aboriginals - the first humans smart enough to realise the virtues of this great land. It took the British another forty thousand years to evolve sufficiently to realise the same, and thats being kind because they only thought of it as a bloody great prison.
Australia had rarely been touched by whites until 1790, when Captain Cook come over the eastern horizon and cried “thar she blows” or something similar. They first landed at Botany Bay, but decided that was no good so went up the coast a few miles and found what is now called Sydney Harbour - Cooky said “she'll be apples”, well he might have, and so they started a settlement about half way up the Harbour where there was fresh water in a stream. (this one smart fella Pom - see the careful surveying of the coast!)
Well, 40,000 years after the Aboriginals the poms still hadn’t realised the true potential. The Aboriginals shook their heads in disbelief - they must have looked like the biggest bunch of wackas unhung, and as we now know spent the next hundred or so years proving it!
At that time there were hundreds of thousands of Aboriginals, but animals masquerading as humans would go out shooting them calling it sport. Today there are only about one hundred thousand left.
If I may sidetrack here for a moment, Australia is always under fire for its treatment of the Aboriginal. Its a load of old bully beef. The situation is unique and complex. There are basically three types of Aboriginal. The first is the tribal Aboriginal who chooses to live exactly as thousands of years ago. They are given huge tracts of land for themselves, with no whites allowed, and have right of passage throughout the outback. They still have Elders and tribal law and while there is contact with Police it is on a “laid back” friendly basis. I know this is true - a brother of mine is a Police Officer in the area.
So that is the first group - the last group is totally westernised, no different to a white and living like a white. There are absolutely no problems with the first and last groups. The second group comprises about one third of the total and here is where all the drama occurs. They are effectively lost between the two cultures which must be a terrifying, confusing intolerable experience. They are neither one nor the other - I don’t believe it is a matter of desire, more a matter of “where do I belong”. Events such as Aboriginal Cathy Freeman waving both the Aboriginal and Australian Flags after her win in the Olympics goes a very long way to demonstrating we are one, that we can be whatever we choose, and yes, that we can even be both. For instance keep almost all the tribal culture and act like a white, as many do, or any other mix one chooses. Cathy also demonstrates that Aboriginals are not inferior in any way, a belief too many of them have held for far too long. As far as I am concerned Cathy Freeman’s run and the young girl hand in hand with the old Aboriginal at the opening ceremony were the highlights of the 27th.Olympiad. Most Australians would agree.
Now, back to the story. There is something about this place even now unexplained. Lets call it Aussidom - these invading poms started to change and the change was permanent. They did not just develop brains, they developed Aussi brains, very different from those found anywhere else. Its what makes nineteen million people able to take on the rest of the world and give a reasonable showing, whether it be the theatre or sport, science or the arts.
What a lot of garbage that is, but somehow we are different, not better or smarter, just different. I guess its this difference that stands out. Probably tricks a lot of people!
So just what causes the change in people that come here and is it real or imaginary. Well it was not only real in the eighteen hundreds. From 1925 to 1965 Australia allowed immigration boosting its population by about a third. Many of these people came from Eastern Europe, could not speak English and had very definite ideas, which is a nice way of saying they were hard to get along with. They had no intention of assimilating, even building their own Clubs and frowning on “mixed marriages”. They wouldn’t even eat vegemite, and ate that Polish and German muck in preference! Thirty years later, try telling them they are not Aussi, if your’e game! The Clubs have disappeared - the transition is total and complete. How that could happen beats me! Now immigration is strictly limited to about 100,000 per year, the only immigrant I know personally Aussified and mighty proud of it in less than a year. He and his family couldn’t wait for their formal citizenship ceremony, held on Australia Day each year (January 25) after the obligatory three year waiting period. (They were poms - but good ones!)
Maybe its the near total lack of religious persecution in Australia. If you want to build a Mosque, Synagogue etc. build it! Nobody is fussed. When someone hits the deck and prays to Allah, who cares - their Aussidom is not at question. Very few Australians are religious anyway - I don’t say thats good or bad - just a fact with only 5 percent regular churchgoers.
If there is a religion its having a “fair go” - everyone is entitled to a fair go, no matter what. The famed Ned Kelly is not remembered because he was a bank robber, only that he didn’t get a fair go at the hands of the police.
Having a fair go is not confined to Australia. In 1999 our near northern neighbours of East Timor were not getting a fair go at the hands of the Indonesians and a militia group in their own country. We moved in , threw the Indo’s out and got rid of the militia. This was all a bit historic as Australia was seen not to be able to do that, but we know we can. We must remember there are 180 million Indonesians, so being outnumbered will never phase Australia. After all, we are damn near always outnumbered! Perhaps we are just plain crazy. But only an Aussi can say that.
The Aussi psyche surely is born of the early British mistakes, the Aboriginal Culture and its unique challenges and the demands of a huge land that required almighty battles to conquer, given the relatively small population.
Following the recent Olympic Games, which few had thought could be handled here, one British Newspaper wrote that Australia had now grown up. If those pompous baskets pulled their collective heads out of their posteriors they would have known Australia had grown up decades ago. That reporter couldn't find his a..se with both hands, even if his fingers were flashlights!
This is not meant to be a British bashing exercise - they did do a great deal “right” - but unfortunately that was usually only when it was in their favour. These were different times, the Colonial era, thankfully long gone. As Britain grew up, so did Australia and the rest of the world.
I find trying to describe a country’s psyche just a tad difficult, and this is by no means the whole story. I expect every nation has its own psyche, but I only understand Australias, which I know is real and different.
Even overseas tourists feel this difference. It is, we are told by them, immediately infectious. Even when a Spaniard, Juan Antonio Samarach, recently lead the cheer Aussi Aussi Aussi, and 110,000 people respond Oio! Oio! Oio! who could not believe it?
- and it wasn’t only Aussi’s responding!
This must seem the craziest thing in the world, but not to an Aussi., and I’ll bet not to any of the overseas guests in that stadium.
Australians - we really are a “wierd mob”, and proud of it!
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Peter Smith
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