What does it mean to be Australian?
September 22nd 2010 23:57
Although this nation is a mere 200 or so years young, the land and it’s peoples’ cultural diversity has produced unique identities, men and women who engaged the rigours of life ‘Down Under’ and made it their own. History has witnessed the cultivation of traits and the performance of deeds that were integral to the formation and propagation of Aussie nationhood ideals.
These men and women were the pioneers and settlers, the goldfield workers, the Bushmen, the Diggers and Anzacs, the larrikins and migrants. They built pubs and general stores aiding the growth of fledgling country towns; they ran stations and properties that fed a nation. On the public stage they are the Barton’s, Menzies, and Hawke’s, the women of the temperance movement, the Aboriginal activists, and our national sporting heroes. Into the late twentieth century, and the corporate and media identities like Murdoch and Packer began to stake a claim—on what it means to be an Aussie.
National identity is an imagined concept in the minds of citizens, the idea of belonging to the greater Australian community. As a colonised land many identities form what is a diverse Australian character. Therefore, what does it really mean to be an Aussie? Be of Indigenous blood, the original identity? Or perhaps you have colonial or convict blood in your veins? Or maybe you have migrated here and now call Australia home? Of course, it means all of these and much more.
These men and women were the pioneers and settlers, the goldfield workers, the Bushmen, the Diggers and Anzacs, the larrikins and migrants. They built pubs and general stores aiding the growth of fledgling country towns; they ran stations and properties that fed a nation. On the public stage they are the Barton’s, Menzies, and Hawke’s, the women of the temperance movement, the Aboriginal activists, and our national sporting heroes. Into the late twentieth century, and the corporate and media identities like Murdoch and Packer began to stake a claim—on what it means to be an Aussie.
National identity is an imagined concept in the minds of citizens, the idea of belonging to the greater Australian community. As a colonised land many identities form what is a diverse Australian character. Therefore, what does it really mean to be an Aussie? Be of Indigenous blood, the original identity? Or perhaps you have colonial or convict blood in your veins? Or maybe you have migrated here and now call Australia home? Of course, it means all of these and much more.
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Comment by Anonymous
you must love your whole nation and everyone in it. you must have listened to the sorry day speech and you must have loved it. you must beleive we can succeed even if we cant.
Comment by Pete
Millennium Watch