***A warning - this week's blog is a tad patriotic!***
During the week I was at a party (BBQ… very informal... as Australians do)… and someone handed me a can of 'UDL'. It was one of the ‘alcho-pops’ that has recently attracted an additional tax, because the government believe that the additional cost will deter people from binge drinking! (hmmmm) Believe me, the weather this week in the most amazing city on the planet would not have stopped anyone from drinking (alcoholic beverage or not)… no matter how much it cost! The temperature hit 45.6 degrees Celsius (114.08 degree Fahrenheit) on Thursday and the several days either side were not much better. As I opened the drink, I notice a comment on the side of the can… it said ‘Aussie Rule #1’. As I read it I smiled…
More about this later…
Monday, 26th January was Australia Day for 2009. Yearly, it is a public holiday for the entire country. So, I went to the Australian Open Tennis at Rod Laver Arena on the banks of the Yarra River. To me… being an Australian is an honour beyond belief. In all my travels around the world, and in the many fascinating things I have seen in other countries and cultures, I am so proud when someone asks me where I am from. I live in the most multicultural city in the country and I love it. I have friends from many nationalities, from many faiths and even a new friend (the one who passed me the UDL can) who told me, with a huge smile on her face, that she was a ‘FOB’ (I had no idea what she was talking about until I was told later in the week that it meant… ‘Fresh Off the Boat’).
When I was 17 and headed off to Europe for a year (for school at a boarding school in Winchester, England) - I naively thought I was somewhat of a pioneer of the ‘Working Holiday Club’. I was on my ‘GAP YEAR’ before heading to University. It has only been since writing 209 A Story that I realised how wrong I was…
Back in 1904, when Arthur Gordon McCrae completed his studies in Engineering at the University of Sydney and left for Africa to take a position as an engineer for a gold mine, he was young man (merely a child of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia). During my research of him, and while writing 209 A Story, I discovered that he was the original founder of ‘Working Holiday Club’ for Australians. My impression is that he was a man with a sense of adventure and wonderment in the far corners of the earth… It was something that he had in common with the Aussies of today who find themselves abroad; working and travelling. As I discovered more and more about him, I found myself thinking of my own travels. Often I wonder if he had similar feelings. Obviously not the same thing but there is nothing in the world like the experience of travelling fourteen hours on a flight… and then having to wait another four hours to catch yet another five-hour flight to another city before (finally) arriving at your destination. It is something Australians do on a regular basis to join the ‘club’. How different it would have been for Arthur… weeks on boats, long train journeys, horse rides and even travelling by sleigh. He travelled from Africa to England and then on to Russia (where he worked as a Deputy Mine Manger in Siberia)… Finally, he boarded RMS Titanic in Southampton on 10th April 1912…
Moreover, I take so much pride in seeing Aussie’s do well on the sporting field, or discovering something new in the field of medical research, or achieving amazing things as volunteer workers, or in the arts. More often then not, these achievements are unsung. They are not brashly splashed across the media. That is not our way. We are a small population (in comparison with most other countries), but it is the determination to achieve which drives us all.
I read the side of the can to the small gathering - 'Aussie Rule #1'… ‘If you are hosting a la-de-da dinner with all the trimmings, like cutlery, you may wish to decant your UDL into a glass.’ Everyone laughed because it was funny. We don’t really care if the way we are portrayed to the world is as a bunch of people who are uncouth. We know we are not. We are just different.
My new friend called her self a ‘FOB’ because she realised that this country is not solely about formalities… Being Australian is about having a laugh at ourselves (ie Kath & Kim). It is about being fair to other people and about giving things a go. It is about not taking life so seriously. We... collectively... see ‘life is dance not a dirge’. Of course, no country is without its problems: socially, economically, environmentally etc, but this is where I believe WE are different. I think our ability to 'achieve' has much to do with our vast open spaces, our weather, our geographic isolation from the rest of the world (ie Down Under) and, of course… (just like Arthur McCrae one hundred years ago) … it is our sense of adventure.
Peace
Steven x
