Australian Identity
Is it thongs, the beach and the sun? Or Flies, kangaroos and the bush? Images such as these have been used to describe Australia for decades, however do they truly encapsulate the Australian national identity? The typical Aussie has been described as "male, easy going, fair and democratic, having a healthy disrespect for authority, and a dry laconic humor" Yet when we observe the Australian society many of these images contradict reality. During the 1990's social psychologists have stated Australia is facing an identity crisis , and if this is so where does this leave the Australian image today?Many dates in our past can be seen to shape the Australian national identity. From colonial beginnings (1788 to early 1800s), to the wild gold rush days (1850s), to Federation (1901), to World War One (1914-1918), to the Depression (1930s), to World War Two (1939-1945) with its threat of invasion (1941-1942) . It seems that from colonization to World War Two we knew where we stood. We were British subjects from a small British colony. We thought of ourselves as Australians, yet British-Australians loyal to the Mother Country. We believed our convict past (a history that we were at times proud of, at others asham
Asianisation is also a massive threat to Australian culture, as it entails the cultural and demographic destruction of our national identity. British journalist Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett wrote, 'Australians rose to the occasion. Whether this is true or not, the reality is that the traditional Australian identity is no longer a real Australian image, and because of that we are facing an identity crisis. Of the 36,000 - 41,000 Australians who were at Gallipoli when the call for contributions to the book came, only 150 responded. This is partly the result of economic downturn. For example we praise our beautiful natural landscape, yet at the same time recall how hostile it has been to explorers, farmers and pioneers. Yet like the Anzac's, how much of this talk is myth or reality?Heroes Of The Past To many Australians, our national day is not the anniversary of the arrival of the British first fleet in 1788, nor the federation of the colonies in 1901, but ANZAC day - the 25th of April, which commemorated the landing in 1915 of Australian and New Zealand troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula during World War One . In doing this it showed that although Australia is trying to move away from old images, this juvenile society still can't let go of traditional stereotypes. In light of these facts, the question must be asked, how do we explain the choice? "It came at the right time" believes Bill Gammage (An Australian War Historian) . And as it is history, in many times that shapes our national image (as seen with the Anzac account) Australia lacks the generations that matured countries have to develop such an identity. Not waiting for orders, or for the boats to reach the beach they sprang into the sea an forming a sort of rough line they rushed at the enemy . So in this 'Age of Redefinition' Australia is facing a great deal of social, cultural, technological, economic and political transforms, which is leading to an upheaval of national identity and thus altering the very nature of Australians national identity. Sports writer Jeff Wells, when commenting on the Australian swimmers performance at Barcelona wrote ' an unwarranted hype followed by unwarranted moaning' .
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Acceptance Essays
