So, as you might have noticed (if you come from the land down under) that today was Australia Day. That day of the year when we all get a day off work to celebrate all things Australian. For some, it's a good excuse to embrace all things bogan and throw on a pair of thongs, grab a cricket bat and an esky full of beer and head down to the park.For me I had a bit of a mix, I started the day by washing the sheets and some towels and hanging them out, very important, I always like to get things out of the way first. Then I took my Singaporean girlfriend to Harbour Town so she could do some clothes shopping. Then I went to visit some random beach at the Gold Coast, the water was surprisingly cold. Then I went to Sunnybank (Brisbane's unofficial china town) for dinner.
It did get me thinking on what it is to be Australian. Until recently I had no idea of where my family originated or how long they had been in Australia. I saw a tv series called First Australians (highly recommended viewing) which details the story of Europeans coming to Australia from an aboriginal perspective. After seeing this series it got me thinking, and I decided to look into my family history. My grandfather on my father's side only knew names as far back as his grandfather. After many late nights of wrestling with the internets, I finally tracked my history back to England (not much surprise considering my surname is Cooper). It turns out it was my great, great, great, great grandfather who moved to Tasmania shortly after it was opened as "free land". As interesting as it was to find all this out, it left me with a few questions. For example; the First Australians tv series talks about conflict between farmers/landowners and the semi-nomadic Aboriginal people of Tasmania. And in the information I found about my family in this period was that they bought cheap land that was declared "Impossible to farm" by the government, then turned it into farms and re-sold it at massive profits. So could my ancestors be responsible for some of the things that happened to the original local Tasmanians?
I find myself thinking, do I really belong here? after 160 years of family history here am I any more or less Australian that those who have walked this land for many thousands of years? and if I am Australian, does that make me any more Australian than my Chinese girlfriend? In the past, I've always been of the opinion that since I was born here, (In Arnhem Land, NT) that I clearly must be Australian. Britain is certainly not going to take anyone from my family back. I love this country and I love to be a part of it, I feel very Australian.
My problem is when being "Australian" is shown in the media as being a white, middle class, beer drinking, yobbo. Australia needs to re-think their branding and they need to do it soon because this stereotype is getting old.
Hopefully this will be resolved by the time I am prime minister (Rhys Cooper for PM 2026).
I wonder if anyone has actually read this blog?
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The late Indigenous storyteller Maureen Watson once told me that Australia is home if you say that it's home, and you say that it's home if you feel that it's home, and you feel that it's home if you take your shoes off, walk in the bush and listen to your heart. Six of my eight great-grandparents spoke German, but when I went to Germany I felt nothing like the gravity and ease I feel when I walk in the Australian bush. So Australia is my home, and this is where I belong ... even if the bogans, flag-wavers and tub-thumpers sometimes make me wish otherwise. I think it's a corollary truth that the channel to follow to this sense of place is Aboriginal - ironic, given the way the rest of us have treated them and continue to treat them.
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