What does it mean to be Australian, to feel Australian, to take it for granted that this is our home, warts and all ?

I'm in a singing group, Sing Australia, and we do gigs - on Friday night we did one at an Italian retirement home. We sang mostly Australian songs - the balloons were inscribed with the flag and 'January 26', after all, and many of the 120 or so participants sang along and tapped their feet. And I got to thinking, yeah, it's no problem to be both Italian AND Australian - whatever you do in Australia, that's Australian. What do you reckon ?

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The people on that evening had been quintessential Aussie battlers: the photos on the walls were of people picking fruit together and working on farms, often living in fairly rudimentary accommodation. They had certainly done it tough.

It was one of the best nights and I hope that our contribution will be remembered as a tribute to some of the people who have made Australia. We are many, and we are one. Common-place that may sound, but that's how, I'm sure, many, many people see themselves as part and parcel of Australia. So many people, from so many countries as well as the British Isles, have helped to build this country, Afghans, Chinese, Greeks, Arabs, Vietnamese, Filipinos and Filipinas, Indians, Latin Americans, and now Sudanese, Hazaras, and so many other people. And they mostly, surprisingly quickly, become Australians in their own ways, through their own experiences here in Australia, helping to build Australia.

And I'll bet that they come to think of themselves as fully Australians - their allegiances and heart-feelings are to both their home-country AND to Australia. Maybe this makes for all sorts of initial and on-going cultural and relational conflicts, but the bottom line is that yes, with all our wrinkles, our shared experiences, we become one.

Our children will inter-marry and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be beautiful, inheriting the best of their parents and grandparents. I only wish I could be around in a hundred years.

Joe

many would like to be one however their are so many loathers of western culture that unfortunatley the horse has bolted. The only thing that really unites people is a common set of values. Once the majority of Australians seemed to share those values. Now we are as divided as all the tribes were before Captain Cook landed here. No joy in facing that reality.

Joe,
Sorry but I don't share your enthusiasm or optimism.

There are far too many here now that will not integrate and many are now in their 3rd generation here. Take the Croats, Serbs and muslim Lebs for example, Their hatred and contempt for us and our society is even greater now than before. What began as idealism by Whitlam and Fraser, multiculturalism was a huge mistake and divides us now and will continue to do so. The culture of African refugees is so different it is causing major social problems, Now hearing of a large brawl among them on New Years Day in Melbourne and this has been hidden from the public. Just like the 60 gang rapes were hidden from the public by the press in 2000.

I am sure the muslim agenda is to make us a muslim nation and they use the wombs of their women to achieve that, just like Europe and the UK. We are willingly helping to accommodate that by allowing muslim immigration and the influx of the illegals.

Add to this the binge drinking by the young, the king hit brigade and the knifings and shootings occurring almost nightly.

I am very concerned about what the future holds for those that come after us. Our industry is all but gone and there is nothing to see ahead but hard and troubled times.

Dear Joe,

Great post mate.

Don't listen to the doomsayers, the bigots and the scaremongers. One of my kids spent last night at a small remote camp site in the southern ranges. There were a couple of Iraqi families there and they got on really well with everyone. Not that a carpet and hooka are all that typical in the Aussie bush but in every other way it was just a bunch of Australians getting together on the Australia Day Holiday, enjoying time with their family and friends, and generally chilling.

This is what makes me proud of this country, that we have the ability to find it in our hearts to accept others as human beings. That some among us have strictured minds and souls should not prevent you from celebrating what you experienced and I thank you for your own contribution.

We are Australian - The Seekers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UizA_5SVX0