ttbn,

Same here!

The only ones who go around acting like Aussies today are the Johnny-come-lately multifunctionals who keep putting 'mate' at the end of their sentences because they think that is what Australians do all the time.

And to be honest having worked with lots of multifunctionals over the past 30 years I can tell you that that is just about the only thing they actually know about being an Australian.

The multicultural aspect is always interesting.

I have long thought it worked well in Australia because one dominant ethnicity, broadly speaking (anglo-celtic).

not sure whether so much reliance on India and China is a good thing, but am still optimistic that we will all blend in well as long as rule of law and common norms prevail.

Same here!
ttbn & Mr Opinion,
I agree !

Ben Pobjie, the author whose work appears in
"The Age," and elsewhere, tells us that:

"I think the greatest resource any country has is its
people. The story of Australia is the story of the
Australian people."

"The Australian people define Australia, create it,
represent it, and make the aspirations our young,
ambitious nation has."

"Without people, Australia would not be Australia.
Every inhabitant adds something to Australia, makes
it more Australian than it would otherwise be.
But obviously, there are some Australians who have
left a greater footprint than others."

"As egalitarian as we may pride ourselves to be we would
be naive to deny the inescapable fact that most of us
are really incredibly unimportant, while a few of us
are very special."

"It is those special few who have done most of the
heavy lifting in making the country what it is today.
And it will be those special few who again in the future
will be the extra-ordinary minority that will continue
to keep Australia on the map."

"As we know from our history our great Australians mark their
greatness in a variety of fields and capacities."

"We have had titans of business, legends of sports, giants
of science, colossi of philanthropy, and pygmies of
politics."

"Australians have led the world in a myriad ways, whether
generating wealth, inspiring youth, opening up the
vistas of human potential, saving lives, its all been
done in a peculiarly Australian way, with a swagger and
style that marks a person out as an inhabitant of the
determined greatest country on earth."

I thought it worth sharing Ben Pobjie's thoughts on
making Australia Great Again.

//I would never be so foolish as to refer to myself as Australian Australian because no such ethnic group exists//

I reckon there's some blackfellas that might beg to differ.

In answer to Foxy's questions: the late, great Douglas Adams had this to say about Australia. I consider the most accurate description I have ever read.

"Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the bottom half of the planet. It is recognisable from orbit because of many unusual features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge into the girting sea. Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology, but they still call it the "Great Australian Bight", proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory but they can't spell either.

The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the place. Where other landmasses and sovereign lands are classified as continent, island or country, Australia is considered all three. Typically, it is unique in this.

The second confusing thing about Australia is the animals. They can be divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep. It is true that of the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that of the 9 most poisonous arachnids, Australia has all of them.

Any visitors should be careful to check inside boots (before putting them on), under toilet seats (before sitting down) and generally everywhere else. A stick is very useful for this task.

The last confusing thing about Australia is the inhabitants.

A short history: Sometime around 40,000 years ago some people arrived in boats from the north. They ate all the available food, and a lot of them died. The ones who survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in the scheme of things, and spiders. They settled in and spent a lot of the intervening time making up strange stories. They also discovered a stick that kept coming back.

Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north.

More accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged people in charge. They tried to plant their crops in autumn (failing to take account of the reversal of the seasons), ate all their food, and a lot of them died.

About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since. It is interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat, steal and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say), whereas all the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast red-hot desert - equipped with a stick.

Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being Europeans on 'extended holiday' and became Australians. The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside their boots every morning for fatal surprises. They also picked up the most finely tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up stories. Be warned.