The Aussies

Warrigal says:
"If you are interested in understanding the Australian psyche you might like to read Neville Shute's novel "A Town Like Alice" or watch one of the two films of that name."

True, quite true, remembering he also wrote 'On the Beach"


Today, for those interested in Australia I would recommend 'A Town Called Alice,' but I Prefer Greg Matthews 'The Wisdom of Stones'
Excuse me while i gush about Greg Matthews, his 'Heart of the Country,' Me oh My, what a book.

'The Sundowners' 1960, a excellent film with Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr, and Ustinov... film takes place around 1920...
Robert Mitchum was a Swagman at heart, but he has a wagon, a horse, a wife and son-but his restless spirit and reluctance to
stay in one place is obvious. There's a bit of drinking, fighting, horse racing ...
 

Last edited:
I’d like to live in Australia. Should say, would have liked, too old to move. Loved visiting.
 
I thought a group of Aussie Vets, after W W I were involved in the formation of 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'
Warrigal corrected me on post 22-I don't want to believe it, but it is true.
(Waltzing Matilda verse are a part of The Band played Waltzing Matilda, but they are two separate songs.)

I wanted it to be a song of the soldiers that survived W W I and were sitting around reflecting on events after they came home.

That it was written by a foreigner does not lessen it]s impact:

"So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane

As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all their faces away."

If the words do not move you your dead
 

Last edited:
New Zealand's most loved unofficial national anthem is Pokarekare Ana, a love song written by a Maori soldier while serving overseas during WW1.

 
Last year I happened on this movie, "The Sapphires." Based on a true story, in 1968, four young Australian Aboriginal girls win a local singing contest, form a group and in weeks are performing for the US troops in Vietnam. I smiled through the whole thing.
 
Okay, understood Aussies feel that 'Waltzing Matilda' is there almost national anthem.

'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda' certainly a moving song-of course it will never lodge in the heart's of you'll like the original.

So how to real Aussies rank the two?



Is Australia a state, how about New Zealand, where are they?
Young people in the U S have no knowledge of geography, they cannot find the various states on a map, world map world geography is beyond them.
I wonder how many older people know where New Zealand is?

I can't remember when I became aware of the Aussie's as a nation. I was aware of the troops wore cowboy hats. so it must have been a long time ago.
I read a bit on Gallipoli, before Mel Gipson's film with the same title- I found the film moving; also, enjoyed Breaker Morant (1980)
The Aussies have been a faithful ally, in Korea, Iraq, Afghan, (They had enough sense to pull out when we stayed, stayed and stayed.).
We thank you for being an ally, I thank you.

I have read Aussies billeted our boys resting from Guadalcanal in WW II, they moves me. Only troops know how boys yearn for any
semblance of home.

(In 1965, while in the army, enticed two backpackers from New Zealand in Germany to join us in drinking beer. I was already drunk, and got drunker and drunker. Oh Lord, I was drunk, but still sought romance...we took to girls to their lodging in Austria.
I could not remember where New Zealand was:unsure: I knew it was 'down there'.
Those girls could drink.)
 
Last edited:
jerry old said:
Okay, understood Aussies feel that 'Waltzing Matilda' is there almost national anthem.

'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda' certainly a moving song-of course it will never lodge in the heart's of you'll like the original.

So how to real Aussies rank the two?
Advance Australia Fair is the national anthem. Before that, as in my childhood, it was God Save the Queen (King). 1770 and 1788 are important dates in Australia - 1770 James Cook mapped the east coast after mapping New Zealand. In 1770 Capt Phillip landed in Sydney Cove with three ships of convicts and men to guard them. This was the first penal colony. From 1970 onwards there was a surge of nationalism and a new national anthem was sought. A national plebiscite was held to decide between several different options. I voted for Waltzing Matilda for the tune but with different words but Advance Australia Fair was the winner.
Click to expand...
jerry old said:
Is Australia a state, how about New Zealand, where are they? Australia is a nation and a constitutional monarchy. The Queen is the titular Head of State but her role is purely ceremonial. Her representatives in Australia are the state governors and the Governor General. They are all appointed, not elected and like the Queen herself, their roles are also ceremonial - opening parliament, signing bills passed by parliament, appointing ministers and occasionally making speeches. Australia is a federation - 6 states, 2 territories and a national government in Canberra. Although there was a push to combine Australia with New Zealand (the islands to the SE of eastern Australia) and call the result Australasia, the Kiwis declined the offer. They remain an independent nation and a constitutional monarchy. Australia and New Zealand are both members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Click to expand...

jerry old said:
Young people in the U S have no knowledge of geography, they cannot find the various states on a map, world map world geography is beyond them.
I wonder how many older people know where New Zealand is?

I can't remember when I became aware of the Aussie's as a nation. I was aware of the troops wore cowboy hats. so it must have been a long time ago. Cowboy hats indeed! Wash your mouth out! The slouch hat, decorated with emu plumes, was worn by the first troops to serve as a national army - the AIF (Australian Imperial Force). My grandfather wore one in Palestine and Egypt when he was a member of the Light Horse during the Great War. Before Federation in 1901 each state raised military units for overseas action. He volunteered for the South African War (Boer War) before Federation as part of a mounted infantry unit from New South Wales. (See the movie Breaker Morrant to understand this war) My dad wore the slouch hat, minus the feathers during WW II. In Vietnam the slouch hat was replaced by a soft cloth hat known as the giggle hat. The slouch hat remains the dress hat for ceremonies.
Click to expand...

jerry old said:
I read a bit on Gallipoli, before Mel Gipson's film with the same title- I found the film moving; also, enjoyed Breaker Morant (1980) The Aussies have been a faithful ally, in Korea, Iraq, Afghan, (They had enough sense to pull out when we stayed, stayed and stayed.).
We thank you for being an ally, I thank you.

I have read Aussies billeted our boys resting from Guadalcanal in WW II, they moves me. Only troops know how boys yearn for any semblance of home.
When the Philippines fell to Japan Macarthur used north Queensland as a base. Today American troops are found in Darwin. Sydney was a popular R n R destination during Vietnam.
(In 1965, while in the army, enticed two backpackers from New Zealand in Germany to join us in drinking beer. I was already drunk, and got drunker and drunker. Oh Lord, I was drunk, but still sought romance...we took to girls to their lodging in Austria. I could not remember where New Zealand was:unsure: I knew it was 'down there'. The correct term is probably 'down under'. 'Down there' is a more anatomical reference.
(Those girls could drink.) Can't speak for NZ beer but Aussie beer is (or was) a lot stronger than Budweiser,
Click to expand...
 
It never snows in Sydney. The worst I have ever seen was frost on the ground (haven't seen that for decades - climate change) and sleet that melted before hitting the ground. You had to be in a tall building to see that.

As a child I did see a light dusting of snow on my auntie's lawn in Melbourne. It was a very rare happening. Not enough to make a snow ball.
 
I had a office mate that taught school in Australia and New Zealand,where he developed a very strong taste for mutton.
He was extremely angry about the high price of mutton in America-he would gripe about it almost daily.
We would provoke him in lunch time, "Hey, us go eat some cow."
That never failed to trigger a angry outburst.

I just received information that he has died last month, he was a neat guy. In his memory I'll post this item from Quora, that I'm sure he would agree with:







Profile photo for Just Dan
Just Dan
, lived in The United States of America
Answered Oct 21, 2013 · Upvoted by
Tilman Ahr
, trained chef with a borderline obsessive interest in food history and science

Because not enough of my f******* countrymen eat the stuff and it's pissing me off! Jeezis! How much longer do I have to ramble on and on about how amazing lamb is? I make it when I host guests. I order it when I dine out. I even write lovingly about it on the Book of Faces. But I'll be damned if the Yankees won't listen to me.
No. They continue eating the vastly inferior "cowmeat" that roams freely in the countryside and city streets. They also like the "pigmeat" that is only slightly less abundant than the aforementioned "cowmeat". Neither is comparable in flavor or texture to yummy, tasty sheep-babies!
 
Last edited:
Some older Aussies (like myself) were born and raised on a sheep/cattle farm or in a rural area but those days have long gone IMO. People flock to the cities for many reasons, the main one being better employment opportunities, better hospitals, universities, etc. so the ‘old bushie’ like me gets transplanted to the city. Having lived in the same house in a tranquil, quiet Sydney suburb for fifty years, I’m happy and content. And fiercely patriotic.
 
Warrigal said:
It never snows in Sydney. The worst I have ever seen was frost on the ground (haven't seen that for decades - climate change) and sleet that melted before hitting the ground. You had to be in a tall building to see that.

As a child I did see a light dusting of snow on my auntie's lawn in Melbourne. It was a very rare happening. Not enough to make a snow ball.
Click to expand...
As a 5 year old in Queenstown Tasmania 1967 I remember waking up Christmas morning, it was snowing.
 
I remember visiting Australia in my late twenties - Sydney, Canberra. Loooong time ago, around March-April. I remember the water was rough, and we had to be careful swimming in it, because of underwater currents. I remember the seaside restaurant with its fish 'n chips and sprinkling the vinegar and salt on them.

At one time, the beach was filled with many man-of-wars, so we couldn't swim there or walk on the beach.

I remember how athletic the Australians were. Everyone was in excellent shape there. Lots of gambling, though.

I remember at the restaurants, they didn't tip and the servers were not as pleasant as here in the U.S.

They liked to say the word "love" all the time, as in "Thank you love," with that Aussie accent. I didn't like to say "love" so freely and they thought I was rude.

I also remember when we'd visit families, and the adult children were still living with the parents, how quaint that was. I felt as if I had stepped back in time twenty years. Family values were strong in those days. They probably still are. These are my two bits.
 
Author Greg Matthews covers all the bases in his novel, 'Heart of the Country.'

"...half-Indian, fated both by his birth and the buffalo-like hump on his back to be
a social outcast. Joe starts his working life as a hunter of buffalo, then regrets his role in their destruction and turns to making cigar-store Indians,

while rearing the ingrate son of a pious lunatic. The story includes incest, murder, whoring, drunkenness, opium taking, ghoulish burial shovelfuls of insanity, as well as a spectral white..."

He does not sell well in U S A.
He will take a thread, write a bit, find another thread... I'm curious on how he does that, still trying to figure it out.
 

Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top