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Saturday, November 06, 2010

On being Australian

One of the problems of the internet is that if you don't bookmark, stories vanish. This is especially so for newspaper articles. It's a real pain.

In today's Sydney Morning Herald, Adele Horan  had a thoughtful piece, Youth call Australia home, but cling to heritage. We live in a bit of a black and white society; for example, you are either Australian or you are not. That's silly in a world of multiple identities.

Growing up, I thought of myself as Australian, British, Scottish, a New Englander, part Kiwi, even English. It all depended on context. Growing up, I was an Australian nationalist, in love with this country, but reserved the right to take the absolute mickey out of it. To be Australian, was to recognise the country's foibles. I just couldn't take us too seriously.

I mention all this and have bookmarked the story only because I want to write something on it.

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