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It’s funny how being thousands of miles away makes what it is to be Australian much more obvious, and so much more pertinent to talk about with other away-from-home Australians. Firstly, there’re all the characteristics that we already know about and are part of our articulated Waltzing Matilda national identity, the things we wear like a badge of Aussie pride on our travelling backpacks. For instance:
Being larrikins. It wraps up all those expectations of being the first of an international group to do the bungy jump and the last to stop drinking the night before, all while cracking jokes and refusing to take anything seriously. And we love this about ourselves – one of the greatest compliments for a travelling Australian is being called a larrikin. Inherent in the larrikin concept is also…
Limited respect for authority. It’s part of the tall poppy syndrome I guess, but there is no kowtowing among Australians. This is evidenced by the fact that each time we meet the Australian Ambassador our group of volunteers has to keep reminding each other to call him “Your Excellency”. This is not because he’s not worthy of the title, but just because it seems so foreign to be so formal with anyone. There’s also a distinct absence of unquestioning faith in the leadership in Australian culture. While trekking through the remote hills along the Tibetan border, where none of us had ever been before, we Australians thought it perfectly reasonable to question the guide on his choice of direction at a crossroads.
Independent. Closely related to the limited respect for authority notion, we like to decide ourselves how things will be done. We want to have access to all available information on anything vaguely related to ourselves and we will purposefully argue in favour of the opposing view, just so that side of the picture comes out. This is not to say that Australians aren’t team players – just that they want to lead it, or at least reserve the right to ignore it.
Belief in the Fair Go. Another concept we’re proud to tout. An incident in which a high caste man walked onto our bus and looked at a lower caste man sitting in the back row until he got up and gave him the seat left us seething with righteous indignation.
And then there are the characteristics that generally, we’re not so aware of at home:
Sarcasm. A sense of humour is integral to our much loved larrikin, but often the rest of the world doesn’t get our jokes. Americans in particular often think we’re just mean to each other.
Preoccupation with time. Somewhat in contrast to our reputation for being laidback, part of the love of independence is a need to know how long something will take, the estimated time of arrival, how long someone has been doing something for. This is particularly obvious in Nepal, where time is fairly low on the priority list and even among the best English speakers, questions about timeframes are rarely understood or clearly answered.
Low tolerance of falsehood. Australians have a gift for identifying a liar or a kissass from seven leagues off. Tall stories might be tolerated in a fishing legend, but insincerity or dishonesty is met with disgust. No ego stroking please, we’re Australians!
Being larrikins. It wraps up all those expectations of being the first of an international group to do the bungy jump and the last to stop drinking the night before, all while cracking jokes and refusing to take anything seriously. And we love this about ourselves – one of the greatest compliments for a travelling Australian is being called a larrikin. Inherent in the larrikin concept is also…
Limited respect for authority. It’s part of the tall poppy syndrome I guess, but there is no kowtowing among Australians. This is evidenced by the fact that each time we meet the Australian Ambassador our group of volunteers has to keep reminding each other to call him “Your Excellency”. This is not because he’s not worthy of the title, but just because it seems so foreign to be so formal with anyone. There’s also a distinct absence of unquestioning faith in the leadership in Australian culture. While trekking through the remote hills along the Tibetan border, where none of us had ever been before, we Australians thought it perfectly reasonable to question the guide on his choice of direction at a crossroads.
Independent. Closely related to the limited respect for authority notion, we like to decide ourselves how things will be done. We want to have access to all available information on anything vaguely related to ourselves and we will purposefully argue in favour of the opposing view, just so that side of the picture comes out. This is not to say that Australians aren’t team players – just that they want to lead it, or at least reserve the right to ignore it.
Belief in the Fair Go. Another concept we’re proud to tout. An incident in which a high caste man walked onto our bus and looked at a lower caste man sitting in the back row until he got up and gave him the seat left us seething with righteous indignation.
And then there are the characteristics that generally, we’re not so aware of at home:
Sarcasm. A sense of humour is integral to our much loved larrikin, but often the rest of the world doesn’t get our jokes. Americans in particular often think we’re just mean to each other.
Preoccupation with time. Somewhat in contrast to our reputation for being laidback, part of the love of independence is a need to know how long something will take, the estimated time of arrival, how long someone has been doing something for. This is particularly obvious in Nepal, where time is fairly low on the priority list and even among the best English speakers, questions about timeframes are rarely understood or clearly answered.
Low tolerance of falsehood. Australians have a gift for identifying a liar or a kissass from seven leagues off. Tall stories might be tolerated in a fishing legend, but insincerity or dishonesty is met with disgust. No ego stroking please, we’re Australians!
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