Mayor4Unley

At the Australia Day Ceremony in #Unley, Professor Rob Morrison was the Australia Day Ambassador. He delivered a lively speech that reflected broadly on the make-up of Australia; a character portrayal of what it is to be an Australian. His speech encouraged debate on the subject. However, I disagree with his main thrust that it is too soon, too early to categorise Australia. He said that only just over 200 years had past since colonisation and that it was too early. Nonsense. And there was no mention of the Aborigines who have been here for 65,000+ years. The culture of a country evolves over time, so there is no problem with our perception of our country changing over time; as it will; as it has. Australia has the richest cultural diversity of any country and that adds to the problem of achieving consensus on what it is to be Australian. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of Australia's newer cultures are constrained (or are in silos) in our society and a...

I grew up with AC/DC; we all grew up with AC/DC; some are just discovering the band. Just going to watch Adelaide United play soccer at Hindmarsh, you get pumped up by loud blasts of T.N.T. It was sad to hear of the death of AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young. He was aged 64 and had suffered from dementia for several years. He died peacefully. It would have been fitting for the family to crank up the volume and blast out T.N.T. as be climbed the stairs to music heaven. Quite rightly Malcolm Young was described as music royalty.

Following on from the heated racial protests in the US, I noted this article published by the Guardian. It suggested that we may have a similar problem simmering in Australia; because of our statues and memorials of early explorers and pastoralists who inflicted horrors on the indigenous people. I acknowledge these horrors, but the difference (to the US) is that Aussies today don't worship our early (white) settlers and explorers for their past deeds. The reality is that most Australians don't have a good grasp of Australian history and the deeds, good and bad, of our early settlers. The article by the Guardian is worth a read and some reflection. I do like the idea of adding a second plaque on monuments to provide an Aboriginal perspective. Read the Guardian story ...

The 2016 Australian Census had a bit of a hiccup and was considered a failure. Yet, it had a 96% response rate. A good outcome; eventually. Data analysis is starting to emerge. The big surprise is that the 'typical Australian' is a 38 year old married woman who has been called 'Claire'. Here's an extract from a media report ... Her profile says she’s 38, has two children, a high school education and owns her own home. Her name is ‘Claire’, and she is the ‘typical’ Australian, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which on Tuesday released a series of profiles based on the most common responses to last year’s national census. It’s the first insight into the controversial 2016 census, which was dogged by a flawed roll-out that spawned the viral hashtag #censusfail. The ‘typical’ Australian was born in Australia of English ancestry. A high school graduate, ‘Claire’ is married with two kids and lives with her family in a three-bedroom, two-car home...

Just image what might have been, back on 08 April 1802 in South Australia. We may have become French. They say it might have just been a matter of 5 minutes sailing as to who won the rights. The French explorer Nicolas Baudin encountered and met ship to ship with English explorer Matthew Flinders. It was a harmonious encounter and Flinders was the victor. The French, despite having a strong historical claim (for Australia) lost; they walked (or sailed) away and Flinders took the credit and became a hero; and we became English. But just imagine if Baudin had pushed his case and convinced Flinders of the French claim. Today in South Australia (and the rest of Australia) we would be French. We would be a republic, we wouldn't have an issue with our flag or national anthem etc. For breakfast we would drink hot chocolate and coffee from bowls (and not from cups or mugs) followed by croissants. Every day, in the morning, we would go to the local baker and buy baguettes and then visit...