Australian Identity

Furthermore, concerning the language and the Australian-specific expressions that I have identify in this song, I can distinguish as relevant ones “smoko”, “true blue”, “Vegemite”, “mate” or “fair dinkum”, because in my opinion they convey some main aspects of Australian daily life and

Australian people and culture are often stereotyped in the media in different forms, one of them being film. The two films being examined, ‘Red dog’ (2011) and the ‘Sapphires’ (2012), are an example of the Australian identity but from different points of view. ‘Red dog’ shows the kind and positive side which exemplifies mateship and loyalty. The film ‘Sapphires’ ,which takes place in the 1950’s through to the 1960’s, shows a negative and racist view towards the indigenous people. Both the films show different aspects of the Australian identity, not all insights of the films accurately represent contemporary Australian identity as the Australian identity has changed by the evolution of people and their lifestyle.

Our knowledge of the generic conventions used in poetry influences our understanding of the text. “The Firstborn”, a poem by Aboriginal author Jack Davis, enables the reader to determine the poem as a graphic protest about the extinction of and discrimination against the Australian Indigenous people, and the loss of their ethnicity, as their world collides with the Western culture. By focussing on my understanding of both generic conventions and author’s context, I am able to conclude that the poem concerns a tragedy within the Aboriginal community.

Australia is filled with many different aspects in which makes it the country it is today. I believe it is important to study texts that explore aspects of Australia by studying texts such as ‘The Club’, by David Williamson, a play written in 1977 about an Australian football club and movies such as “The Castle”, directed by Rob Stitch in 1997, about the daily life of an Australian family when their happiness is threatened when developers attempt to buy their house to expand the neighboring airport. Both these texts show us what Australian life was like in the past. By us looking at themes such as language, tradition and the mateship shown we are able to explore different aspects of Australia that make it what it is today.

The piece is classified as Aboriginal Australian literature. It was published in the 1960’s. The purpose of the text is to give hope in a new beginning after the events involving the racial tension between the Aboriginals and the white settlers. The poem is directed to the Aboriginal people of Australia who suffered from these events

In this particular poem we understand through the persona’s tone, that they do not like Australia or the people and are therefore making a judgement of, and being of a negative opinion towards, the nation. The text begins with “You big ugly.” This is instantly causing proud Australians to take offence towards the poem, we know it is about Australia because of the title. The poem continues with lines such as “you bore me. Freckle silly children… you nothing much… you’re ugly… you copy…you big awful…” all against Australia.

Dorothea Mackellar’s ‘My Country’ is a poem expressing Mackellar’s deep passion and love for her country, Australia. The whole poem’s intention seems to evoke the sense of praising for the country and express Mackellar’s deep relationship and passion with her land. Mackellar attains this response from the audience by using numerous language techniques such as; Juxtaposition, personification, sound patterns including alliteration and assonance, imagery, and paradox. The use of first person throughout the whole poem suggests that the theme of this poem has been evoked by personal experience.

Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.

Australia... land of the sun, beaches and kangaroo’s, known for being a free and multicultural country accepting you, no matter whom you are... or so we thought. Kevin Gilbert’s insightful poem ‘The New True Anthem’ tries to uncover the faults hidden under Australia’s picturesque surface. It depicts an Aboriginals’ view of Australia, comparing images of Australia to the harsh reality that the author feels is happening in this country. The destruction of the environment and the poor treatment of Aboriginal people are common themes that can be seen throughout the poem which contrast ideas about Australia such as natural beauty and freedom.

Wright’s 1945 poem, The Hawthorn Hedge, is a representation of the predatory power of the Australian landscape over those who refuse to unite with it. It details an unspecific persona’s attempts to establish security by planting a hawthorn hedge, separating her from a harsh, imagined landscape. The specificity of “the hawthorn hedge” reveals that this is introduced British species. As the hawthorn hedge is traditionally used as a natural fence, this clarifies that the persona is attempting to block out the landscape around her. Secondly, the fact that the hawthorn hedge is a British species suggests that the persona is also attempting to establish a reminder of her homeland, Britain. A tenet of Wright’s poetry is the strength of the true Australia and the concept of Australia’s break-away from Britain, exemplified in

The land has a lot to do with Australia, the way that its identity may have developed might be through its isolation and our slow understanding and respect for it. Landscape pieces by other artists at this time depict the land in a much different light than Nolan. Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ has a woman dressed in dull clothing, standing alone, highlighting her isolation in the Australian outback. Whereas Preston’s abstract landscape ‘Flying Over The Shoalhaven River’ depicts the land to be an inviting and welcoming place.

Keating's speech addresses the changing attitudes to war and to the Anzac legend. When he states: ‘ this Australia and the Australia he knew are like foreign countries’ he is using contrast to show us exactly how much has changed.

Australia’s identity has always been a complicated one. Starting with Aboriginal genocide, 1800’s cowboys and villains, two world wars and a bunch of poems describing them, it makes it difficult to conclude on what being an ‘Aussie’ really is. Thankfully, the two thought-provoking poems Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore by Komninos Zervos, and My Country by Dorothea Mackellar both use their discerning selection of themes to reflect modern attitudes in some extent. Along with their themes, Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore and My Country both use their story to capture the attributes modern Australians possess to some degree.

Is the American Identity still alive? Has it died? The issue concerning the American identity is has it died. Many claim that new cultures, new races, and new traditions have degraded the American identity. Although some people that the American identity has been lost because of new cultures and traditions, the American identity is still alive because those factors have not changed any original American traditions or the way they are celebrated.

The poem – ‘My Words’, Beruk (Ngmajet) 1835 – contrasts with Beruk Visits the Riverbed and Beruk Watches Melbourne from the sky, because this poem does not make any comparison or contrast, between Melbourne’s past and its present, yet it succeeds in addressing how “Tony Birch revives Melbourne’s past”. This is because, ‘My Words’, Beruk (Ngmajet) 1835 – attempts to remind its readers about the arrival of the British colonial on the Aboriginal people’s land and the discrimination – as the poem suggest, “white fellow [will] shoot us down like kangaroo” and that the British “spoke his tongue [and suggested] not [to] touch [The Aboriginal people’s] skin, bread [or] house” – these colonisation had towards the Aboriginal people.