A Speech Of Australian Values. Essay, Research Paper

The casual, layed back, simplistic ideals of Australians form our unique set of values. Australians value

their Patriotism, their Mateship and their sense of Equality, and these, together with a good dose of humour

and a match of Friday night football , gives you the typical Aussie larrikin in a nutshell.

In Australia the only historical events admired by significant numbers of Australians are Gallipoli

,Ned Kelly’s last stand and the Eureka stockade. A common theme binding these events is that they are all

failures! However pride in these events is a classic example of the Australian belief that it is not ” whether

you win or lose , its how you play the game.” To admire Ned Kelly’s last stand is to admire courage,

mateship, conviction and defiance to the end. To admire the Eureka stockade is to believe in a fair go for all.

To admire Gallipoli is to admire mateship, larrikinism and strength of character against adversity.

Australian values differ immensely to the rest of the world and are really quite unique. A perfect

example of this is the contrast between the English and Australian ways. This difference is evident when we

read the play pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw. As it is portrayed in the play, the English have a strong

set of values relating to the class system,or structure in that region. If you are lower class, then you will

remain lower class and you will be treated in a very different way as oppose to a upper class citizen. A upper

class citizen has attained their status by being just that, Upper class and superior. It is inappropriate for an

upper class person to mix with someone of the lower, poor class.

In Australia, people become icons of the nation, not because they belong to a royal family or an

aristocracy, but because they sport the Australian ways. They show incongruity, inappropriateness and a

sense of humour that only fellow Australians can truly appreciate. They dare to be different, and thats what

Australians do and value.

Ned Kelly, after shooting 5 policeman became a champion of the people but an enemy of the state.

Dawn Fraser became a Olympic hero after being banned from competition due to her involvement in the

Japanese flag scandal. Don Bradman, the defiant batsman but humble man was labelled Little Bastard by

the English cricket captain. Even our own Mary Mackilliop, Australia s first saint was excommunicated from

the church for breaking the rules. Chopper Reid, convicted criminal who killed drug dealers but defined it as

garbage disposal and Bob Hawke our ex-prime minister, was immortalised in the Guiness Book of records

for sculling 2 and a half pints of beer in 12 seconds.

Australians have empathy for the underdogs because most Australian families, due to their convict

or migrant heritage, understand what it is to be an underdog. This image of the underdog rising above

adversity has made its way into several Australian films and texts. The film The Castle crystallises the

Australian character and their values, all in the one film. From the innocent and ignorant family , proud to

live in a house of extensions beneath a tangle of power lines, right next door to an international airport, to

the bumbling, incompetent lawyer, Dennis Denudo who is trying his best to stop the families home from

being acquired. This film is a celebration of Australia and its values. It portrays our multiculturalism with

Farouk the Lebanese neighbour and Dennis, the Italian lawyer. It shows our appreciation of the smaller

things in life,like a holiday at Boni Doon or icecream after some meatloaf. It illustrates our mateship and

sense of equality, with the retired, big-shot barrister willing to help the Kerrigan family fight the state, free of

charge. Even off the screen, the film shows Australians ability and success as the production took only 11

days to shoot but made over 11 million dollars in profit.

When you compare the Castle to other text of the world you can see clearly the uniqueness of

the australian way to tell a story of triumph against impossible odds. In the English novel Tess of the

D Urbervilles , we can see the similar story of the working class girl, trying to overcome the adversaries in

her life. It is here that we can draw the differences of the English culture as oppose to the Australian culture

when they are put in a very similar situation. The castle has its feel-good ending of the family defeating

their foe s where as the foreign Tess novel has the ending of being defeated. Tess tried her hardest, but

her life still ended up as a tragedy. We can see in this example that Australians value their brighter look on

life, and whatever the situation, we can still have a laugh and maintain our trademark Aussie sense of humor.

From our Patriotism at the cricket, to our Mateship at the pub, our equality at the footy, and our humour at

all the above. Our unique country, is Australia though and though, And the values I have listed are the

values we hold True.