Lacking in history?

[Squirt]

Just cause we're talking about history, I was wondering, what does everyone think about having Australia Day on January 26th?

[~*~Neisha~*~]

cateyes said:

Yeah, I'm descend from two first fleet convicts and another convict. The two first fleeters names were Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley: Rope and Pulley. Their daughter married the other convict who came out later. They had like 6 kids or something so there are a lot of people descended from them, Grandma's a member of the Rope and Pulley association...

OMG that reminds me of that Celebrity Big Brother thingy (not sure if ayone saw it) and they had that red head that used to be on Home and Away and she was talking about how her ancestors were from the First Fleet and their names were...ROPE AND PULLEY! So yeah Cat lol u must be distantly related to a Home and Away star teehee

[maverick]

hey! i'm descended from convicts too! not the first fleet though, the seecond. my ancestor was sentenced to 7 years in "new south wales" for stealing 6 ounces of butter. that's kinda ironic considering i don't eat butter...

actually quite a few of my rellies were convicts. i'm like 8th or 9th generation down one line. Aussie Aussie Aussie!
lol. i'll go back to my penal colony now.

[Squirt]

^ Talking about how we were taught history in primary school... My teachers were always kinda arrogant when discussing South Aus' total lack of convicts. When I was little I always wanted a convict as an ancestor. Not long ago my Nan researched our family tree and found out that you can trace our family back to some Vikings or something in some country. I forget exactly what but I remember it sounded really cool. Pity I've forgotten it all, I'm like a gold fish I swear...

[Dark One]

Did you know that goldfish actualy have a very good memory?

With all this talk of convicts, it reminds of the simpsons episode where they're in Australia. Has anyone seen it?

[Squirt]

Hmm, what creatures have really bad memories then? Make me one of those.

That Simpsons episode is a shocker! What's with the big boot! and the Prime Minister or who ever it was meant to be ( I haven't seen that episode in ages) floating around in a billabong, and the horrible American-Australian accents! Pretty funny but. As long as the rest of the world doesn't actually think we're like that, they don't... do they?

[Swallow]

grrrrrrr i hate that simpsons episode. Which is funny because i love everything else they've done. But that one episode grates.

[Squirt]

The only bit I did like was the evil looking koala hanging onto the helicopter as they flew away, as though koalas were going to take over the whole US!

[Arctic Firefox]

I wasn't in the country for most of my high school years, so I know next to nothing about Australian history. Lucky me, it seems. Instead, I did a lot (A LOT) of Euro-centric stuff - WWI, WWII, Spanish Civil War, Russian Revolution, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Britain in 19th century, and all that Cold War bickering. Then at uni I went through the entire history of England, which makes sense when you're studying English.

Frankly, though interpreting history is always going to be subjective, we should be taught to view it as objectively as possible. That's how I was always taught - you can take sides at the end, but only after you've analysed all sides of the argument. This method never failed to get me high grades!

And as far as I'm concerned, January 26 means one thing only: TRIPLE J's HOTTEST 100! But if I had to be more political, I would mark it Invasion Day rather than something of which to be proud.

[Deleted]

Although admittedly, The Simpsons have played on a lot of stereotypes when the family visit different countries. I mean look at the episode where they go to Britain, Japan or China. I think it's funny because they're sending up the stereotypes rather than the nationality itself, holding a mirror against insular generalisations about other races from the comfort of existence as the majority. Having said that, I didn't think the Australian one worked as well, mainly because I didn't really recognise the stereotypes they were sending up. It just all seemed really strange and without basis, so that the lines were funny in a random way but not really clever or anything. I did like the part about the way the toilet bowl flushes though, probably because the first chance I had at visiting the Northern Hemisphere, that was near the top of my to-do-list. Shameful, I know.

Oh and Arctic Firefox, did you know that the Monash University student diary marks January 26th as Invasion Day? Of course, since uni students don't ever look at the diary except for exam dates and the occasional major assessment dates, it probably gets ignored too much to ignite any strong sentiment. ;D

[Squirt]

I agree! (On the JJJ hottest 100 and 'Invasion Day')

It also means that Australia is going to be playing in Adelaide (cricket) WOOHOO!, but that prob wouldn't mean much to someone who lives in Melbourne and may not like cricket.

[Arctic Firefox]

Also, for those of us in Victoria, wasn't there something terribly decadent and wrong in the display of fireworks in Melbourne while thousands of firefighters were risking their lives to contain those bushfires which have been consuming some of our beautiful national parks?

[Squirt]

Apparently most of it's out now though, thank Lud for the rain!

[Arctic Firefox]

On a slightly similar topic to the one we've (mainly) been discussing: what is it with this stupid term "un-Australian"? I keep hoping that we won't become the 51st state of the USA, but when we start mimicking their use of language in this way, I become VERY worried. "Un-Australian" mirrors "unpatriotic", which US Republicans use to shut up anyone who disagrees with them: "Why are we spending so much on defense -"; "- Stop being such an unpatriotic person!!"

We really, really, must stop using this word. Today. Now. It is un-Australian to brand someone "un-Australian"!

[Cat-Eyes]

God, if I hear one more stupid news or current affairs program go out and ask what a typical Aussie is I'm going to scream. I mean, do we need a bloody typical Aussie? Who says we need one?! If we were going to have a typical Aussie we'd need to 51% of the population clones of someone and then we could have a bloody typical Aussie. When has there EVER been a typical Aussie? If I went back in time 500 years ago and asked some Aboriginals of the time, do you think they'd stand around going 'Well, they'll be black and probably fit and maybe they'd cover themselves in paint a lot?" No! I mean, it was probably easier to have a generic 'typical Aussie' when there were only Aboriginals, and when there were on British people ignoring the Aboriginals, but it's still not possible!

The entire point of being a multicultural society is that we have different people and we like it.

ARRRGGHHHHH! There is no typical Aussie! So stop interviewing random people at beaches on Australia Day and asking them stupid questions!!!

[Lix]

australians are the good guys of course. so if ur doing something we dont like you're un-australian.
does anyone stop to consider martin bryant and ivan milant? what were they? conveninant migrants?
those guys at the cronulla riots were doing exactly what the anzacs were doing - keeping australia for themseleves, stopping an "invasion". (ok thats not my view there, but thats what they thought they were doing. taking back part of their country tehy felt had gone to foreigners). ok i feel slightly ill for saying that now but perhaps u get where im coming from. john howard loves going on about australians being heroes and mates, those people thopught they were being australian. if you look deep enough thats what history has taught them. remember the white australia policy.
hate to say it but not being racist is un-australian. look at our history - its built on racism.

[Squirt]

Sadly, I think many countries were built on racism. Racism (so I've been told) stems from fear and when people are placed somewhere where they feel isolated, uncertain or afraid (whether that be when Britain went into India, Australia, France in Africa etc.) they seem to take it out on the people that are least like them (in order to feel more powerful,secure) and skin colours a pretty obvious difference. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm giving racism an excuse, cause I'm not, it's horrible, that Cronulla Beach riot made me feel sick.

[Dark One]

I do beleive that other countries have an idea of a typical aussie (im not trying to cause offence here)

Its usualy of a large man in a white string vest and shorts, with a cork hat, drinking lots of beer and saying 'Sheila' alot

[Cat-Eyes]

His shirt should be blue. And that's kind f a mix of a few steretypes, the cork hat was from the bushrangers and people only really wear them to the tennis and the cricket when they're dressed up .

But then again we have ideas that every person in Japan wears a kimono and that all Asians drink tea all the time, which is especially stupid considering how many people we have in Australia who are of Asian decent who quite plainly don't do this. It's like when they bring out Barbie of the World or Snoopy of the world and they're all wearing traditional costumes, which is fair enough, except why is the Australian one usually in a cork hat and shorts rather than bein an Aboriginal in traditonal dress? If you're going to do native taditional dress for te other ones, why not do it for us? Otherwise most of them would be standing around in jeans and a t-shirt with maybe slighly different skin colour and mabe the tropical ones would be wearing shorts while the Skandinavans wore ski parkas, but they'd basically be dressed the same.

Cat

[Clare]

I always thought the cork hat was from outback sheep farmers and drovers... anywhere in the desert where flys plague your every move. I know a few archaeologists who where them when out at Tibooburra and the like.