Good old Aussies

Good Old Aussies

I find that generally Australian culture treads a fine line between healthy self confidence and self-centered arrogance. My guess is that this is why they excel in so many areas and punch above their weight internationally in sport and politics.

We encountered a few good examples of this in Melbourne. On the third night of the open, instead of the top seeds playing on the Rod Laver Arena, two unseeded Australians got the prime time slots Jelena Dokic and Bernard Tomic.

After reaching the third round Jelena Dokic is now being re-embraced by the Australian public after years in the wilderness. It would appear the Aussies are quick to forgive winners! A column in the ‘Herald Sun’ mentioned that usually the Australian public a slow to forgive and mentions Australia never forgiving the Americans for Phar lap! It is very big of them to take on an offence regarding a New Zealand horse!!

16 year old Bernard Tomic is an exciting tennis prospect, but ranked 768 in the world and playing an unseeded opponent was also on centre court. The decision to put these two players on Rod Laver was all about Australia, not tennis, but good on them.

When Roger Federer won his second round game, playing in the heat of the day instead of on the evening slot (making way for the Australia show) he was interviewed by Jim Courier. All the questions were designed to promote the Australian playing in the evening. “Thanks for coming and being a warm up act for our 16 year old 768th ranked tennis boy Roger, you little ripper!”

I was reading the 128 page Herald Sun and managed to find 6 pages on world events (3 of them photos of President Obama’s inauguration). The rest of the paper – an all Australia affair!

Well, that’s enough of Australians talking up Australia, what do you love about Australia!?

I do however prefer this than much of the self-defeating cynicism of home. I am looking forward to Australia Day on Monday. I am pretty sure that it will be slightly more celebratory than good old Waitangi Day.