On Australianness:An Ode to a Lost Bosom

Time to Excoriate the Lucky Country Myth: An Ode to a Lost Bosom The public commentary on Australia's explicit apology to its Aborigines-an interesting admixture of exuberance , mania and dollops of sobriety-perhaps warrants a revisit of the lucky country myth:one that has offered a beguilingly facile interprtetation of Australia's evolution into a self assured nationhood.These reactions - perhaps natural and inevitable for nations which reach plenitude-have brought into focus the varying perspecives that the denizens of contemporary Australia hold of their collective self.All in all a salutary and sanguine condition which nonetheless carries some cautionary overtones too.Cautionary because of the redactive nature of the commentary that plays down some very signifiant aspects of Australian history and ,of course ,in the process playing up of the miseries that visited Australias wounded civilization, its Aborigines.The media commentary in some senses is ahistorical and redective though.And the sociological and anthropological insights it offers into the nature of the Aboriginal condition do not appear to be very germane.One can excuse the reductivesness on account of being written as columns.The larger point(s), however, that this enthusing commentary and reaction raises go right to heart of contemprorary Australia: a nation that has attained plenitude and is on the cusp of a higher destiny and pedestal.One which defies the crude caricature and stereotype of it being a 'lucky country' and one which offers a testimony to the genius of its people(s).Now these sets of assertions need to be put into a perspective by setting forth a very brief overview of Australian history.This detour may enable us to gain a better handle on the true nature of Australian historys' victims ,survivors and pioneers and in the process, hopefully , chart or point to the future that awaits it. First ,a a note on the nature of the self exculpatory apology or the intense emphasis on it.A word of caution is called for here:exuberant or manic urges towards , for want of a better word, self loathing and holding the collective unconscious of a generation culpable in 'crimes' committed by either default or design by preceding generation is a tad rich.That is to say, it is unhealthy.Simply.The self acclaimed diagnosticians of the Australian condition should deem not it to be the balm that creates healthy amnesia.I have in mind here the stigma and embarassment that many Australians carry as part of their unfortunate legacy.It, counterintuitively may create self loathing individual or personalities.It may not be as crude as the Ned Kelly or the Bush Ranger iconography but nonetheless is not a healthy antidote.Now let us return to the overview of Australia's history and the apology.The rubric under which it(apology) has been offered is too broad and reductive:it implicates , I repeat generations of , for wanr of a better word settlers who , partly on account of the wretched and abominable conditions, they found themselves in and partly out of fear of the unknown and the 'strange' may have rendered the existence of a peoples difficult and untenable.Lest I be misunderstood here, this assertion is by no means intended to exonerate.Neither is it not meant to demean or discount the sufferings of a culture or peoples who continue to bear the brunt of the past or history.The larger point is to accord credit where it is due and apportion blame where needed or required in due measure Australia's history and success in forging a polity that could be righlty called the envy of the world testifies to its hard and well earned nationhood. Its existence as nation and state or state nation is , as perhaps we all know is owed to the very harsh dialectic that defined the conditions of its 'transported' peoples-the , if one may borrow an expression and invert it , the Wretched of the Earth.That is, peoples who , initially ,on account of their social and economic position in a class riven society, and, later 'political crimes' were pushed onto a territory that could best be described , crudely, as a 'hell hole'.Dante's inferno , in fact ,may be more apposite and germane here.The journey to this inferno was no by no means a first class one.One need not go into vivid detail here.Now rendering a penal colony , though a painful and involuted process, into an entity that could be called a nation at a later point in time can be nothing but a tribute to these experimented upon 'refuse' of class riven and snotty pre colonial Britain.The aim here is not to whitewash crimes or attrocities but to put, briefly ,the historical journey or trajectory of Australia into a sober perspective. These entrepreneurs -doughty and fiesty- forged a country out of nothing amid the most difficult circumstances and conditions , to repeat myself here.So much so that one is strained to find parallels(if any) in the modern epoch of such an exercize in nation building.Australia, for instance, does not appear to have had either the advantage of a sophisticated elite that could will a nation into being or 'imagine ' it.Or enjoy a geopolitical vantage point or interest ,which played such a crucial role in the forging of most other nations .Neither was it the crucible or arena where overhwhelming religious energy (and zeal)of warring Christian sects or denominations denoued or panned out and by default led to an entity that could claim nationhood.It(Australia) thus is what it is : a nation forged out of a penal colony through a dialectic and painful process of trial and error.The brief nature of this essay does not lend itself to laying out examples or instances of these processes. One may in the interests of brevity posit that the theme that emerges out of this Australian odyssey is that of forging a habitable milieu over a period of time, which in turn morphed into into a nation or state or state and nation depending on ones point of view of the penal colony.And that serendipity had no room in project Australia.An ancillary but more remaarkable theme that may be called Australianness that emerges from Australia's history is an innate ability-with spasms of periodic angst and vituperation against the'outsider and the strange and the exotic '-to constanty redefine and reinvent itself: a gift that very few nations or societies are blessed with. This process, to say the least, has been painful.Innumerable victims were exacted in or through this painful transition into a normal society and polity.The tolls were both psychological and physical-the ones who survived were a scarred people who could not escape easily the traumas that transportaion and the subsequent travails entailed.And what jarred with for the fruits of the penal colony were the strigmas and taboos associated in their Australianness-a stigmatizing terms pregnant with taboo' s.The doughty Australians nonetheless excoriated ,to an extent, these stigmas and went about forging a polity and nation that accorded them a history that, howsoever, scarred , and a destiny, they could call their own.The continuation of this remarkable and unusual journey towards self determination and self discovery continues and is the real genius of Australia and its peoples.The apology to aboriginals is but a continuation on this theme at one level and a panning out or the birth pangs of Australias new collective self. Now let us turn to the apology.Or more accurately the commentary on the apology or the recieved opinion.First, the sociological and anthropological insights that this commentary offers into the nature of the Aboriginal condition does not appear to be very germane..The aboriginals have been referred to as either custodians of the land that the 'settlers' found or inhabtitants of the land and the transported peoples as colonizers and settlers.The truth may lie somewhat in the middle.That is to say, that this rubric or umbrella of clubbing together aboriginals, 'settler's and or 'colonials' and the dichotomizing them neatly may not hold.The blighted 'scum' and their tormentors- the soldiers or and the sailors were never a monolithic group.(Eminent and distinguished historians hold that even the benighted conditions of the place where they landed did not suffice to hold them together as a group).Hence is rendered the colonial theory or calculated or pre meditated genocide theory rather spurious). Now let us examine the claims put forth on behalf of the aborigines.The claim that Aboriginals did refer to or deem themselves as custodians of the land dos not lent itlsef to sober examination.They are -with due respect to their cultural legacy and rights-inherent wanderers.A settled life is inimical to them-the unsalubrious effects of exposure to western diet, for instance, may be a good example of this.Their tribal mores and ways of life render them if they can be classified as tribes more or less a sub culture that may be happy or content within a space accorded to them by the broader society.Ths does not imply marginalization or exclusion but rather an acceptance of a different way or life.Call it cultural relativism if you.In fact, this mey be better for thier wounded pride that the alternative:tokenism and symbolism.Historically their encounter with the 'white race' has been rife with conflict and an inability to understand the premises that undergird the broader host society rendering them in the process ope to abuse and exploitation.Now this condition may be obviated, if I venture into the domain of offering suggestions and pointers by offering these people a space-cultural and political- of thier own-under the umbrella or rubric of the broader polity and society.Then , of course, the onus also or may largely fall on them to prove themselves a rightful and prideful and dignified members of the Australian firmament.The alternatives -paternalism and symbolism -may render the apology either infructous(by default) or in a trenchant counterdenouing pathos , a parody. Now this potential that I have identified may or may not come to pass.It is contingent.It however carries larger lessons or implications for Australia's polity and society.First and foremost, and more broadly,in terms of what it reflects ,the obvious:the flexibility and self confidence of contemporary Australia.Second, and perhaps more importanty the putative revision of liberal theory adn pracice , which is premised , roughly speaking on individual rights with a focus on the individual.It appears that given the nature of the world we inhabit and the inability of political systems in place on advanced democracies to protect or deal with minortites have been found wanting.Hence a review.More specifially, in terms of Australia, it appears to be chosen , so to speak, to be at the forefront of this new expermiment.This reading may or may nor imply over analysis.However there does appear to be merit to this.And barring some hiccups and teething problems , the price of which may have been hard for some individuals , Australia, to say at the risk of understatement appears to be doing well.It is a remarkable nation and state that has forged a polity, society and economy that can onky be the envy of the world.The evolving outlook of its deniizens especially the younger people and those inhabiting its metros is remarkable for its sophistication.(I am of course dicounting or ignoring here the bigots and ignorami.These people do not have a monopoly over Australia:they are everyhwere). The gelling together or convergence of all these elements is what may be called Ausrtralia's soft power.That is ,roughly speaking the power to attract on account of values , polity and society.(Nothing save or but Australia can squander its soft power).This, by implication, is its security policy both on the domestic as well as the international front.However there exists an inherent danger:Australia on account of , to use a cliched term, 'entanglements abroad' which have domestic implications in terms of ugly or recourse to a Kafkaesque state posture may render its soft power a tad rough on its edges.It is upto Australians and the projection of their collective self through the mediating tenor of their values and polity to ensure security, prosperity and happiness for all Australians.A corollary to this makes us us return to the concluding theme of contemporary Australian nationhood rendered poigant by or for which the lightning rod has been the apology: first it suggests that the work of nations is never complete.Renewal and redefintion define or are the hallmarks of nations that be.Last but not the least, it(apology) may be a prelude to a wider ad broader schism or split from the 'mother'country.This may be the real and long lasting message or the implicit , explicit as well as comprehensive break from some imprisoning paradigms.The land down under has evolved and charted its own path.Now is the time to be a real nation and state in its own right.A bold and beautiful destiny awaits.