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As a native-born Australian, your last sentence really resonates with me. I was lucky to have been born there, and raised a bit, but when I was old enough to h
by mmjaa 9y ago
As a native-born Australian, your last sentence really resonates with me. I was lucky to have been born there, and raised a bit, but when I was old enough to have a religious-like experience out there in the north-western deserts, I realised I couldn't ever feel comfortable for as long as I, a privileged white boy, lived on the Australian continent.
So, I left. 30 years later, I'm taking my kids back for a bit of tourism.
And for sure, we'll be keeping an eye out, back up on those long stretches, for the odd kite or two .. not that there's much to burn where we're going.
Australia is a huge, and most awesome place in the world. It's a pity what its current humans are doing with it.
- esaym 9y agoI guess I don't know much about Australia. Why were you no longer comfortable there and what are humans doing to it??
- mmjaa 9y agoI love the land, but I have no interest in Australian culture or politics. I think its a real pity that, as guardians of one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, Australians have let it fall into serious disrepair. See, for example, what has happened to the Great Barrier Reef. I learned to travel at a very young age, and don't have any national identity worth defending. I think of Australia as a wonderful country; pity about the people. Its no fun going back there every few years and seeing the landscape covered in copy-paste strip malls from Arizona ...
- phillc73 9y agoI left Australia 17 years ago, for what seems like similar reasons, although I have a hard time articulating them. Perhaps in another 13 years..... However, as time passes, my views are starting to change somewhat. There is a large enough body of literature to lead me to believe that there are more progressive elements of Australian society, that I was not broadly exposed to previously. Perhaps this realisation has come in time, through maturity, and I am also seeking it out more. I'm currently reading Reynold's The Other Side of the Frontier[1], a ground breaking work from 1981. Other publications like The Monthly[2] are also worth reading (Noel Pearson's essay this month particularly so). The more I seek out such alternative views, the more I'm convinced there is a large enough minority who do give a damn and that positive change is still possible. If I was to return on a permanent basis, which seems ever more difficult as I'm seriously embedded in my current European location now, I'm quite sure I will not live in a major metropolitan location like Sydney or Melbourne. I'm thinking now more like Tasmania, maybe Adelaide region or even far north Queensland. Somewhere the white noise of boganism may not have penetrated quite so deeply. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Side_of_the_Frontier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Side_of_the_Frontier [2] https://www.themonthly.com.au/ https://www.themonthly.com.au/
- mmjaa 9y agoThanks for those great links, I will devour them avidly and attempt to temper my disgust at the Australian people with a bit of self-education. I too am now more European than Australian (after quite some time in the USA as well), and find myself less attracted to Australian society and culture as the years wear on. For sure, we see eye to eye on the move back, if it were to happen: for me, somewhere in the North-West (deserty/beachy regions), or indeed .. Tasmania. The rest of the country can suck rocks.