Browsing through ABC News (Australia) I found a delightful story. Apparently in Fremantle, Western Australia, they recently held a ceremony to honour the founders of the Australian Nation by presenting awards to their direct descendents. The ceremony was held in the historic building of Fremantle Prison. Yes, Prison. The reason? Most of the founders of the great and adventurous nation that turned into Australians were convicts transported from Britain. Some for quite serious crimes such as murder or manslaughter, others for sheep- stealing or even lesser crimes. Once there, even when their sentences were served, they were often forced by circumstances - or even chose - to stay. They settled, saw a possible life ahead of them (or accepted the inevitable and got on with it) and created a nation. Before the convicts were sent there was a population of a measly 5,000 - not counting the Aborigines, who just didn't count in their eyes. Now they are a proud nation with loyalties to their own country. They are even sometimes trying to make amends to what remains of the Aboriginal race which got there first - probably by at least 1,000 years.
But they are first and foremost Australians.
Good luck to them all. They have their great people - sportsmen, statesmen, artists. They also have their share of crap - sugary-sweet TV series, nicer-than-nice pop stars and all the rest of the flotsam and jetsam. All nations have the same problems.
They also export lager as if it was they who invented it.
If any of the Brits don't like it then they should take time to reflect on the past.
After all we were the ones who started the whole thing off!
Oh well ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment