The Sun-Herald

you need another s in dessert! for nellie melba, I don't think she would appreciate being described as arid...

• by nic on January 04, 2009 at 01:54 AM

"But Dame Nellie Melba is the only Australian music industry person to be immortalised in a desert and a breakfast (at the Savoy Hotel in London in the 1890s, chef Georges August Escoffier created Peach Melba and Melba Toast)."

Okay, I'll 'bite'. I know that one could eat Melba Toast - maybe [shudder] even for breakfast - but what desert did they name after Dame Melba?

How about a hint? Is her 'desert' near the Gobi? Or maybe the Sahara?

;)

From the Great White Northern Desert

• by mike on January 04, 2009 at 03:29 AM

'Bogan" is more equivalent to "chav" in U.K., isn't it? They are all lower class people with a local twist.

• by Patricia on January 04, 2009 at 04:48 AM

I spent a moment there wondering where I would find the Melba Desert.

• by Gary on January 04, 2009 at 07:35 AM

The thing we are best at is taking the "Mickey" out of ourselves. And who the hell is "Mickey"?

We don't take ourselves too seriously and if we do someone close to us will waste no time cutting us down to size.

It's a wonderful thing to be bloody brilliant at what you do and still be genuinely humble enough to feel appreciated for simply doing your best.

We are larrikins. We are survivors. We are all each others "mate" ... until you get too big for your boots. Then wham you're chopped down and levelled to be just like the rest of us. Australians act better as a working group rather than be applauded as an individual achiever.

I think most of us would rather be included in a "shout" than receive an individual medal or award. We're a collective of strength, achievement and effort.

We are Aussies. And you don't get much better than that.

• by aRachnid on January 04, 2009 at 08:41 AM

Hi David,
In your next quiz, you could ask which state or territory is the Melba Desert?

• by peter on January 04, 2009 at 09:11 AM

We appear - given the list of fascile and truly inane categories of criteria your ABC 'friends' have presented, to be the best in the World at turning useless and pointless crap into glittering prizes for the easily duped.

We're certainly the best in the World at breeding individuals who prefer to go and live somewhere else, whilst pretending that they're still "Aussie".

We even accept these 'expats' as being somehow 'superior' or more 'knowledgeable' simply because they've managed to dupe some lame-brained foreigners.

I would have thought that a 'Bogan' came from the loins of a woman in childbirth... I vaguely remember the term being used by "The Shire" surfer types in the early 1970's... but, who cares whether the term has some verifiable 'foundation'? Part of the allure of the term is that it's origins can be of debate for those people - like yourself and these ABC TV types; who care about such useless and pointless information.

I was under the impression that "Green and Gold" became our national colours by a process of osmosis - namely that the individual states already had some sort of identifying colours by 1901 and as you rightly stated; green and gold had already been used - so there was a precedent that most of us were amenable with when Green and Gold were finally ensconced in '84.

"Molly" Meldrum has to be the most important individual in the history of the Australian music industry. Folks like "Molly" fall under the radar because they aren't musicians - but, without his contributions there'd wouldn't have been the exposure or support for locally bred acts to have achieved the sort of success that we all ascribe to their (sometimes limited) musical talents.

Finally: I'd like to address an issue about our "Aussieness" that my point about "Molly" has brought to mind... namely; that Aussies used to go about the business of acknowledging the efforts of "the little guy" or "those behind the scenes" as much as they might offer subdued acclaim for "the star".
Sadly, such an appropriately understated appreciation of the stones beneath the pyramids apex has become far less fashionable in the current rush of faux-Aussies to prove that they aren't "choppers down of tall poppies".

Aussie reserve used to be what we were best at - no-one even knows what that is anymore... as this blog attests.

• by Steve C on January 04, 2009 at 09:54 AM

Well I dont think you have even the remotest grasp about what Australians are good at or why. We have the best social culture in the world. People get on with each other very well, we "live and let live". On a relative basis(per head of population) there is very little agression in our society. This is because of our attitudes to life. Our style of humour has evolved from our convict roots. It focuses on snobby nosed attitudes of high worth. The minute you think you are better than anyone else there is a humorous barb or two thrown your way. This drives a sense of equality that is to be found in very few places around the world. Australians hold fairness and equality as very core values. And because of these attitudes Australians are allowed to mature into responsible worthy world champions in greater numbers. This is obviously just a short summary but I think it grabs most of why Australia is probably the most livable place on earth.

• by Old Man on January 04, 2009 at 11:09 AM

Poor Nellie Melba!.....I do hope you meant "dessert" and not "desert"....although a desert was a good way to remember Queen Victoria.

DD replies: My apologies for the typo. I cannot correct it now because future readers will not understand all the desert/dessert jokes in these comments.

• by Colleen Elson on January 04, 2009 at 01:46 PM

Hmmm, I don't think we can count Russell Crowe as "one of ours" either, like Sam Neill, Russell is a Kiwi. Naomi Watts is also perhaps questionable as she was born in the UK and has said in interviews, she feels more English than Australian.
Greatest music industry person, well you could argue that the Wiggles (although people or a group) are becoming the greatest :) My vote would actually be INXS in their peak time with Michael. They played to the largest number of audiences and no 1 on the charts in America (supposedly the pinnacle of music) But Farnham & Minogue have had careers that span over many decades so it is a coin toss really.
On the subject, I must admit to a little puzzlement over ads for ACDC's latest album, they insist on marketing the band as Australia's greatest. Sure Angus Young is Australian but that is perhaps the only Australian link now in the band? Correct me if I am wrong.

• by kate on January 04, 2009 at 04:01 PM

I think Meryl Streep did a more than passable Aus/NZ accent when she played Lindy Chamberlain. But Meryl is the exception!

• by Mark on January 04, 2009 at 08:08 PM

Who are we you ask! My impression of us from what I read in the newspapers and hear on the TV, Radio etc, is the following.
Free for all, anyone that comes here can do what they like, they will always be protected, we only prosecute our own, for any reason. We welcome people who want to dictate to us, we don't have any national identity, we have to be tollerant of all other sensitivities and swallow our own pride, for the whim of the radical.
I especially refer to the recent covering of women's faces, jihad or something. It's nothing short of hiding from something as far as I'm concerned. You don't know if it's a terrorist, male or female with only the eyes showing. I'm also disgraced by our own Aussies that wear so little clothing and leave nothing to the imagination. Where is this country heading. We have NO identity anymore, why bother now with trying to find one? Our governments are only interested in bignoting themselves, and have a don't worry about the rest of us attitude. I'm horrified at the amount of different Religions going up and offending Aussies. Those who call themselves Aussies and fight for equality should examine themselves and let us know why we should be so welcoming to the diverse preachings that destroy human lives through terrorism.
When I started school, we had a country, now we have 'what'! We've given it all away, gift wrapped to the twisted in this crazy world. Sure you can argue that we must be tolerant etc, but I don't apologise for not being tolerant to Terrorism which is Cowardice in disguise, and the Islam and Muslim world taking over this country too. When will the bleeding hearts and do gooders see what is happening in this country. It's not that complicated. NOW, who did you say we are, GOD only knows.

• by Annie Maree on January 16, 2009 at 09:23 AM

I tribute that should have been posted here last month
For We Are Aussies And We Care
Raymond J Warren
Brisbane Qld
February 9th 2009
Did you see that fireball rolling, down the valley fair
And the timber smoke arising, from the beauty that was there?
Did you hear the bird�s loud calling, in fear as they flew,
And house dogs barking loudly, at the fright that they felt too?
Did you hear the wind loud roaring, like a jet plane overhead,
Did you see the roadway littered with the dying and the dead?
Did you hear the crackling bushland and see the volunteers fight,
Did you watch the orange horizon in the darkness of the night?
Can you hear the men hard yelling, as they run this way and that,
Can you hear the horses screaming as they gallop on the flat?
Do you hear the child calling as she stands now safe alone,
�Where�s my daddy have you seen him, I want my daddy home!�
Do you know that sinking feeling of the loss and loneliness,
As you stand before your once proud home and feel the emptiness.
Do you know that heartache, as you sift through ashes bare?
Does a tear come to your reddened eyes, for memories stolen there?
Can you hear the deathly cry go up, to meet the burnished sky,
Of fathers with their children gone and a mother's mournful sigh.
And those who search the empty roads, for loved ones, who don't come,
The old and wise who blame themselves, for not telling them to run.
But please don�t worry strongly, there is something you should know,
We can�t bring back your loved ones, or the tokens for to show.
But we can share your pain, for our shoulders we lay bare.
So lay your head upon our breast, we are Aussies and we care.

• by Raymond J Warren on March 28, 2009 at 10:00 PM