The Sun-Herald

WHO WE ARE: Aesthetic enthusiasts or athletic supporters

To be shocked by what kids under 12 are watching on television, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 1/11/2009
Are we a sporty nation or an artsy fartsy nation? Even the dumbest terrorist posing as an asylum seeker would have no trouble answering that question as part of a border security check. But if he answered "sporty", he'd be caught out for following a myth instead of the facts.

Last week the Bureau of Statistics put out two reports that are likely to shake up the self-concept of Australians - Sports and Physical Recreation: A Statistical Overview and Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview. From them we learn, for example, that 1.06 million people are employed in the arts and culture industry and only 75,155 people are employed in the sports and physical recreation industry.

Apparently 29,000 Australians earn money from working in libraries, 83,000 from designing websites, 53,000 from photography and 36,000 from furniture making and woodcraft. By contrast, the bureau notes "there were 18,558 persons employed by sport and camping equipment retailers and 4,039 persons employed by marine equipment retailers".

The bureau reveals that Australia earned $511 million in the 2007-208 financial year from exporting sports and physical recreation goods: "The category of Boats, yachts and other vessels for pleasure or sports ($289.7m) was the main contributor to the overall export figure, followed by Horses with $88.7m."

In the same year, says the bureau's other report, "Australia earned $915 million through the provision of cultural goods ($628m) and cultural and recreational services ($287m) to the rest of the world." And that's not even counting all those former Neighbours starlets who get bit parts in US dramas and send money home to mum.

Oh yes, I knew all that, says the terrorist, sweating under the interrogation lights, but this discussion is not about how Australians make money, it's about how they spend their leisure time -- surely more people go to the footy or the cricket than ponce about in art galleries and concert halls.

Aha, we've caught him on that fallacy as well. The bureau reports that 8 million people (or half the population aged over 14) attended at least one type of performing arts performance in the 12 months before they were interviewed: "One quarter (25 per cent) of the population had attended popular music concerts, while just under one-fifth had seen theatre performances (17 per cent) and musicals and operas (16 per cent)".

In addition, 23 per cent had been to an art gallery and 34 per cent had been to a library. And of course, 65 per cent of adults go to the movies at least once a year (though the suspect might well argue that you can hardly count Transformers and The Hangover as cultural experiences).

By contrast, the sports report reveals that 7.1 million or 44 per cent of Australians over 14 attend at least one sports event a year. The favourites are: Aussie rules matches (attended by 19 per cent of men and 12.5 per cent of women); horse racing (15 per cent of men, 11 per cent of women); motor sports (13, 6) rugby league (12, 7) and cricket (7,2).

Sorry to disappoint the terrorist, but he hasn't arrived in a land of jocks and yobbos. Apparently it's more realistic to see Australia as a land of aesthetes and connoisseurs.

Go to Comments to discuss whether we've underrated our artiness.

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.