Proud to be Australian

We call it Australia Day and there’s nothing more ocker than popping on a hat with corks, donning our thongs (on our feet) and applying a bit of zinc across the schnozz, just in case a few Australian rays decide to fry our faces as well as the snags.

I don’t care really if we celebrate this day on the 26^th or the 27^th of January or any other month. I am just pleased that as a nation we celebrate who we are and what we’ve become. There have been mistakes along the way, but name anything worthwhile that wasn’t forged out of trial and tenacity.

I remember a time when lamingtons were just bits of cake dipped in icing and coconut and meat pies were treats you bought at Yatala or at the Beenleigh bakery. But now they are so much more. Now we raise them aloft, elevating their status to symbols alongside the emu and the kangaroo. 

I’m not about to start yelling out “oi, oi, oi” at any opportunity, nor do I have an extensive red, white and blue (or is it green and gold?) wardrobe. But that’s the point, surely.

Because we are a nation of many colours. Our national food might seem bland, but it is well complemented by a full array of international tastes and flavours.  We stand firmly on the land and pay tribute to the nation’s custodians past and present. The bush brings its own flavours – lemon myrtle for our tea, wattleseed for our biscuits, macadamias to share.

Ours is a nation rich in diversity and history. Walk the strip at Wellington Point or wander the harbour at Cleveland and the menu choices dazzle with Indian, German, Mexican, Thai, Italian. The smells turn us into a salivating Pavlov’s dog. But once a year, we put the spices down. We sip our lemon myrtle tea and raise a beery glass toasting the glory of all that we are, lamingtons spilling coconut shreds as we spur our neighbours forward.

Once a year, we chase a few toads around the back yard, we embrace the diversity and danger of our wide brown land, our tropical oasis, our rolling seas and weather that gives and takes away. And we embrace the place I am proud to call home.

- Linda Muller