Australian Stereotype
Representations of the "Australian Persona"
Mateship'
A key element of what is presented to be the Australian character is that of camaraderie, base friendliness towards everybody, and egalitarianism, the belief that everybody is equal and should have the same opportunities, treatment, etc. as everybody else. As such, Australians are very supportive of democracy, compulsory voting, and are generally, in most cases, unprejudiced towards each other based on such trivialities as, for example, social class everybody will kick back together at the pub for a coldie' in that typical Aussie scene', described so well in the quote by Australian legend Henry Lawson, one of the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period, when he said "The greatest pleasure I have ever known is when my eyes meet the eyes of a mate over the top of two foaming glasses of beer." Mateship seems to be so much a part of the Australian culture that Prime Minister John Howard even tried to make it part of the Australian constitution in 1999, when he wrote in the Draft Constitutional Preamble that "We value excellence as well as fairness, independence as dearly as mateship".
The idea of mateship seems to be integral to our nation's psychology. People in every country have friends, but no country seems to emphasise this value as much as Australia, or adopt it as something that is embedded into the nation's culture or "typical" lifestyle. Though mate can refer to either man or woman, it is generally more commonly used amongst men, and seems to, in the Australian sense, denote what would elsewhere be seen as a sense of familial commitment and dependence on each other. Mates' are the people you rely on most in times of need, and they are the people that will support you through good and bad, even if the whole world is standing against you. This can probably be traced back to Australia's origins as a convict colony and an immigrant nation. People convicts, law
Mateship'
A key element of what is presented to be the Australian character is that of camaraderie, base friendliness towards everybody, and egalitarianism, the belief that everybody is equal and should have the same opportunities, treatment, etc. as everybody else. As such, Australians are very supportive of democracy, compulsory voting, and are generally, in most cases, unprejudiced towards each other based on such trivialities as, for example, social class everybody will kick back together at the pub for a coldie' in that typical Aussie scene', described so well in the quote by Australian legend Henry Lawson, one of the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period, when he said "The greatest pleasure I have ever known is when my eyes meet the eyes of a mate over the top of two foaming glasses of beer." Mateship seems to be so much a part of the Australian culture that Prime Minister John Howard even tried to make it part of the Australian constitution in 1999, when he wrote in the Draft Constitutional Preamble that "We value excellence as well as fairness, independence as dearly as mateship".
The idea of mateship seems to be integral to our nation's psychology. People in every country have friends, but no country seems to emphasise this value as much as Australia, or adopt it as something that is embedded into the nation's culture or "typical" lifestyle. Though mate can refer to either man or woman, it is generally more commonly used amongst men, and seems to, in the Australian sense, denote what would elsewhere be seen as a sense of familial commitment and dependence on each other. Mates' are the people you rely on most in times of need, and they are the people that will support you through good and bad, even if the whole world is standing against you. This can probably be traced back to Australia's origins as a convict colony and an immigrant nation. People convicts, law