Shedding some light on Census night

Tonight, Australia held its five-yearly Census of Population and Housing. 29,000 Census Collectors delivered approximately 14.2 million Census forms to Australia’s 9.8 million households.

About 30 per cent of the population are expected to complete their Census forms online through eCensus.

The first results of the 2011 Census are planned for release in June 2012.

Firstdog Onthemoon had a different view.

Australiana

Australiana by Austen Tayshus (real name Alexander Jacob Gutman or Sandy Gutman) was a spoken-word single (in vinyl) that was a hit in the Australian music charts in 1983. The words were written by Billy Birmingham.



A hit at the time, parts of it were actually censored. Today, the puns would probably attract cringe rather than laughter. Still, it reflected the zeitgeist of Australia in the 80s.

Happy end of financial year

In Australia, the financial (fiscal) year is from 1 July to 30 June.

From tomorrow, most Australian income tax payers receive a small tax cut.

There's nothing like Australia

Tourism Australia's long-awaited advertisement was launched yesterday, some two months following the announcement of the tagline 'there's nothing like Australia'. It will air in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Japan and Germany.



There were mixed reviews in Australia with some commentators suggesting the style was reminiscent of the 1970s or 1980s (see ABC The Drum, Mumbrella).

The tourism advertisement is certainly very different to Brand Australia, which has the tagline of 'Australia Unlimited' and a business focus.



I prefer the latter version.

There's nothing like it... almost

In typical Australian fashion, it didn't take long for a someone to spoof Tourism Australia's There's nothing like Australia website.

This is the tamest one, others featured in the site are terrible

There's nothing like it

According to Tourism Australia, there's nothing like Australia.

The exact same thing could be said for many other places...

like...

France
Italy
Greece
Turkey
India
China
Thailand

#slogan fail

wild budgies

The above photo was taken by Ann Britton who submitted it as a user submitted photo to the ABC. It shows a flock of budgerigars at Boulia in far west Queensland (15 October 2009).

Budgerigars (also called budgies) are such a common (bird) pet that it's easy to forget that they are native to Australia and flock in the wild.


Close up of a pet budgie by Amos T Fairchild from Wikipedia.

The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) is a very hardy species.

They're a weird mob

They're a weird mob was a classic Australian film from 1966 about an Italian migrant adapting to life in Australia.

going to the hotel


shouting at the bar

see also teachers' notes from National Film and Sound Archive

The film's depiction of Sydney in the 1960s (not recreated) is fascinating. Thankfully, the Australia of today is more accepting of and sensitive to cultural and ethnic differences.

big backyard birds

Brush turkeys are native to Australia, but we aren't allowed to eat them. From ABC

Back from the bush: turkeys hit Sydney backyards
By Kathryn Stolarchuk for The World Today

Posted 8 July 2009

Here to stay: the indefatigable brush turkey. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)

Brush turkeys have been invading suburban Sydney on a scale not seen since the ibis moved in many years ago.

The large, aggressive birds are playing havoc with gardens, frightening pets, eating their food and building huge mounds.

But the experts are warning they are here to stay; it is illegal to eat a protected native species and people should get used to them.

The brush turkey is a ground-dwelling bird about 70 centimetres long that lives exclusively in the Australasian region of the world.

Dr Ann Goeth is a senior threatened species officer with the Department of Environment and Climate Change and also one of the world's leading authorities on the local birds.

She believes the turkeys are moving into suburban areas of Sydney for a number of reasons, including the drought.

"They also find a lot of food in the kind of mulch and gardens that people provide," she said.

"A lot of people indirectly attract these birds as well by either providing compost heaps where the birds can feed from, they have bird feeders, which brush-turkeys really like as well, or they might leave their pet food out on the back porch, which brush turkeys really like to eat as well."

Gardener's nightmare

Geoff Ross, a wildlife management officer with New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife, says the birds are also making a mess of backyards.

"This species are megapodes, which means they build mounds," he said.

"So the males incubate the eggs laid by females in these large mounds of garden material that's effectively breaking down and providing heat and that incubates the eggs.

"We're seeing a lot more of these mounds around the inner-urban areas now - one reporting of an instance in Mosman.

"Mounds are being located in Epping, Lane Cove and places like that on the North Shore. So they are gradually moving into those urban interfaces."

Mr Ross says it is this building of the mounds and their propensity to destroy flower beds with their enthusiastic scratching that makes the turkeys the enemy of local gardeners.

"They'll scratch up a lot of backyards' garden material to build that mound, particularly with people who have spent a lot of resources in maintaining a natural urban bushland, then of course brush turkeys will avail themselves of that very natural area and start building mounds in that backyard," he said.

But Dr Anne Goeth reminds people that brush turkeys are a native species and protected by law.

"So you're not allowed to catch them. You're also not allowed to actually destroy these mounds when there is eggs in there because you would destroy the eggs and the chicks," she said.

No Christmas turkey

And she says you are definitely not allowed to put them on the barbie.

"I mean they're big birds, big turkeys and obviously it's easier to shoot one of those than buy something if you are hungry, but hopefully that's not happening anymore these days," she said.

"I've been told it's quite tough. I have never eaten them myself, of course."

Mr Ross recommends that instead people learn to be tolerant of their new neighbours.

"Now if you do have a mound you can seek National Parks' guidance on how to deal with that mound in your back garden," he said.

"If it's particularly impacting upon you or your family, we can offer things like we give you a permit that will allow you to cover the mound with a tarpaulin and so the male can't work the mound, or you can cover it with mesh.

"You can use sprinklers to divert the male's attention away from the mound. Things like that, particularly now that we're allowed to hose our gardens again."

He says Sydneysiders worried about the turkeys should follow the example of their Queensland counterparts.

"They are here to stay and it's one of being able to adapt to them being there and of course, this is nothing new for those people who live north of the border in Queensland," he said.

"Brush turkeys are an everyday occurrence in the backyards of all Brisbane residents and residents on the Gold Coast.

"So wherever you reside in those warmer coastal areas you get a few brush turkeys and again in Sydney they're just recapturing, if you like, those habitats they used to live in before."

I think it would be cool to have one in the backyard.

Australia's YouTube queen

I tend to check out YouTube mainly for music clips. The Sydney Morning Herald reported about Natalie Tran who has a huge following.

How Natalie became Australia's queen of YouTube


Oz YouTube queen Natalie Tran
Natalie Tran, 22, is the most subscribed YouTube user in Australia and ranks 37th in the world. Watch one of her videos.

Asher Moses
February 4, 2009 - 12:47PM

From her parents' home in western Sydney, Natalie Tran, Australia's queen of YouTube, has proven time and again that titillation is not a prerequisite to internet fame.

With more than 150,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, Tran, 22, is easily the most subscribed YouTube user in Australia, while globally she ranks 37th.

The 118 videos she's created over two years have amassed 64 million views, making her also the most viewed Australian YouTube user of all time - more popular on the site than even AC/DC, whose videos have attracted 53 million views.

But while some female web stars such as Obama Girl have used their sexuality to amass scores of drooling fanboys, Tran has eschewed titillation in favour of comedic skits about her everyday life.

"I think that to have longevity on these kind of websites you need to offer something different ... there's plenty of [sexual] material on the internet that would provide that kind of entertainment already," she said.

For instance, her most recent skit riffs on the poor quality voice recognition services many companies use to answer their phones and provides funny tips on how to bypass them.

In another, Tran talks about the irrational fears that people have, such as: "When I kill an insect I'm really conscious that there's another one in the room that's probably seen that massacre go down and it's probably going to try and find me as well as my family."

The comedic value is in Tran's satirical re-enactments of the situations she is talking about and the fact that she plays all of the characters.

Tran said the skits were all based on things that happened in her day, "just a little bit exaggerated for comedy purposes".

"They're not huge deep and meaningful videos, they're just short snippets that are meant to be a little bit of fun in somebody's lunch break ... the world wouldn't be a worse place without them," she said.

Tran publishes a new video every two to three days, each taking about four hours to make, including writing, filming, editing and uploading.

Outside of that she said she spends an hour at night replying to the hundreds of messages she receives each day from fans.

Also unlike many internet celebrities, Tran has never courted fame, regularly turning down TV shows and journalists who are more interested in poking fun at the whacky world of YouTube than seriously examining its place in the new digital media world.

She works in retail on and off while studying digital media at the University of NSW, but says most of her classmates don't know of her YouTube fame.

Tran said she had been approached by numerous companies seeking to sponsor her videos or pay for an endorsement but she decided against heading down that path, fearful it would put viewers offside.

"It [sponsorship money] is very tempting but it's not really what I'm looking for - I've spent a long time creating something and I don't want to give that up," she said.

While she earns a modest income from YouTube's Partner Program - which gives a small percentage of ad revenue to the site's most popular users - Tran said money and fame did not concern her.

She was more interested in practically applying her digital media studies to learn "the science behind" making content that builds and sustains audiences online.

"I don't think internet fame holds very much in the real world," she said.

More at YouTube communitychannel

Witty and funny. I'm hooked.

Elvis in Parkes

Not in Nashville nor Graceland, but a small outback town in New South Wales called Parkes. From the Canberra Times, reporting about the Parkes Elvis Festival

In Parkes, where the King is not dead
9/01/2009 12:07:00 PM

The king of rock and roll lives on, with thousands of Elvis Presley enthusiasts set to pay tribute to the hip-swivelling legend this weekend in central NSW.

On Friday almost 400 Elvis look-a-likes will board an eight car "Elvis Express" at Sydney's central railway station at 9.30am (AEDT) bound for Parkes.

On the way those aboard will be entertained by a Elvis tribute artist, and prizes will be awarded to the best dressed Elvis wannabe.

In Parkes more than 8,000 Elvis enthusiasts are expected to take part in the five-day festival.

Planned events include an Elvis Gospel Church Service, an Elvis street parade, and the crowning of Miss Priscilla.

Retired Wiggle performer Greg Page, a huge collector of Elvis memorabilia, is loaning items to the council of Parkes for visitors to glimpse.

They include the first management contract signed between Elvis and his manager Colonel Tom Parker, the original blueprints for Graceland, two original pairs of Elvis' trademark Aviator sunglasses, Elvis and Priscilla's marriage certificate, and one of only two gold lame suits made for Elvis by Nudie of Hollywood.

The Elvis Festival is now in its sixth year.

It kicked off last Wednesday and will finish on Sunday.

On Monday the Elvis Express is scheduled to return to Sydney.

Why Parkes? Why Elvis?

************
First week back at work after 16 days off. I still need a holiday.

Melbourne - soon to be a bogan free zone

The City of Melbourne has a new Lord Mayor following recent elections.

In an interview with radio 3AW, he said he wanted bad buskers and bogans out of the city.

I think he forgot about emos.

Flinders Street train station is usually full of bogans


**************
The weekend went too quickly.

Australia... more than the outback

Baz Luhrmann's film Australia premiered last night to much hype. There is a quintessential image that is always invoked in film to represent Australia.

The outback.

Telstra advertisement featuring verses from the song 'I am Australian' written by Bruce Woodley (of the Seekers)


1998 Qantas advertising featuring the song 'I still call Australia home' written by Peter Allen


Interestingly, it took a foreign film director to point out that most Australians have little association with the outback. From a review for his film Newcastle in the Sydney Morning Herald

WHEN Dan Castle set out to make an Australian surf movie, the US director expected such a surf-crazed country would be replete with gnarly surf films. Yet all he found were two films: Blackrock (1997) and Puberty Blues (1981).

Castle was "astounded and dumbfounded", he says. "Not just with the lack of surfing movies but with how few coastal films are made in Australia."

Why the reaction? "About 98 per cent of your culture, of your society, lives along the coast somewhere, yet every film-maker goes to the outback to make films about Australia.

"OK, that's a part of it," Castle qualifies. "But the psyche, the lifeblood of Australian culture has been, and always will be, on the coast. The myth of Australia might be in the outback but the drama of everyday lives is definitely on the coast."

Yet, when most Australians refer to the middle of nowhere, they think of the outback, in particular, the back of Bourke as a place they do not really want to visit. Woop Woop really. Yet images of the outback are etched into the national consciousness.

See also

- Qantas campaign, I still call Australia home since 1997 (The Inspiration Room)

- original song 'I am Australian' performed by The Seekers


- trailer for film 'Newcastle'


**************
Happy Wednesday

eating kangaroo to save the planet

Reported in The Australian, the Australian government's chief climate change adviser has suggested we eat kangaroo to fight climate chang

Eat kangaroo to help combat climate change: Ross Garnaut
Samantha Maiden and Christian Kerr | October 01, 2008

AUSTRALIANS should replace beef and lamb on the dinner table with kangaroo to fight climate change, Kevin Rudd's chief climate change adviser says.

Professor Ross Garnaut has suggested in his final report on climate change that the nation's farmers should switch to the low-emission meat.

He also suggests Australian families should give up beef and eat more kangaroo.

"Sheep and cattle production is highly vulnerable to the biophysical impacts of climate change, such as water scarcity," he says.

"Australian marsupials emit negligible amounts of methane from enteric fermentation. This could be a source of international comparative advantage for Australia in livestock production.

"For most of Australia's human history of around 60,000 years, kangaroo was the main source of meat. It could again become important."

Professor Garnaut notes there are some barriers to this change, including livestock and farm-management issues, consumer resistance and the gradual nature of change in food tastes.

Michael Mulligan, president of the Kangaroo Industry Association, told the Taste of Kangaroo symposium at Sydney's Parliament House earlier this week that the national symbol had become a "more and more accepted everyday meat".

Professor Garnaut notes that researchers have modelled the potential for kangaroos to replace sheep and cattle for meat production in Australia's rangelands, where kangaroos are already harvested.

"They conclude that by 2020, beef cattle and sheep numbers in the rangelands could be reduced by seven million and 36 million respectively, and that this would create the opportunity for an increase in kangaroo numbers from 34 million today to 240million by 2020," he says.

But matters may be complicated by the treatment of agriculture under the proposed emissions trading scheme.

While Professor Garnaut has said agriculture should be included in an ETS as soon as possible, the Government's own Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme green paper says it will not be covered until at least 2015.

And a recipe was also included in the article

SPICY THAI KANGAROO SALAD

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon oil
400g kangaroo fillet, sliced thinly
2 eschalots, chopped finely
1 green onion, chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 teaspoons ground red chilli
2 tablespoons Oz Lemon
2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
1/3 cup mint leaves
1/3 cup Thai basil leaves
Lettuce cups
Steamed jasmine rice

Khao koor
3 tablespoons uncooked jasmine rice

METHOD
Heat oil in a wok; cook kangaroo so that it seals but is still medium. Remove from heat and place in a bowl with the onions, lime juice, fish sauce, chilli, Oz Lemon, sugar and herbs; toss to combine. Serve with lettuce cups or jasmine rice and sprinkle with khao koor (ground toasted rice). To make khao koor, heat a wok until fairly hot; add uncooked jasmine rice. Toss rice until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Grind to a fairly coarse powder with a mortar and pestle or a blender.
Serves 2-4

MIX & MAX
For this thrillingly flavoured 'roo dish, you need a red with bold personality, heaps of spiciness, perfume and a rich, almost sweet fullness - a Barossa grenache or a shiraz viognier blend.

Kangaroo is a very tasty meat. During cooking, the smell is a bit strong though.

*********************
Midweek.

prime ministerial gestures

I like these photos of our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during his visit to China.

prime ministerial blessing or a wave


prime ministerial finger pointing


He is also becoming quite assertive with the Chinese government, commenting on Tibet.

******************
Another so so day at work. And a little slap on the knuckles at work with a reminder not to communicate sensitive views via the email, even to colleagues, but to use the telephone.

Sorry... apologising to the Stolen Generations

Following on from yesterday's historic opening of the Australian Parliament, another equally momentous and historic event happened today.

The Australian Prime Minister apologised to the stolen generation on behalf of the Australian Parliament and the Australian Government.

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

You can read Prime Minister Rudd's additional statement here, in which he explains the reason for the official apology.

The apology follows on from the 1997 Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. It has taken a long time for the apology, as Prime Minister Rudd mentioned

from the nation’s parliament there has been a stony and stubborn and deafening silence for more than a decade; a view that somehow we, the parliament, should suspend our most basic instincts of what is right and what is wrong; a view that, instead, we should look for any pretext to push this great wrong to one side, to leave it languishing with the historians, the academics and the cultural warriors, as if the stolen generations are little more than an interesting sociological phenomenon. But the stolen generations are not intellectual curiosities. They are human beings; human beings who have been damaged deeply by the decisions of parliaments and governments. But, as of today, the time for denial, the time for delay, has at last come to an end.

The nation is demanding of its political leadership to take us forward. Decency, human decency, universal human decency, demands that the nation now step forward to right an historical wrong. That is what we are doing in this place today.

Every single television set was turned on at my workplace (and in many others) so that staff could watch the speech. Elsewhere, Australians gathered to watch on big screens.


Thousands gather at Melbourne's Federation Square to watch Prime Minister Kevin Rudd make an apology to indigenous Australians. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Media reporting from
- ABC News
- Sydney Morning Herald
- The Australian

****************
I think I've done five days worth of work in three days this week. Two more days to go before the weekend.

I went to the markets after work to buy some vegetables. It felt a bit strange not shopping for beef bones and chicken wings for Kane2. As heavy as they were to carry home (some four to five kilos, in addition to other things), I really looked forward to the routine and to giving Kane2 his fresh food.

Emily came around this evening. I prepared ingredients and she cooked Hokkien noodles with Chinese roast duck, bok choy, baby corn and puff tofu. We also watched tonight's Food Safari, which was Brazilian cuisine, as well as the previous fortnight's - Hungarian (which I've already seen) and Sri Lankan.

(reminder to self - Emily has borrowed Battlestar Galactica season 2 and Line of Beauty DVDs)

welcome to country

Something momentous and historic happened in Australia today, ahead of another equally momentous and historic event tomorrow. From our ABC (12 February 2008)

MPs 'welcomed to country'

A traditional welcome to country by Indigenous elders has been held in federal Parliament for the first time, ahead of tomorrow's formal apology to the Stolen Generations.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been handed a message stick to commemorate the occasion.

Ngambri elder Matilda House Williams says the 'Welcome to Country' acknowledges her people and their ancestors.

"It's a good, honest and decent and very human act to reach out to make sure everyone has a place and is welcome," she said.

Ms Williams says it is a significant time for her people.

"The best time in the history of the Australian Parliament," she said.

"A Prime Minister has honoured us, the first people of this land, the Ngambri people by seeking a welcome to country.

"In doing this, the Prime Minister shows what we call proper respect."

Mr Rudd says the welcome to country is a historic occasion.

"Despite the fact that parliaments have been meeting here for the better part of a century, today is the first time that as we open the Parliament of the nation that we are officially welcomed to country by the first Australians of this nation," he said.

Representatives of Indigenous communities from around the country have been involved in the ceremony in the Members Hall of Parliament.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson pose with Aboriginal performers after an Aboriginal welcoming ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra.


Indigenous Australians perform a welcome ceremony at Parliament House



An equally important gesture of respect and reconciliation (between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians) is 'acknowledgement of country'. This is when the chairperson of a meeting or the host of an event begins by acknowledging that the meeting or event is taking place in the country of the traditional owners.

I would like to show my respect and acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which this meeting takes place, or

I would like to respectfully acknowledge the ____________* people who are the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which we stand.

* Ngambri, in the case of above. Larrakia people (in Darwin), Cadigal people (in Sydney), etc

Prime Minister Rudd's acknowledgment of country speech is worth quoting in full.

I begin by honouring the traditional owners of the land on which this parliament now sits.

I begin also by honouring the traditional owners of all the lands across this continent, Australia.

And I thank the traditional owners here for their welcome to country, the warmth of that welcome, the beautiful traditional message stick, with which I have been presented.

Exactly 100 years ago the land on which we stand was chosen as the site as the nation’s first capital. Eighty years ago, we build an old Parliament House and 20 years ago, we built this new great house of the Australian democracy.

Yet the human history of this land stretches back thousands of years through the dreamtime.

The histories of the Ngunnawal and Walgalu – and to the west, the Wiradjuri; to the east, on the coast, the Yuin; to the north, the Gundungurra; and to the south, the Ngarigo - a thousand generations or more.

And we who have come to this land more recently, perhaps for five, maybe six, even seven.

Despite this antiquity among us, and despite the fact that parliaments have been meeting here for the better part of a century, today is the first time in our history that as we open the parliament of the nation, that we are officially welcomed to country by the first Australians of this nation.

And Matilda, I thank you for the welcome.

For that welcome, we are all here, Senators and Members, truly honoured.

In 1927, when we opened the old parliament, no Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people were invited. There was no welcome to country, they were not welcome at all. No place at the national table as we began the national parliament in this place for the first time.

But one man, Jimmy Clements, came, and stood alone, referred to by the Canberra Times in 1927 as, and I quote, “a lone representative of a fast vanishing race”, unquote.

I celebrate the fact that indigenous Australia is alive, well, and with us for the future.

Today we begin with one small step, to set right the wrongs of the past. And in this ceremonial way, it is a significant and symbolic step.

And let us resolve here, as Members and Senators and Members of this great Parliament of the Commonwealth, that whoever forms future Governments of the nation, let this become a permanent part of our ceremonial celebration of the Australian democracy.

Incorporating the ceremonial of the dreaming from antiquity into the ceremonial of this great democracy.

It’s taken 41 parliaments to get here. We can be a bit slow sometimes. But we got here. And, when it comes to the parliaments of the future, this will become part and parcel of the fabric of our celebration of Australia in all of its unity and all of its diversity.

Our challenge this week, then is to write a new page in the country’s history, and this is one small step. But for that page to be truly written, it must be written between ourselves and indigenous Australia, and within this parliament between those who are Government and those who are Opposition. And it is in that spirit that I invite the Leader of the Opposition to support my remarks.

It will still take some time before Indigenous culture is a permanent feature of our national consciousness. After all, a generation ago racism was acceptable.

******************
What a day at work. Just as well I don't really use an 'in tray' as everything was coming at me from all directions.

Another new tv show tonight - Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I reserve my judgment before being hooked on another show.


Sarah and John Connor on the run (always) - in between T2 and T3

How do you tell if you are a true Aussie?

Today is Australia Day and there was a cool article in the Sydney Morning Herald

How do you tell if you are a true Aussie?

Richard Glover
January 26, 2008

TODAY you'll probably want to party, celebrating all the things that make us unique. But how do you tell if you are a true Aussie? Here are my 43 top ways to tell if you're a local.

You know you're Australian if …

1. You know the meaning of the word "girt".

2. You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.

3. You think it's normal to have a leader called Kevin.

4. You waddle when you walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in your wallet or purse.

5. You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden.

6. You believe it is appropriate to put a rubber in your son's pencil case when he first attends school.

7. When you hear that an American "roots for his team" you wonder how often and with whom.

8. You understand that the phrase "a group of women wearing black thongs" refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds.

9. You pronounce Melbourne as "Mel-bin".

10. You pronounce Penrith as "Pen-riff".

11. You believe the "l" in the word "Australia" is optional.

12. You can translate: "Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas."

13. You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.

14. You call your best friend "a total bastard" but someone you really, truly despise is just "a bit of a bastard".

15. You think "Woolloomooloo" is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.

16. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.

17. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.

18. You understand that "Wagga Wagga" can be abbreviated to "Wagga" but "Woy Woy" can't be called "Woy".

19. You believe that cooked-down axlegrease makes a good breakfast spread.

20. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.

21. Hamburger. Beetroot. Of course.

22. You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again.

23. You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionary known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.

24. You still don't get why the "Labor" in "Australian Labor Party" is not spelt with a "u".

25. You wear ugh boots outside the house.

26. You believe, as an article of faith, that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off to the Yanks for a pittance.

27. You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.

28. Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.

29. You understand that "excuse me" can sound rude, while "scuse me" is always polite.

30. You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.

31. You understand that "you" has a plural and that it's "youse".

32. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle.

33. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.

34. You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call "Anzac cookies".

35. You still think of Kylie as "that girl off Neighbours".

36. When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you're trying to sneak in fruit.

37. You believe the phrase "smart casual" refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered.

38. You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction.

39. When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.

40. You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second.

41. You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government's new test for migrants.

42. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says "cobber".

43. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.

Happy Australia Day.

There's no point in trying to explain any of these to non-Australians!

I always read Richard Glover's columns in the SMH. He is one of the paper's funniest writers.

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This evening I mowed half of the back lawn (overgrown weeds more like), and met the new neighbours (Glen and Janey - I'm writing this down so I don't forget their names) to the right when I asked them if they would mind. This means the neighbours on all three sides are now owner-occupiers.

I'm sore from mowing and need to mow the rest tomorrow.

the world in Sydney

I like this story in the Sydney Morning Herald

A little soiree for Sydney's alphabet of nations
Adam Spencer
November 8, 2007

"Thirty-eight year old Sydneysider seeks temporary companion. Must be free this Friday morning, living in Sydney and originally from Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe … "

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Everyone says Sydney is a pretty diverse place. Well, let's see how diverse, I thought to myself. Let's try to track down people from as many countries as possible then assemble them in one spot. Now we are throwing a little soiree for about 500 of my nearest and dearest from more than 150 countries around the globe.

The response has been overwhelming. Within the first couple of days I'd spoken to Casey de Periera from the Seychelles, an island nation north-east of Madagascar. He even ran for the Seychelles at the Moscow Olympics. "The stadium had more people than my country," he said. And then there was Lolo Fernandez from Peru who told me: "I love Sydney … your roads are just so good".

I've been amazed by the range of people living in this city, their backgrounds and their stories. This week I spoke to Brigitte Wilkinson from Silesia, which you know and I know is situated between Germany and Poland and was seized by the Russians and given to the Poles after World War II. And then Iceland's Hanna Sigurjonsdottir, whose last name means "daughter of the son of Sigur", joined the team.

If you want an ambassadorial feel, we've even got Nadine Vernon coming along. "Who is she?" I hear you cry. Well, no less than the honorary consul of Belize, which you and I know is a former British colony which until 1973 was known as British Honduras and is the only Central American country with English as its official language.

In a world city whose mainstream media is too often too vanilla in every sense of the word, this just feels like it might be a lot of fun. And it's not too late to be part of it. In particular, if you're from Ukraine, Bermuda, Paraguay or even Vanuatu, give us a bell. Or Liechtenstein, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Syria, Mongolia, Djibouti …

I should stress, this has never been an exercise about me telling people what constitutes a country - if you've come from somewhere else to live in Sydney, let us know about it. We have Garry Braude of Lane Cove representing East Prussia, which his family fled in 1939. There is no country called East Prussia now. But if he says he's from East Prussia, he's from East Prussia.

What I've realised is the amazing range of people who make up Sydney are just that. They're people, not percentages or pie charts. Everyone has a remarkable human story and the common thread is they've ended up here.

Adam Spencer is breakfast presenter on ABC 702. The World in Sydney will be broadcast live tomorrow from 6am to 7.45am. See www.abc.net.au/sydney for a list of nationalities still being sought.

I'm glad Sydney is not a place where everybody is the same. That would be so boring.

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Happy Thursday. This evening, Emily, Margaret, Mary and I went to the Dumpling Inn, a local eaterie, for a Peking Duck dinner.

I even managed to get home in time to watch Bionic Woman and Heroes.

a World Heritage house

Big news from UNESCO

The World Heritage Committee inscribed 22 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during its ongoing session in Christchurch. The new inscriptions include 16 cultural properties, five natural and one mixed, cultural and natural.

In a decision unprecedented in the history of UNESCO’s Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the Committee deleted one property, the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, from the List because of Oman’s failure to preserve the outstanding universal value of the Sanctuary.

After the additions made this year, UNESCO’s World Heritage List numbers 851 properties including 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed properties.
...

Sydney Opera House (Australia) was listed as a cultural property, a great architectural work that brings together multiple strands of creativity and innovation both in architectural form and structural design.

And

Inaugurated in 1973, the Sydney Opera House, is listed as a great architectural work of the 20th century that brings together multiple strands of creativity and innovation, both in architectural form and structural design. A great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip a peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbour, the building has had an enduring influence on architecture. The Opera House comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted ‘shells’ which roof two main performances halls and a restaurant. These shell-structures are set upon a vast platform and are surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses. In 1957, when the project of the Sydney opera was attributed by an international jury to the then almost unknown Danish architect Jørn Utzon, it marked a radically new and collaborative approach to construction. In listing the building, the Sydney Opera House is recognized as a great artistic monument accessible to society at large.

World class listing ... for the Opera House.
Photo: Bob Pearce

Aaahhhh... one of my all time favourite buildings. If I wasn't going to so many football games, I'd go to another opera there.

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Thank goodness for the weekend.