Someone once said that the well balanced Aussie is one with chips on both his shoulders. This is certainly fair comment with regard to the English. Australians love to slag off the whingeing Poms although so many of them (and not just those of convict ancestory) have British backgrounds.It is an interesting combination of a superiority and inferiority complex. Aussies believe, despite all the evidence to the contrary that the Poms look down on them especially on matters of culture. Even in questions of sport where the Australians are so manifestly superior in most fields there is a passionate wish to see the English make fools of themselves- a wish it has to be said too often gratified.
But not always (don't mention the Rugby World Cup)and now don't mention the French Tennis Championships. The No 1 Male Aussie has just been beaten in the quarter finals and the No 1 Englishman ( actually the only one) is into the semis. Collective rage is unconfined and the press is apoletic in its vitriolic attacks on British (they mean English)tennis and how Henman at 30 is obviously not just over the hill but right down the other side.
So a recent speech by the Australian Minister of Health is well timed. Talking to students at Monash University he told his compatriots to stop whingeing about the English, and recognise the historic part played by the Mother Country in shaping the nation's character (not guilty as charged) and institutions. Aussies he said suffer from 'historical and cultural amnesia', like to ape America and carp at all things British. Just like 'teenagers blowing raspberries at their parents' For some reason this outburst got very little coverage in the Antipodean press. I wonder why?
