Australian Identity
DISCUSSION ESSAY ‘Does the term/concept of Australian Identity carry the same meaning throughout time?’ Australian Identity is an abstract perception of what truly makes the “Australian individual”. It is not an image of a “typical Australian”, nor is it an icon of Australia. It is not a concrete image of what is or isn’t Australian. It is what the minds of the people define or depict what the Australian Identity, or rather, what the Australian individual means to them. Many people still believe that the “true blue Australian” is the white stereotype that we always joke about. They believe that the typical Australian is Anglo Saxon. They then assume that the typical Australian is what defines or makes up what the Australian Identity is. But many others disagree with this perception of the Australian identity. They believe that the Australian identity is not what defines your race. ... It was these ideas and opinions that had originally defined what they thought was the Australian Identity. To many, it is not ones beliefs or pride in country which defines what Australian Identity means. In the minds of many, Anglo Saxon is one with the meaning of Australian Identity. The Australian Identity is often associated with the word Australian. But what exactly does Australian mean. How do you determine what is or isn’t Australian. When describing who a person is, we often use the word Australian to illustrate their nationality or background. ... We do not call them Polish, British, German, Dutch, or Scottish, we address them as being an Aussie or Australian. What happens to be ironic about this is that if we were to address the nationality of an Asian born in Australia, for example, we would then identify their nationality as being Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, etc, rather than correctly identifying their nationality as Australian. This is a very simplistic, but ever so common example, of how many people believe that race defines your identity, and in this case your Australian Identity.