Convict Creations. Com 
The hidden story of Australia 's missing links

"You feel free in Australia. There is great relief in the atmosphere - a relief from tension, from pressure, an absence of control of will or form. The skies open above you and the areas open around you" D.H Lawrence- English author

"I can personally affirm that to stand before an audience of beaming Australians and make even the mildest quip about a convict past is to feel the air conditioning immediately elevated." Bill Bryson - American author

".. but a special sort of Ocker. He lives out his own values, undeflected by the pretensions of the mighty. I have met plenty of Australians like that and I regard them as the best Australians. I have no doubt there are people like that everywhere and that is the secret of Hogan's universal appeal." Jim McClelland - Australian politician

Welcome to Australia ! This is a peculiar country where the principles of culture appear to have been turned upside down. Australians seem blissfully unaware of the achievements of their intellectuals.... yet they will celebrate long dead horses, yobbo sportsmen, and bushrangers. They often forget the words of their national anthem..... yet  it would be wrong to say they are not patriotic as a song about a suicidal sheep thief seems to instil them with a great deal of pride! If they like you, they will not give you compliments. Instead, they might call you names like bastard, drongo or dickhead, and then laugh at all the silly things you have done. If you have red hair, you might be called 'Bluey.' If you are tall, you might be called 'Shorty.' If you are quiet, you might be called 'Rowdy.'

Perhaps these traits can be understood by looking at the country's urban history. For its first 80 years, Australia was a prison for British Convicts! These Convicts became the first urban Australians, and they subsequently laid the country's economic and cultural foundations. Because the Convicts were never particularly fond of the upper classes, they gained their inspiration from the underdogs and the battlers. Consequently, larrikins (street criminals) became heroes, and negative words gained positive associations.

Today, the symbolic memory of Convicts continues to shape Australia 's cultural evolution. For some concerned citizens, the Convict stigma seems to inspire an obsession with championing migrant cultures, or Aboriginal cultures, so that the stain can be washed away. Such people would look at the above comments and criticise them as inaccurate stereotypes in modern day multicultural Australia and/or irrelevant to the traditions of Aborigines. Ironically, despite wanting to distance themselves from their heritage, their behaviour shows a strong penal legacy. Just like the wardens of the penal colonies, they hate Australia, but still want to control it, and flog its inhabitants.

For nationalists, Convict history also seems to be problematic. As much as nationalists love history, there just isn't any moral resonance in pulling out grandpa's ball and chain for a street march that preserves the spirit of the founding fathers. As a consequence, nationalistic campaigns can't be anchored with the moral empowerment of history.

To help understand the cultural peculiarities of the Australia's concerned citizens and nationalists, as well as those Australians who don't identify with either, the Convict Creations web site explores those missing links in the Australian story that, although having a significant influence in making Australians unique, have been ignored by the official textbooks.