Cultural Differences between Australia and England
Australia
seems refreshingly free of class prejudice. Here people take you for what you
are, and are less concerned with how you speak, what job you do, where you went
to school etc. I enjoy meeting people from many walks of life and treating each
other as equals. Paul Davies - British migrant
Australians and the English speak a similar language, use a similar political system and share a Queen. Cultural differences stem from history, environment, and geographic location in the world.
In regards to history, until around 400 years ago, the British Isles were in a state of continous war. Not only were different regions of Britain fighting each other, the entire region was continually being invaded by mainland armies. The continued rape and pillage of Britain Isles ended up producing a motley crew of cultures that the English authorities struggled to gain control over.
In 1788, the disturbers of the peace were exported to Australia, where they laid the foundations of Australian urban society. For the next 80 years, Australia was supplied with the Scottish, Irish, Welsh and English troublemakers along with soldiers to guard them. It wasn't a mix that appealed to many potential migrants around the world. Consequently, up until the 1980s, it was refugees and poor people that found Australia appealing. The Convict history is something that forever binds Australia with England. Today, few Australians want to remember their history and few English want to let Australians forget it.
In regards to environment, England has shocking weather that makes people miserable. On the positive side, it's a safe country where the most dangerous wildlife to be encountered is a ruminating cow. On the other hand, Australia is a harsh land with plenty of sunshine, snakes, spiders, sharks, droughts, and bushfires. The English have long used the environment to explain why Australians are good at sport but no good in culture. In the minds of the English, Australians spend more time outdoors playing while the English spend more time indoors creating and learning.
In regards to geographic location, England is part of Europe and the prosperity of Europe is in its interests. Australia is in the eastern hemisphere and the prosperity of Asia is in its interests.
white (of which English 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%, Northern Irish 2.9%) 92.1%, black 2%, Indian 1.8%, Pakistani 1.3%, mixed 1.2%, other 1.6% (2001 census)
White 92%, Asian 7%, Aboriginal and other 1%
Export partners
US 13.9%, Germany 10.9%, France 10.4%, Ireland 7.1%, Netherlands 6.3%, Belgium 5.2%, Spain 4.5% (2006)
Japan 19.6%, China 12.3%, South Korea 7.5%, US 6.2%, India 5.5%, NZ 5.5%, UK 5% (2006)
From CIA World Fact Book
Boganism / laddism
Historically, the British have been fond of using Australia's Convict heritage to explain uncouth behaviour amongst Australians. For example, they have defined an Australian as someone "who reads comic books without moving their lips" and an Australian gentlemen as "someone who offers to light his girlfriend's farts." At the cricket, the English often chant, "we came here with back-packs, you with ball and chains" or they may sing the song "we all live in a Convict colony" to the tune of Yellow Submarine.
Although Australia has its fair share of bogans who haven't had the greatest education in the world, most Australian bogans have quite a reasonable set of values. If they saw somene in need of a hand, they are the type of people to lend it. They definately are not the sort of people that would see a wounded international student and only pretend to help so that their mates could more easily rob the student. Not so England. In 2011, riots all over England showed that a large percentage of the English have such lack basic human decency that they celebrate such thefts as the little bit of fun that goes hand in hand with looting, smashing glass, burning cars, and destroying family owned businesses.
For many people in England, neither the riots nor the lack of human decency in such actions came as any real surprise. According to Theodore Dalrymple, an English writer and psychiatrist:
" anyone who has taken a short walk with his eyes open down any frequented British street: that a considerable proportion of the country's young population (a proportion that is declining) is ugly, aggressive, vicious, badly educated, uncouth and criminally inclined."
"No sensible employer in a service industry would choose a young Briton if he could have a young Pole; the young Pole is not only likely to have a good work ethic and refined manners, he is likely to be able to add up and -- most humiliating of all -- to speak better English than the Briton, at least if by that we mean the standard variety of the language. He may not be more fluent but his English will be more correct and his accent easier to understand."
It would be wrong to say that the unsavoury behaviour is confined to low socio-economic groups in Britain. In truth, every section of British society leaves much to be desired. Specifically, in the 1990s, many Brits from well-to-do families
loved nothing more than listening in to secretly recorded messages that involved Prince Charles telling his lover that he wanted to be a tampon so that he can be closer to her. More recently, Britains eagerly followed journalists who tapped phones to gather dirty secrets on celebrities. Australian journalists have never sunk to such depths because the Australian public has never shown much interest in it.
Perhaps it is British contemporary art that best demonstrates how immature thinking is part of every level of British society. Art should represent the pinnacle of emotional, logical and moral thought of a nation. Similarly, it should attract a nation's finest minds to appreciate it. In the case of British art, it seems the finest minds want to consume work that is the pinnacle of a turd. When asked to define British art, Tim Marlow, director of the White Cube gallery, said,
"British art is amazingly diverse, but I guess British artists often deal with the dominance of the literary in our culture."
With the dominance of the literary, it might be expected that the art would inspire intelligent thought amongst journalists who work in words, but the opposite is the case. In Seven Days in the Art World, Sarah Thornton wrote:
"In Britain, the press never tires of the question “Is it art? and finds it impossible to resist sex jokes. "
Defining British art as diverse and literary was perhaps a polite was of saying that it is an unrefined dogs breakfast where artists use words to compensate for the fact that their work can’t speak for itself. To put it more simply, British art is the visual equivalent of punk rock. It is the art for those immature in logic, morality and emotion.
Tracey Emin is seen as the prototypical exponent of the British cultural tradition. Reflecting this fact, in 2006, Emin was chosen to represent Britain at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Adrea Rose, Head of Visual Arts at the British Council, said Emin was chosen because she could help promote British interests in foreign markets. In her own words,
"our job is to use art to serve Britain's foreign policy objectives overseas. At the moment our priorities are China, Russia, the Islamic world, Africa."
Emin duly showed paintings of her legs and vagina with titles such as Asleep Alone With Legs Open and Masturbating. The fact that Ms Rose believed that paintings of masturbation would enhance Britain’s cultural capital in China, Africa and the Islamic world demonstrated just how egocentric British people actually are. Their leaders don’t even bother to learn anything about other cultures when they try to impress them. Because Emin's art gives great enjoyment to Brits by inspiring sex jokes and questions about whether it is art, Rose just assumed other cultures would likewise find the art enjoyable.
After considering British art (which reflects British high society) British media (which reflects the British middle class) and the all-too-frequent British riots (which reflects how the British classes interact with each other) one is left with no other conclusion than to think all sections of British society suffer a stunted growth of the mind.
Economy
Britain has few natural resources, has relocated most of its manufacturing to Asia and has a population that is relatively unskilled, uneducated and possessed with selfish attitudes that are not conducive to teamwork. Despite these facts, for decades the British have enjoyed one of the most lavish lifestyles in the developed world.
The key to Britain's success is a smoke and mirrors trick by the financial industry. Basically, the British economy is based on creating financial packages that take advantage of the money multiplier effect to literally create money. For example, a bank may take a $100 deposit from a member of the general public and keep $20 in its vault. The bank then lends out $80. This money may then be deposited in another bank, which keeps $16 in its vault and lends out $64 and so on. With a fractional reserve of 20%, the $100 loan can be lent out 10 times and expanded into $457.05. On paper, the $100 still exists in bank vaults and $457.05 exists as IOUs. These IOUS are sometimes sold even further in the form of derivatives.
Derivatives are financial instruments that have no intrinsic value but derive their value from something else. They can even be bad debts that operate like a pyramid scheme. As long as people buy them, they can return an interest payment.
The more money that is circulated between the institutions and the more that derivatives are sold, the more wealth that can be created.
As the British financial industry literally creates money, an Englishman may look over his stock portfolio and confident feel that he is worth tens of millions of dollars. Feeling rich, he will spend extravagantly in Britain's restaurants, art galleries, or travel agencies.
The good life continues until creditors start asking for their original loans back. The money that was created just disappears. A derivative that was bought for millions of dollars then reveals that it was nothing but a pyramid scheme whose only value was in the fact other people believed it had value. Banks crash, stocks fall, and the multimillionaires can no longer live the high life. The economy then crashes.
In the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Britain was hit particularly hard by the line of credit suddenly being cut off and derivatives revealing that people who thought they had made wise investments had actually bought the financial equivalent of magic beans.
Unfortunately for England, its Government and financial industry is almost bankrupt and other governments around the world know it so are less inclined to invest in Britain.
With no money, the British government has had to cut spending, which has caused pain in the service industries. The inevitable future for Britain is a sharp decline in living standards, which is usually a trigger for social unrest.
Like Britain, the Australian economy is basically built around a service industry circulating money around but unlike Britain, Australia's economy is actually built on industries that do actually produce something. The star of the Australian economy is the mining industry and farming industry that constitute the majority of exports. With a service industry built on something other than magic beans, Australia’s economic prospects are much more assured than those of England.
Comedy
As painful as it may be for Australians to admit, English do humour in a far more intelligent way, which usually results in the English coming out on top during cross-cultural piss-taking. For example, comedy by Monty Python was highly educated as it used absurdities to generate a laugh and get an audience to consider an issue from a different perspective. In what have the Romans Done for Us (from Life of Bryon), Monty Python gave an interesting take on anti-colonialism sentiment. The sitcom Yes Minister likewise had an highly educated take on the political process. In opinion polls, it used humour to demonstrate that surveys are not always as informative as the media manager makes them out to be.
Life of Bryan - What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us
Opinion polls - Yes Minister
On Australian television, attempts at humour are often embarrassing bad. Unintelligent people believe that being sarcastic and insulting is the same as being funny. A notable example is The Chaser on the ABC. The Chaser grew out a newspaper started by private school boys from Sydney. With their private schoolboy background, their jokes are of the vein:
"Princess Di was just a slut for sex,
when they looked in the car wreck,
her dress was wet with Arab semen stain.
Stan Zemanek was a racist,
Dr Fatso xenophobic cock,
whose views were more malignant than his brain. "
Similar "comedy" is uttered by Catherine Deveny, another favourite of the ABC. For her fans, jokes like " "An Australian Flag in your front yard tells everyone you're only a couple of Bundy and Cokes away from lynching a wog, slope or Arab" are pure hilarity. In truth, it is not difficult to be insulting, sarcastic or be profane. True comedy needs a bit of intelligence behind it.
Perhaps Australia's problem is that it has suffered a significant brain drain in the comedy stakes. Clive James has shown a strong ability to make very intelligent humour. Unfortunately, he has been living in the UK since the 1960s, which has denied Australia from having a positive role model. Paul Hogan was also very funny. Much like the humour of Seinfield, he was able to point out the absurdities of modern life in ways that were not insulting, profane or sarcastic. Unfortunately, he was hounded out of Australia by the tax office and by academia worried about the stereotypes of Australia that were developing as a result of a world audience liking him.
With Australian comedy failing miserably on TV, youtube has provided a ray of sunshine of sunshine in an otherwise dreary climate. Natalie Tran has managed to build her channel to the 22nd-most subscribed of all-time on YouTube. Her jokes are intelligent, non-insulting and non-sarcastic.
Clive James talks about the Sydney Olympics and Australian women
Natalie Tran wishes the media story on the murdered neighbour didn't always portray her as quiet and nice.
Natalie wants truth in advertising
Rock Music
England has a very successful music industry that has produced some of the world's largest rock acts, such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Unlike it is in Ireland, political music is frowned upon in England and treated as somewhat of a joke. Australia seemed to have inheirited the Irish tradition of mixing music with politics. Some include Midnight Oil, Missy Higgins, Jet, and John Butler Trio.
Away form the politically minded, many Australian musicians have just wanted to have fun. Such a musical charge has was headed by the likes of Rolf Harris whose "tie
me Kangaroo down, sport" raised suspicions that kangaroos are to Australians
what sheep are to New Zealanders. Complimenting Rolf were the Bee Gees;
an act of three brothers who wore trousers five sizes too small resulting in their
voices being five levels too high.
Also
wearing trousers on the small side was Shirely Strong; the lead vocalist
of the band Skyhooks. Shirely was a loud-mouthed larrikin with a passion
for surfing, womanising and practical jokes. His band's repertoire included "Ego
Is Not A Dirty Word", "Why Don't You All Get Fucked", the leer
on "Women In Uniform" and "Smut", or the sad man on "All
My Friends Are Getting Married."
Joe Dolce took the piss out of his Italian ancestry with "SHADDAP
You Face"; a novelty ditty that toped the charts world wide and has since
been voted the worst No. 1 song in British pop history. This was an impressive
achievement considering it beat Rolf Harris's interpretation of Stairway
to Heaven.
The
music of AC/DC had the strongest Convict themes since the early days of
the colony. They reignited a sense of defiance with songs such as "TNT."
They continued the Australian tradition of taking the piss out of the pompous
with "Big Balls"; a song that equates the elite's quest for social esteem
with a proud declaration of testicle size. They sang of debauchery with "Touch
to Much" , female empowerment with "She's Got Balls" and explored
the criminal element with "Dirty Deeds", "Sin City" and "Jailbreak."
In 1984, Men at Work revived the nomadic spirit of wandering
with the travelling song "Down Under", and inspired great patrioticism. Men at work later claimed that their song was being critical of Australia and wasn't nationalistic at all. It seems that when they were singing, "I come from a land down under where beer does flow and men chunder" , they didn't expect Australians would see the lyrics as a compliment.
Language
Both Australians and English speak the same language, but they speak it in different ways. In England, pronunciation varies according to class and region, which reflects England's class conscious society and regional rivalries. For example, soccer player David Beckam pronounces th sounds as f sounds so instead of saying "I think", he will say, "I fink."
In Australia, pronunciation varies according to gender and ideology. Australian men with a positive attitude to Australia are more likely to speak like Bill Hunter, Paul Hogan, Kerry Packer, Lindsay Fox or Bob Hawke with a broad Australian accent. Australian women are more likely to speak like Cate Blanchett with an accent that sounds like someone educated at Oxford University. Australian men that don't like Australia are more likely to speak like a woman or someone educated at Oxford university.
Contrary to myth, there is no regional variance in Australian English. People in Perth do not speak differently to people in Melbourne. Furthermore, there is no racial accent. Very few children of non-English speaking migrants speak with ethnic accents.
Aside from pronunciation, Australian English has been heavily influenced by American English. Most of Australia's television shows are American and American research dominates Australian universities. Consequently, Australians often use the American spelling for words such as 'organization.' They use both American and English grammar. For example, both the American "the couple is happy" and the British "the couple are happy" are acceptable in Australia.
Finally, Australian English is more informal than British English. Australians quickly get on to first name basis and refrain from using titles such as Mr, Mrs, Lord or Your Highness. Australians also frequently corrupt the language via the use of diminutives such as 'arvo' instead of 'afternoon' or 'uni' instead of 'university.'
Sports
The English have traditionally been very inventive when it comes to sports. They have invented soccer, rugby union, rugby league, squash, hockey, test cricket, one day cricket and 20/20 cricket. They have also invented tennis and polo.
Australians used to take pride out of the fact that despite England inventing all the sports, they weren't any good at them. Unfortunately, with England dominating Australia in cricket, soccer and rugby, the little point of pride is no longer relevent.
Australians play all of the English sports and have also invented some of their own such as Australian football, indoor cricket, touch rugby, surf life saving, polocrosse, new vogue dancing, and callisthenics.
For reasons unknown, soccer in Australia has largely been confined to non-English ethnic communities. England refers to soccer as 'football.' Australia, like every other English speaking nation, mostly refers to it as soccer.
Macadamia stuffed Emu Fan Filled with red pepper just on summer salad
Food
During the penal era, the staples of Australian colonial society were wheat, potatoes, beef, milk, eggs, sheep as well as fish &chips. These staples were English staples. Outside of colonial society, Aborigines ate kangaroo, echidna, koala, ants, grubs, snakes, lizards and moths. Because the colonists were starving, they would have eaten the native Australian cuisine if they could, but they didn't know how to hunt or find it. Furthermore, native produce was not suitable for farming so it could only sustain people living a nomadic existence.
In the last couple of decades, both Australia and England have gained greater access to a diverse range of produce and have had migrants introduce varied recipes of the world. Consequently, both Australia and England have developed fusion cuisines. Potentially, the Australian cuisine will end up being the superior because the greater range of climatic conditions produces a greater range of products to work with.
Wine
England is widely recognized as the most objective wine market in the world. The English are large consumers of wine and respect quality. Consequently, English supermarket shelves are stocked with the best wine from Chile, South Africa, America, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Australia. In what is a good sign for Australia, the English consume more wine from Australia than from any other nation.
Australian wine shelves are predominantly stocked with Australian wine. Like every other significant wine growing nation, Australians believe their wines are the best in the world. Today, Australia is the world's largest wine
exporter behind France, Italy and Spain.
Expatriates
Australian expatriates are very successful in England. In music, Kylie Minogue has almost become English pop royalty. In the humanities, Germain Greer is celebrated as a great feminist thinker. Clive James is a poet, thinker, talk show host, and cultural commentator. Rolf Harris is a painter and singer songwriter that has had a number one song on British music charts as well as numerous popular television shows.
Many of the Australian expatriates provoke mixed feelings in Australia. Some Australians are proud that their fellow country men and women have done well. Other Australians hope the country men and women stay in England and never come back.
While Australia has produced numerous individuals that have gone on to become celebrities in England, few English have become celebrities in Australia. English commentators; however, are prized for the cricket. In the past, the opinion of the English on many issues was highly valued. In fact, until the 1970s, all newsreaders on the government-owned ABC were English men. It seemed that the government banned broad Australian accents. Although Australian women were able to speak with English accents, women were banned from being newsreaders. This meant English men were imported to be the newsreaders.
Political system
Both Australia and England are Constitutional Monarchies with the Queen as the head of state. The main difference between the systems is that England has a House of Lords, whose members attain their position through birthright. Australia has a Senate that functions in a similar way to the House of Lords, but whose members are elected by voters. The Queen makes no decisions affecting Australia.
Playwrights
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright in English history. Shakespeare wrote comedies in a poetic fashion that were entertaining, thought provoking and provided profound insights into human behaviour. The genius of his work is evidenced by his appeal across cultures and the ability of his work to survive political scrutiny across time. Few historical writers have been so fortunate.
David Williamson stands alone in the world of Australian playwrights. An immensely talented man, Williamson weaves good humour into his psychological explorations of political, family and moral issues in Australia.
Story telling
Across time, the English have proved that they are the world's best story tellers. Charles Dicken, Lewis Carol and JK Rowling created children's stories that resonate across the world's cultures and across time.
For the adults, Jane Austin blended logic, morals, and emotions into stories that have likewise intrigued people the world over. George Orwell explored political concepts, with a particular interest in group-first totalitarian regimes that protected the interests of their individual rulers. Although highly political, Orwell was a man who proved himself to be very open-minded and willing to change his political beliefs. Consequently, his work provokes thought on political viewpoints, rather than a lecture on a political viewpoint.
Australia's most critically acclaimed novelist is Patrick White, who won the noble prize for literature in 1973. Despite winning world acclaim, White never won much acclaim in Australia. His lack of appeal in Australia was probably a result of his negativity towards Australians and his constant intrusion into political issues of his day.
Peter Carey is one of only two men to have won the Booker Prize (a novel written in the English language by a commonwealth citizen) twice. Like White, Carey got involved in political issues, which made him as many critics and prevented widespread acceptance of his work in Australia.
Tom Keneally is another internationally acclaimed novelist. His most famous work is Schindler's Ark, which was subsequently made into Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg. Like other Australian novelists, Keneally has got himself involved in political issues, which have prevented widespread acceptance of his work in Australia.
Movies
Behind America, England has arguably the world's most internationally successful movie industry. The staple of the English industry is the romantic comedy that deals with a considerate English gentleman in a feel good story. Not surprisingly, most of England's famous actors are the likes of Jude Law and Hugh Grant that play the kind of emotionally sensitive funny man that a woman might advertise for in a personal ad.
Australia's industry was successful in the 70s and 80s, but it is not successful today. In 1988, Paul Keating, then treasurer of the Labor government, developed a cultural agenda and saw funding as a way of realising his political objectives. Keating scrapped the unbiased system of tax concessions that had proved successful and announced it would be replaced with funding for film distributors, sales agents, and broadcasters. The funding system allowed Keating's party to have more control over the type of movies being made, distributed, promoted and shown. The outcome was movies that were Keating's vision of Australia, but were boring, insulting and emotionally unappealing.
Even though the Australian industry as a whole is now rubbish, Australia has produced plenty of actors and actresses that have found great success in Hollywood. Most of the Australian actors, such as Russel Crowe and Mel Gibson, are quite masculine in comparison to the English actors. Conversely, the Australian actresses, such as Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett, have been able to retain a strong feminine quality that has seen them win the kind of elegant lady roles traditionally won by the English.
Television
Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home & Away are immensely popular in England. They portray happy neighbourhoods populated by good looking teenagers and their loving families. The soaps might appeal because they fit an idealised conception of Australia for the English. Alternatively, maybe the episodes are well written.
In the past, the English liked Prisoner, which was an Australian soap set in a woman's prison. Perhaps Prisoner offered another conception of Australia for the English.
While Australian programs have been popular on English television, not many English programs are popular on Australian commericial television. For reasons unknown, commercial television in Australia favours American- made programs. However, the government-funded ABC has often showed English programs such as The Bill, Black Adder, Mr Bean, The Goodies, Dr Who and Little Britain.
Stereotypical differences between Aussies, Brits, Americans and Candadians
Aussies: Believe you should look out for your mates.
Brits: Believe that you should look out for those people who belong to your club.
Americans: Believe that people should look out for and take care of themselves.
Canadians: Believe that that is the government's job.
Aussies: Dislike being mistaken for Pommies (Brits) when abroad.
Canadians: Are rather indignant about being mistaken for Americans when abroad.
Americans: Encourage being mistaken for Canadians when abroad.
Brits: Can't possibly be mistaken for anyone else when abroad.
Canadians: Endure bitterly cold winters and are proud of it.
Brits: Endure oppressively wet and dreary winters and are proud of it.
Americans: Don't have to do either, and couldn't care less.
Aussies: Don't understand what inclement weather means.
Americans: Drink weak, pissy-tasting beer.
Canadians: Drink strong, pissy-tasting beer.
Brits: Drink warm, beery-tasting piss.
Aussies: Drink anything with alcohol in it.
Americans: Seem to think that poverty and failure are morally suspect.
Canadians: Seem to believe that wealth and success are morally suspect.
Brits: Seem to believe that wealth, poverty, success, and failure are inherited.
Aussies: Seem to think that none of this matters after several beers.
Brits: Have produced many great comedians, celebrated by Canadians, ignored by Americans, and therefore not rich.
Aussies: Have produced comedians like Paul Hogan and Yahoo Serious.
Canadians: Have produced many great comedians such as John Candy, Martin Short, Jim Carrey, Dan Akroyd, and all the rest at SCTV.
Americans: Think that these people are American!
Americans: Spend most of their lives glued to the idiot box.
Canadians: Don't, but only because they can't get more American channels.
Brits: Pay a tax just so they can watch 4 channels.
Aussies: Export all their crappy programs, which no one there watches, to Britain, where everybody loves them.
Americans: Will jabber on incessantly about football, baseball and basketball.
Brits: Will jabber on incessantly about cricket, soccer and rugby.
Canadians: Will jabber on incessantly about hockey, hockey, hockey, and how they beat the Americans twice, playing baseball.
Aussies: Will jabber on incessantly about how they beat the Poms in every sport they played them in.
Aussies: Are extremely patriotic about their beer.
Americans: Are flag-waving, anthem-singing, and obsessively patriotic to the point of blindness.
Canadians: Can't agree on the words to their anthem, in either language, when they can be bothered to sing them.
Brits: Do not sing at all but prefer a large brass band to perform the anthem.
Brits: Are justifiably proud of the accomplishments of their past citizens.
Americans: Are justifiably proud of the accomplishments of their present citizens.
Canadians: Prattle on about how some of those great Americans were once Canadian.
Aussies: Waffle on about how some of their past citizens were once Outlaw Pommies, but none of that matters after several beers.
