The Strengths and Limitations of Tradition

One of my favourite quotes is by Charles Darwin who said:

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but those most adaptive to change."

For me, the quote makes me optimistic about Australia's future. Australians can quickly adapt to change because they don't have many traditions to hold on to. While I see most of the world living in fear of globalisation, a large number of Australians actively embrace it, and get status for doing so. For example, if I go out and enjoy the culture of the world, I can be seen as a cosmopolitan man. On the other hand, if an Asian enjoys the culture of the world, then other Asians may refer to him or her as a banana (white on the inside, yellow on the outside.) The same goes with Aborigines who might be called a coconut (black on outside, white on inside.)

Freedom from tradition is also great for me as an artist. I am not bound by any preconceived styles about the way I should paint, and I am free to learn from the various styles of the world. Again, I feel quite fortunate for that. I've seen modern Chinese artists criticised for being too western. Likewise, market pressures demand that Aborigines put some dots in their painting, even when the dots don't add anything to them.

Even though I am not a traditional man, I think Sturgeon's Law explains why traditions should be respected. Sturgeon's Law proposes that "Ninety percent of everything is crud". In modern Australian creativity, I definitely think that 90 per cent of what is created is crud, and only 10 per cent is quality. That 90 per cent of people producing the crud would be better off copying the 10 per cent that produces quality, and then overall quality would be improved. That is really how traditon forms. People see quality, respect it, assimilate it, and proliferate it.

A good example of the importance of tradition comes in the art world. One night I went to the latest acquisitions of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. One piece was an artist's name in italic letters. The artist was on hand and said that his work didn't show any insight. I agreed. The artist then waffled on about why he created a big poster with his name in italic letters, and how he felt when he was creating it. In his explanation, maybe there was some reason to his madness, but to be honest I wasn't really paying attention. His subject of inquiry was just so unimportant and boring. Another piece was lots of vinyl records on the wall. Again the artist was on hand, and he explained that these were records that he had sent to companies to see their reaction. Again, I wasn't really paying attention. The art of these two artists was crud. They would have been better off, and society would have been better off, if they had learnt how to do some traditional Australian landscape paintings in the style of Frederick McCubbin, Jeffrey Smart, Pro Hart, or Brett Whiteley. Likewise, the gallery would have been better off with a curator that could appreciate landscape paintings.

Modern Australian cuisine is another area where Sturgeon's Law shows the value of tradition. As modern Australian chefs try to wow people with their creativity, they metaphorically mix eastern and western recipes in a blender in the hope something decent will come out. 10 per cent of what they create is great.  90 per cent is crud. The chefs that keep producing the crud would be better off copying the recipes of the chefs that produce quality, and then trying to refine them. I can't speak for other customers, but personally I would prefer something that tastes nice over something that tastes unique. Unfortunately, many chefs seem to have this idea that there is shame in learning from someone else, and copying them to produce something decent. I disagree. I think there is more shame in doing your own thing, and producing crud as a consequence of doing your own thing.

Being different is easy and therefore it should not receive the celebration that it does. For example, if you got an under-ripe banana, some leftover lemons, grapefruit and an eggplant, and stuck it in a Bamix, the end creation would be unique, but it would be crud. While being different is easy, producing quality is difficult. Only a stupid person would ignore the quality of others out of a misguided notion that being different warrants automatic applause.

A final example about the value of tradition, but a good one, is in regards to modern football jumpers. In the desire to be "daring", "innovative", and "different", the likes of the Fremantle Dockers and Port Adelaide Power have come up with abominations. Fremantle can be partly excused because it had no tradition to work from. Port Adelaide; however, had a tradition dating back to 1870. Its original jumper was black and white with stripes resembling prison bars (see jumper 1). When it entered the AFL in 1997, it had to change its tradition in order to differentiate its jumper from the black and white of the Collingwood Magpies that were already in the AFL. Instead of a minimalist change that could have been achieved by adding a commonly accepted colour such as red, blue or orange to the black (see jumper2), the club was bold and added 'teal,' (a sea-sick coloured green.) Furthermore, they redesigned their traditional jumper into post-modernist styles(see jumpers 3 and 4.) Not surprisingly, the club has been far from successful off the field. The jumpers just look terrible on people, so few people want to buy them. Admittedly, I don't know whether the AFL demanded that Port change use a colour not already in the AFL, and also a change its prison bar design. If so, then it wasn't Port's sole responsibility for the stuff up. It was also the AFL's fault for demanding a radical change from the traditional. Either way, a stuff up occurred.

Even though I see the benefit of tradition and mimicry, I won't be taking my own advice any time soon. My kitchen has usually been full of western and eastern ingredients that I aimlessly combine. 90 per cent of the time my cooking is crud. In the 10 per cent of the time that I produce something decent, I forget how I did it and can't make it again. I really should follow other people's recipes, but it is not in my nature.

As for my art, I am happy with it, even though not everyone else is happy with it. It almost always serves the purpose that it was created for. If my purpose was to have more resonance with the community; however, I would take more of a conformist approach to quality work already being produced.

In the study of Australian culture, I've had to disregard most established knowledge bases and traditional methods of inquiry. This is mainly because the traditional methods of inquiry have led to most of the writing on Australian culture being crud. Most traditional approaches revolve around the view that Australian culture does not exist, or if it does, it should be criticised because it is sexist and racist. While the negative approach may be useful for some people, I want to know what Australian culture is, and how it has been shaped by history and the environment. Few people have ever explored this topic. For example, when I was teaching in China, I was given a textbook to work from, and the section on Australia had the traditional approach. It hd a few pages about whites killing Aborigines, a bit about sheep farming and a veiled criticism of Australia being too sports focussed. The content was in such conformity to the established thought in Australia that I concluded it must have been written by an Australian. I couldn't; however, use it. There was nothing in the content that could help me get students motivated to learn about Australia, nothing to stimulate their thinking and most important of all, there was nothing that would be useful for them if they ever visited Australia.

In regards to the exceptions, I think Robert Hughes is an extremely smart man, and writes very well. I enjoyed his books The Fatal Shore. Although not about Australia, his book the Shock of the New was a brilliant analysis of art. Keith Windschuttle's also writes very well, and is very thought provoking. Unfortunately, the subject of his inquiry is the left-wing of Australia and it is quite negative accordingly. While I agree the negativity is justified, like the left-wing's negativity, it doesn't have much practical application.

I've also come across a lot of good stuff in art books. A great picture book is 'A Day in the Life of Australia: Photographed by 100 of the World's Leading Photojournalists on One Day, March 6, 1981.’ It is said that a pictures says a 1,000 words and the 100 pictures in the book do speak 100,000 words about Australia.

In a folk music book published in 1962, I found a great introduction to the genre. Written by J.S Manifold, it talked about how folk music developed, and really showed how it was the product of the Australian land and history.

Recommended books

J.F Mortlcok, Experiences of a convict. Sydney University Press 1965  (First published 1865)

Tench, Watkin (1759-1833) A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson

Blaike, George Skeletons From Australia's Strange Past Rigby Limited Adelaide 1964.

Chester Wilmot Tobruk 1941 Angus & Robertson, Sydney.

Smolan, Rick (Editor) A Day in the Life of Australia: Photographed by 100 of the World's Leading Photojournalists on One Day, March 6, 1981.’ Collins Publishers 1988.

Other

Anderson, C.L. Lincolnshire convicts to Australia, Bermuda and Gibraltar: a study of two thousand convicts. Dunholme, Lincoln: Laece Books, 1993.

E.M Andrews "The ANZAC Illusion" Cambridge University Press 1993

  Bateson, Charles. The convict ships, 1787-1868. 2nd ed. Sydney [etc.] ; London : A.H. and A.W. Reed, 1974.

  Brand, Ian. Penal peninsula : Port Arthur and its outstations, 1827-1898. Rev. ed. Launceston, Tas. : Regal, [1989].

  Buddee, Paul (Paul Edgar), 1913- Fate of the artful dodger : Parkhurst boys transported to Australia and New Zealand 1842-1852. Perth, W.A. : St. George Books, 1984.

  Cash, Martin, 1810-1877. Martin Cash : the bushranger of Van Diemen's Land in 1843-4 : a personal narrative of his exploits in the bush and his experiences at Port Arthur and Norfolk Island. 9th ed. Hobart : J. Walch & Sons, 1972.

  Clarke, Keith M. Convicts of the Port Phillip District. Waramanga, A.C.T. : K.M. & G. Clarke, 1999.  

Clarke, Marcus Andrew Hislop, 1846-1881. For the term of his natural life. [First published in 1874. Cover subtitle: The grim and tragic story of life in an Australian penal colony.]

  Clarke, Peter, 1927- . Hell and paradise : the Norfolk, Bounty, Pitcairn saga / Peter Clarke. Ringwood, Vic. : Viking, 1986.

  Convict love tokens : the leaden hearts the convicts left behind / edited by Michele Field and Timothy Millett. Kent Town, S. Aust. : Wakefield Press, 1998.

  Convict workers : reinterpreting Australia's past / edited by Stephen Nicholas. Cambridge ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1988.

  Costello, Con. Botany Bay : the story of the convicts transported from Ireland to Australia, 1791-1853. Cork : Mercier, c.1987.

  Cumes, J. W. C. (James William C.), 1922- Their chastity was not too rigid : leisure times in early Australia. Melbourne : Longman Cheshire ; Terry Hills, N.S.W. : Reed, 1979.

  Damousi, Joy, 1961- Depraved and disorderly : female convicts, sexuality and gender in colonial Australia. Cambridge (England) : Cambridge University Press, 1997.

  Daniels, Kay. Convict Women. Allen & Unwin, 1998.

  De Vries-Evans, Susanna. Strength of spirit : pioneering women of achievement from First Fleet to Federation. Alexandria, N.S.W. : Millennium Books, 1995.

  Donohoe, James Hugh, 1941- . The Catholics of New South Wales, 1788-1820 and their families. Sydney : Archives Authority of New South Wales, 1988.

  Donohoe, James Hugh, 1941- . Convicts and exiles transported from Ireland, 1791-1820. Spit Junction, N.S.W. : J.S. North Pub., 1997, c1990.

  Dunn, Cathy. Ladies of the Royal Admiral 1792. [Milton, N.S.W.] : Cathy Dunn, c1996. (prepublication).

  Dunn, Cathy. Governor Hunter's assignment report : women convicts, 1798. Milton, N.S.W. : C. Dunn, 1995.

  Dunn, Cathy. The convicts & pioneer labourers of Murramarang & Ulladulla. Milton, N.S.W. : C. Dunn, 1994.

  Egan, Jack, 1941- Buried alive : Sydney 1788-1792 : eyewitness accounts of the making of a nation. St Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 1999.

  Erickson, Rica and O'Mara, Gillian. The Bicentennial dictionary of Western Australians. V. 9. Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1887. Nedlands, W.A. : University of Western Australia, 1987-[1997].

  Exiles from Erin : convict lives in Ireland and Australia. Edited by Bob Reece ; foreword by A. J. F. O'Reilly. Basingstoke : Macmillan, 1991.

  Fox, Norman E. Berkshire to Botany Bay : the 1830 labourers' revolt in Berkshire : its causes and consequences. Newbury, England : Littlefield, 1995.

  Free passengers and crew on convict ships into Sydney, 1830-40 / compiled by Nola M. Mackey. [Grafton, NSW] : Grafton Family History Centre, 1998.

  Frost, Alan. Botany Bay mirages : illusions of Australia's convict beginnings. Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1994.

Gill, Andrew. Forced labour for the West : Parkhurst convicts "apprenticed" in Western Australia 1842-1851. 2nd ed. Maylands, W.A. : Blatellae Books, 1997.

  Gill, Andrew (comp.). A register of employers of Parkhurst convicts 'apprenticed' in Western Australia 1842-1851. Maylands, WA: Andrew Gill, 1993.

  Hasluck, Alexandra. Unwilling emigrants : a study of the convict period in Western Australia. Melbourne : Oxford University Press, 1959.

  Hawkings, David T. Bound for Australia. North Sydney, N.S.W : Library of Australian History, c1987.

Hirst, Warwick. Great escapes by convicts in colonial Australia. East Roseville, N.S.W. : Simon & Schuster, 1999.  

Holden, Robert. Orphans of history : the forgotten children of the First Fleet. Melbourne : Text Publishing, 2000.

  Hughes, Robert, 1938-. The fatal shore : a history of the transportation of convicts to Australia, 1787-1868. London : Collins Harvill, 1987, c1986.  

Irish convict lives / edited by Bob Reece. Sydney : Crossing Press, 1993.

  Irish women in colonial Australia / edited by Trevor McClaughlin. St Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 1998.  

Johnson, W. Branch. The English prison hulks. Revised ed. Chichester: Phillimore, 1970.

  Jones, M. (Marie). From places now forgotten : an index of convicts whose places of trial were outside the U.K. & Ireland. Cardiff, N.S.W. : M. Jones, c1996. 

Keneally, Thomas, 1935- The great shame : a story of the Irish in the Old World and the New. Milsons Point, N.S.W. : Random House, 1998.

  Levi, John S., 1934- Australian genesis : Jewish convicts and settlers, 1788-1850 / J. S. Levi, G. F. J. Bergman. Adelaide : Rigby, 1974.  

Levi, J. S. (John Simon), 1934- The forefathers : a dictionary of biography of the Jews of Australia 1788-1830. [Sydney] : Australian Jewish Historical Society, 1976.

  Macfarlane, Margaret. The Scottish radicals : tried and transported to Australia for treason in 1820 / by Margaret and Alastair Macfarlane. Rev. ed. Stevenage, Hertfordshire : Spa Books, 1981.

  Maconochie, Alexander, 1787-1860. Thoughts on convict management : and other subjects connected with the Australian penal colonies. Hobart Town : J.C. Macdougall, 1838.

  McLachlan, Iaen. Place of banishment : Port Macquarie 1818 to 1832. Sydney : Hale & Iremonger, c1988.  

John Molony "The first white Australians: The Native -Born", 1788-1850  from "Australian identities." Australian Scholarly Publishing. Victoria 1998

J.F Mortlcok, Experiences of a convict. Sydney University Press 1965 

O'Farrell, Patrick, 1933- The Irish in Australia. Rev. ed. Kensington, N.S.W. : New South Wales University Press, 1993.  

O'Mara, Gillian. Convict records of Western Australia: a research guide. Perth: Friends of Battye Inc, 1990.

Oxley, Deborah. Convict maids; the forced migration of women to Australia. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Michael Page & Robert Inapen "Aussie Battlers" Rigby Publishers. Adelaide 1982

  Perkins, Harold. The convict priests. Rosanna [Vic.] : H. Perkins, [1984].

  Reakes, Janet, 1952-. A convict's life. Bass Hill, NSW : Genealogy Research Service Centre, 1985.  

Reakes, Janet, 1952-. How to trace your convict ancestors : their lives, times, & records. Sydney, N.S.W. : Hale & Iremonger, c1987, 1999.  

Rees, Siân. The floating brothel : the extraordinary story of the Lady Julian and its cargo of female convicts bound for Botany Bay. Sydney : Hodder Headline Australia, 2001.

Robinson, Portia. The women of Botany Bay : a reinterpretation of the role of women in the origins of Australian society. Rev. ed. Ringwood, Vic. : Penguin, 1993.

  Robson, L. L. (Leslie Lloyd), 1931-1990. The convict settlers of Australia : an enquiry into the origin and character of the convicts transported to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 1787-1852. Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1994, c1965. 

Salt, A. These Outcast Women - The Parramatta Female Factory 1821-1848. Sydney: Hale & Iremonger 1984.  

Smith, Babette, 1942- A cargo of women : Susannah Watson and the convicts of the Princess Royal. Kensington, N.S.W. : New South Wales University Press, 1988.

Sweetman, John, 1935- . The military establishment and penal settlement at King George Sound (Frederickstown), 25th December 1826-19th March 1831. Carlisle, W.A. : Hesperian Press, 1989.  

Tardif, Phillip, 1958- . Notorious strumpets and dangerous girls : convict women in Van Diemen's Land, 1803-1829. North Ryde, N.S.W. : Angus & Robertson, 1990.  

Tipping, Marjorie, 1917-. Convicts unbound : the story of the Calcutta convicts and their settlement in Australia. South Yarra, Vic : Viking O'Neil, 1988.

  Vine Hall, Nick. Tracing your family history in Australia: a guide to sources. 2nd ed. Albert Park, Vic. : N.V. Hall, c1994.  

The voice of our exiles : or, Stray leaves from a convict ship. Ed. by Daniel Ritchie. Edinburgh : John Menzies, 1854. [Notes: Essays by convicts, collected and issued as the Pestonjee Bomanjee Journal, April 25, 1852 to July 28, 1852.]

  Weidenhofer, Maggie, 1941- The convict years : transportation and the penal system, 1788-1868. Melbourne : Lansdowne, 1973.  

Maggie Weidenhofer Port Arthur: A Place of Misery , Oxford University Press1981

Written on the body: the tattoo in European and American history/edited by Jane Caplan. London: Reaktion, 2000

"Larrikins - The context.  The larrikin streak Australian writers look at the legend." Sydney 1990 Clem Gorman ed

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