Happy Australia Day

Five takes on Australian identity: -

I do not believe that the real life of this nation is to be found in the petty gossip of so-called fashionable suburbs, or in the officialdom of the organised masses.  It is to be found in the homes of people who are nameless and unadvertised, and who, whatever their individual religious conviction or dogma, see in their children their greatest contribution to the immortality of their nation.

Robert Menzies
Prime Minister 1939-41, 1949-66

Not lip service, nor obsequious homage to superiors, nor servile observance of forms and customs...  the Australian army is proof that individualism is the best and not the worst foundation upon which to build up collective discipline.

General John Monash
Commander of the Australian Corps 1918

When you play test cricket, you don’t give the Englishmen an inch.  Play it tough, all the way.  Grind them into the dust.

Donald Bradman
Cricket Captain 1937-48

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.

DH Lawrence
Visitor to Australia in 1922

A fair go for all, regardless of ethnicity, race or religion, except for Poms, Seppos and Kiwis.

Anon