Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

The places people become

By Malikeh Michaels - posted Thursday, 21 September 2006


I grew up in the same place as the Australian actor William McInnes - Seachange, Kakoda, My Brother Jack. He strikes me as a nice sort of man, the type I consider a real Aussie bloke. No he’s not ockerish and a lot of them aren’t. He seems pretty laidback and tells a good yarn: see his memoir A Man’s got to Have a Hobby. He loves his family, isn’t pretentious, is a bit sporty, and stands up for what he believes in.

All this reminds me of myself in the opposite gender of course. The place we have in common is Redcliffe, 45 minutes drive from the centre of Brisbane, by the sea, a peninsula nestled among the islands of Moreton Bay. It is a beautiful spot and within one hour’s drive of some of the world’s most beautiful coasts and hinterlands.

We didn’t have a lot of class division in Brisbane, most people were working class or lower middle class, particularly where I lived. I never really thought much about what people did for a living or the type of houses they lived in when I was a child. Life was simple: we all enjoyed the beach wherever we lived, no matter who we were, or what our parents did for a living.

Advertisement

We chased fish in the shallows, got fresh oysters from the rocks to eat, swam and beach combed. Days with our parents were spent boating and fishing. I helped my parents with “fishing duties” like catching yabbies Dad pumped from the sand for bait and helped clean fish.

Holidays were in the caravan at nearby fishing spots, day trips to the Sunshine or Gold Coasts and occasionally going off to Moreton or Stradbroke Islands with my friend Deb and her family to dive for shells in the shallows. My imagination was captured by my parents’ love of the environment and nature: it gave us identity and meaning.

I believe that place is a part of “being me”.

I was a classic Aussie kid and I had classic Australian parents. My father loved cricket, had a beard, swore a lot and called other blokes names like “Horse” and “China”. He liked a few beers in his younger years, was loud and passionate, and he lived to fish. His father was a Greek immigrant and fishing was one of the few things Poppy kept from the “old country”. He brought it with him on a long sea journey, and it fitted in very well with his new country, and then he passed it on to his children - my father.

My father loved being near the sea. I hated the fishing most of the time but loved the water and the adventure of getting away to hidden fishing and crabbing spots sometimes for all the night or trips out on the bay far from land in the aluminium boat.

Mum was hard working, upfront with people and loved to talk. She grew up in the 50s in an area not far from Brisbane city that used to be bush and farms. Her father was Finnish immigrant and her mother heralded from the D’Arcy clan of Bega.

Advertisement

Great grandma’s uncle was supposed to have started Bega Cheese. My mother loves to reminisce about playing in the bush and swimming and fishing for freshwater yabbies in creeks while growing up.

The tales of her parents and twelve siblings remind me a bit of Tim Winton’s novel Cloudstreet: poor, struggling but somehow finding joy in the beauty of the natural surroundings making life rich and a distraction from the harshness and struggle.

Her father cut the trees and built the home they lived in. They didn’t have electricity till the 50s. She would often go into the bush with her father to chop trees for building and firewood. The bush captured her imagination and was a part of her. It has never really left her and is part of who she is.

Looking to Australian literature and poetry, the Australian landscape often acts as reckoning force. Poetry I learned as a child and books I have read over the years are odes to the wonder and variance of the country. Classic poetry like Banjo Patterson’s The Man from Snowy River; Dorothy McKellar’s, The Sunburned Country; modern fiction such as Judith Wright’s The Nature of Love; Patrick White’s Raising Babylon; and more recently Tim Winton - all full with acknowledgements of the natural beauty and harshness of the country and how the landscape affects people.

Whether it be the bush, or the sand and surf, the natural beauty of the Australian environment very much helps Australians identify as a “people”.

The classic bushy, the surfers on the coast, those of the urban myth, all have an identity attached to places unique to Australia. And it is an equitable beauty: every one has access to it. Rich people can buy waterfront apartments overlooking the harbour but the “other half” still get to walk the dog and have picnic’s in the parks of the harbour foreshores, the beaches or national parks.

I have been to countries where the best beaches are cut off to the public and only the rich tourists from the elite resorts can gain access. Australia’s reasonably classless and democratic society allows access for all to the most beautiful places “our” country has to offer.

Taking off to enjoy the countryside, the park or the beach is one of the most popular pastimes. Australians of all backgrounds and nationalities do this. The country’s natural resources and beauty have also contributed to Australia’s prosperity. Mining, agriculture and tourism have helped shape the nation.

The physical country has helped shape the identity of the nation.

It’s been 20 years since I lived in Queensland: I live in the central west of Sydney these days. It’s a long way from the sand and seaweed of Redcliffe’s beaches and the beautiful islands I could see from the veranda of our house. I love the area where I live now for its vibrancy and diversity.

I have married a foreign man and have children. I mix socially with many people whose heritage is non-Anglo, many born overseas. My friends and husband’s family all love Australia for many of the reasons I do. They love to travel to the beach and countryside, go fishing, have picnics with family and friends in beautiful places and have holidays away from the city.

We are all one literally part of the diverse and beautiful landscape.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

2 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Malikeh Michaels a local government councillor in Auburn NSW, has a Law and Media degree and many years experience in broadcasting for community radio such as 2SER.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Malikeh Michaels

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 2 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy