The latest advert for Australian Lamb has poked fun at the term ‘un-Australian,’ and honestly, thank god finally someone did because that word has become a stick we enjoy beating people with.
The Australian lamb ad resonates so well because it cleverly captures the insanity of the word. Un-Australian things mocked in the advert include alcohol-free beer, eating a meat pie with a knife and fork and charging extra for tomato sauce.
The ad ends with everyone wanting to go to the exile barbecue, where all the people that have been accused of being ‘un-Australian,’ are hanging out. Get it? Because fun people usually aren’t just stereotypes.
Then the ad says: “Looks like we’re all a bit un-Australian. Guess that’s what makes us Australian.”
This is exactly right. We must throw out the Australian rule book and live our best fair dinkum lives whatever that may look like. You’ll still be considered true blue, I promise.
The thing about this whole ‘un-Australian’ stuff is that Australians are changing and have changed.
Firstly, who on earth gets decides what is Australian or not? Is there some committee I’m completely unaware of that consists of Hugh Jackman, Merv Hughes, Paul Hogan, Chris Hemsworth and Sonia Kruger? Where they all sit around and debate what makes someone ‘un-Australian’.
In my mind, Sonia would always insist it was un-Australian not to watch The
Voice, while everyone else rolled their eyes. Meanwhile, Hemsworth would insist it is very Australian to like Marvel movies, even though they are super American. Eventually, everyone would have to have a smoke break to calm down and then be tortured by Merv talking
about cricket in the ‘90s.
It would be a complete mess, and then Keith Urban would want to join the panel, but it would be discovered he was actually from New Zealand, and then everyone would be in a tizzy.
Still, one could argue the most Australian thing you can do is to claim a New Zealander as our own once they get famous (Cough, Rebecca Gibney, cough, Russell Crowe).
The whole un-Australian thing is outrageous.
For instance, it is wildly expected that the Australian thing to do is to love meat pies, well, I’m sorry, but I think sausage rolls are an underrated delicacy. Does that now make me less Australian?
It is also believed that in Australia, we all firmly believe in everyone being given a fair go, then why does the gender pay gap still sit at 14.1 per cent? Surely, the fact both genders aren’t getting a fair pays means that Australians across the board are failing at being, well, Australian.
Don’t even get me started on tall poppy syndrome. Something Australians have always proudly claimed that separates us from the rest of the world is that we are modest and love to take the mickey out of ourselves. Well, even that has changed thanks to influencer culture. Now, the most Aussie thing you can do is go to the beach with a giant cabana and take sexy photos in your bikini, bonus points if you bring a ring light.
I mean, even Alan Jones is selling his R.M Williams boots, and I can’t think of a more iconic duo than that (Well, besides Schapelle Corby and boogie boards).
Although I have to admit Jones selling a copy of Peter FitzSimon’s book Kokoda and then FitzSimons tweeting about it is peak Aussie culture and I won’t hear differently.
Currently the biggest rising star in Australian pop culture is Christian Wilkins. Wilkins doesn’t represent any stereotypes we normally think about Australian men and that is what is making him such an Australian force.
I personally can’t wait for him to become a worldwide sensation because it will make people reconsider how they view Australian men. Shockingly, not all Australian men behave and look like the River Boys in Home And Away.
Here’s the thing. When I think of famous people that best represent Australia, I think of everyone from comedian Joel Creasy to Nine’s Karl Stefanovic to Nicole Kidman to the ABC’s Tony Armstrong. They are vastly different people with different personalities, yet they are all so quintessentially Australian.
Do you know why? because being Australian isn’t something you can sum up and in my opinion there’s nothing you can do that makes you ‘un-Australian.’ Yes, that includes if you don’t know all the words to the Young Divas’ big hit Turn Me Loose.
Ultimately what you think makes someone Aussie might be very different to what someone else thinks makes someone Aussie.
For instance, I think if you remember Paulini’s iconic moment in the gold dress on Australian Idol, you are true blue. However, I have no idea who won the Rugby League Grand Final two years ago. Maybe someone else would think that kind of information is the ingredient you need to be truly Aussie.
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