Convicts to the past

Submitted by Dr Albert Schadenfreude (United Kingdom), Jun 22, 2009 at 18:35

Dear Tess,

By what you say, it appears Australia is a British colonial outpost on the edge of Asia, your nation state which you call 'Australia' is a concept, not a culturally unique country. You yearn for a British past from the other side of the world. How ironic

Was this the same Australia built on Aboriginal land, populated by convicts, operated the one-bob policy in the 1960's and 1970's to attract British immigrants (mainly poor working class) in fear of the 'Yellow-peril' (the term used at the time to describe the fear of Australia being overun by the Chinese and Japanese)? The same country that gave the world nothing more then Marmite?

Australians are no more then modern-day colonialists. That is their mentality. That is also why they have attracted a huge number of white South Africans following the end of apartide and continue to attract white Zimbabweans.

By the way, the Commonwealth in not a Christian or whites-only club, it is made up of a diverse range of countries and people from across Asia and Africa (infact and not coincidently, most countries that were part of the British Empire). The Head of the Commonwealth doesn't have anything to do with the Anglican Church per se. It is a 'Commonwealth' of nations, equal in status (as opposed to the Empire, run from Blighty) Given how 'British' you claim to be, surprised you didn't know that!

And with you daft nostalgia about Churchill, he didn't fight the war by himself, millions of Africans and Indians of all religious background fought in both the World Wars in the misguided belief that they would also win their freedom from Imperial Britain. ..

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