What does it mean to be Australian?
To me, it used to be simple. Pre-mass migration, people came here and assimilated. Their kids grew up speaking with the same accent, loving the same footy, cracking the same piss-takes, and calling themselves 100% Australian without a second thought. I went to school with heaps of mates whose parents were born overseas, and every single one of them was Aussie as they come. No hyphen, no “but also,” just Australian.
That’s gone now.
Mass migration killed assimilation. We stopped expecting it, stopped teaching it, and now our schools are just cultural blocks where too many kids don’t even like Australia, let alone feel part of it. I get the European take on what an Australian is — culturally, right now, it makes sense. But a true Australian isn’t European, or Lebanese, or Indian, or anything else. They’re Australian. Full stop.
“We are one and we are many” sounded right when they wrote the anthem. Mass migration murdered that meaning. We’re no longer one people with many stories. We’re many peoples with no shared story, and that’s the problem.
At the heart of it, real Australians are deeply tied to this land — it runs through our veins. We love the place, the people, the culture and the full history, the wins and the stuff-ups. We’ve shown real grit when folding would’ve been easier, found a laugh in the hardest times, held our ground and even pushed forwards when the times were toughest. That spirit is what built this country.
It’s unfortunate where we are today, but we have to recognise modern Australia for what it actually is. We need to do better going forwards. The extreme left and extreme right might not like my take, but this is how I see it.
I am Australian I will always be proud, grateful and stand strong for Australia.
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!