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Category: Australia
How has sport shaped Australia’s national identity?
I read Geoffrey Blainey: A Shorter History of Australia by Nick Nicholas on Aphypnēsis Amichaiou , which actually posed this question. And if I hadn’t left the book in the hotel… well, I still wouldn’t look it up. But in brief: Australians defined themselves early on (like, 1820s) against the British, for being more fit […]
What are the best public high schools with high ATARs in Melbourne (co-ed or girls only)?
School League Tables. Mpf. They’re not all they’re cracked up to be. Is the point of education to get you into a top ranking uni course? Or to make a decent citizen of you? At any rate, the current rankings for Victoria are out at: VCE School Ranking – 2016 If we exclude boys’ schools, […]
Are there Mafia in Melbourne?
Yes. In fact, Melbourne is a stronghold of the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia: Honoured Society (Australia). Their main business these days is drugs. They will turn up in the papers maybe once a year. There was also the spree of Melbourne gangland killings from 1996 to 2010, in which the ’Ndrangheta was only one of […]
Is Canberra the worst city in Australia?
Aw, come on. No Canberra hate from you people? That’s positively UNAUSTRALIAN! I admire the methodicality of Ben Reimers in his answer. In fact, do look at it: Ben Reimers’ answer to Is Canberra the worst city in Australia? The emotive definition of a good city to live in, that OP is presumably after, is […]
What are the best things about your country?
What I would have answered your question about my country (Australia) is largely already in Nick Nicholas’ answer to Do Australians like being Australian citizens? But I’ll pretend I didn’t already answer it. Many of the best things about Australia, it shares with the US, and they have a similar reason. The optimism. The social […]
What are the top 10 things everyone should know about Melbournians?
Vote #1 Alistair Smith: He’s got the most important stuff. Alistair Smith’s answer to What are the top 10 things everyone should know about Melbournians? We are coffee snobs, we (well not me) are sports mad. We dress in black, and we wear layers because of the volatility of the weather. We (and I guess […]
Why do Australians say fuck off all the time to everything even birds?
I wish to register my mockery of Quora deciding that (a) a question about the use of the word fuck is automatically an Adult Question; and (b) much more importantly, that there shall be No Request From Suggestions available for any Adult Question. What would an Australian Quora term that, I wonder? Infantilising horseshit, I […]
If your country had a slogan what it would be?
My country (Australia) already has a slogan. The Lucky Country. The popular understanding, within and outside Australia, is that Australia being lucky (having lots of resources, affluent, stable) is a good thing. The original book, which everyone in this country should read (and which is still relevant 50 years on), argued that this was a […]
READ: Geoffrey Blainey: A Shorter History of Australia
I will also be including in the Aphypnesis blog books and art I have consumed outside of recommendations. A Shorter History of Australia Took me a little while to get through, but it is quite digestible. Geoffrey Blainey has been the doyen of the Old Right Wing of Australian Historiography, and was embroiled in Australian […]
Are there any aspects of your native culture / country that foreigners hardly ever understand?
This has been mentioned several times elsewhere here, and it’s not just Australian, it’s a British inheritance. Though I think we here have ramped it up to eleven. And it certainly disconcerts visitors. Hell, it’s disconcerted me. If Australians like you, they will make merciless fun of you. If they’re being civil to you, that’s […]