In modern times, every human being is part of a nation. Well, nearly everyone, some nations have been eradicated, and have created 'stateless' people like Palestinians, Rohingya and many, many more. Although migration still happens a lot, most people 'belong' to a nation by virtue of birth.
Nations have been the attempt to unite a variety of tribes as a larger military unit. Unless you would call tribes nation as well. The indigenous people talk about more than 600 nations which existed on this continent before the First Fleet arrived. While I live on Wurundjeri land, it's said to be a part of the Kulin Nation, spanning across south-east Victoria.
Just like Europe has a variety of languages, Australia had lots of them. Language unites a nation or tribe, while at same time dividing them. Unless a tribe is really isolated, speaking more than one language seems the norm. If common language and culture signifies the existence of a 'nation', Australia truly hosted an abundance of them.
Today, 230 years after the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, only the nation "Australia" with an interesting variation of British English as uniting language exists on this large continent. Just like when fascist groups were on the rise in Germany in the late 1980s, and I wondered what "being German" means, I ask myself now what "being Australian" means.
According to the citizenship test, knowing cricket legends is essential. Which seems very arbitrary. Like the idea to teach "Australian values" in school. Unfortunately, that means it'll take about five to ten years before anyone being properly schooled in Australian values can represent them in the work force, management and politics.
Until then, the same greedy, corrupt, self-interested, narcissistic bunch of people "in power" continue to ruin this continent for everyone. Currently, the "Australian values" as being exemplified by the so-called leaders, look like this: Rort the system for your pleasure, ignore human rights, lie as needed, evade taxes by off-shore investments, blame someone else.
Usually, national values transfer by assimilation. Parents need to explain in some way why this is a holiday, and Santa doesn't bring presents. "Listen, kid, Lan Hancock got lucky in finding some good places to mine. He promoted genocide to protect his mines from respecting some of the oldest stone paintings on this planet. This made some of us filthy rich. The rest has the Herald Sun to know what to get angry about. Eat your lamb and watch us getting pissed."
Okay, I'm a bit cynical here. As a traveller, I met many humans from different origins. Our cultural inheritance comes as baggage we can't really get rid of. As long as we don't mistake it as integral part of our identity, there's no harm to it. We do get educated to defend it as fierce as our own characteristics though.
A nation represents a meme, with "nationhood" as memeplex. The enemy within, government, directs the attention to the enemy it claims to fight. The boundless plains of Australia, unlike Europe, know no internal borders. Hence anyone unwanted turned into an enemy. Until the 1960s, indigenous Australians were legally part of fauna.
So the "official" Australian values evolved from "We're not Abos!" to "We're not Wogs!" to "We're not Muslims" to "We're not Africans!". Honkey dory, who would have thought. Would someone, please, think about the Lamington?
Australia has the richest history on the entire planet. Oral tradition starts here. If people tell stories, then it began here. The law of the land is much more forgiving than the maritime law infecting this continent. But if you don't care for the land, don't expect the land to care for you. Money can't buy you love.
Unsurprisingly, the national narrative neglects the indigenous perspective. History starts with Cook "discovering" a continent with the longest continuous culture on this planet. The natives withered away, never bothered being disowned and killed. The colonial perks of raping, enslaving and killing indigenous people lives on in a strong culture of domestic violence. One nation, under the Queen, still lives the colonial dream, a nightmare for most of us.
The co-existence of many nations brought conflict with it. The options of conquest and genocide haven't been used. The different cultures still shared a common understanding. The modern concept of nation imposes an artificial common meme on its members. On the search for cultural identity, people accept national stereotypes as part of their identity.
The customs of the tribe describe its culture. For nations, it's the combination of food and booze preferences, combined with the favourite sport. The way we enjoy life plays an essential role in creating the national illusion. It's the carrot for the national herd, and "they" threaten to take it away from "all of us". It distracts from the stick, coming as fines, fees, permits, taxes and rules to make life difficult.
Nations scam its users just life insurance does. You're just meant to pay for the benefit of others.
