"[A]fter mulling over the most up-to-date census data, the country's Bureau of Statistics has come up with its own stereotype-busting definition of the so-called average Aussie."
Suffice to say, we are not dealing with some ocker on the veranda of an outback watering hole, raising a schooner of ice-cold beer with one hand and swatting away flies with the other. Nor has the Australian Bureau of Statistics plucked a character from the teenage cast of an afternoon "soap", or some blonde Adonis from the surf at Bondi.
No, the "average Australian" is evidently a 37-year-old woman, married with two children, who lives in a three-bedroom house in a suburb of one of Australia's capital cities. Its average Australian is a wholly different character from the imagined Australian.
Any attempt to define a nation by one person is bound to be met by scepticism. But in a country where the prime minister, the governor-general and the richest person - the mining magnate, Gina Rinehart - are all women, the latest data confirms what demographers have long known: Australia is becoming a more female country.
Another excerpt:
The "average Australian" is still born in Australia, as were her parents. But in this polyglot nation, with such a rich multicultural flavour, that is likely to change soon. Over a quarter of Australians are already born overseas - 26% - and only 54% have parents who were both born within these shores.
The changing face of the Australian cricket team illustrates some of the demographic shifts. Blonde and gelled, its captain and vice-captain on the recent tour of India, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, look like they have stepped, bat aloft, from central casting.
But the next generation of stars is starting to look more like modern Australia. Consider the promising all-rounder, Moises Henriques, who was born in Lisbon, Portugal, or Usman Khawaja, the talented - if underperforming - batsman, who hails from Islamabad.
The notion that cricket, one of the few sports which arouses the same level of passion throughout the land, should be regarded as the average Australian sport is also being challenged. In terms of ethnicity, football - or soccer as it is known in Australia - has arguably become the country's most representative sport.
The A-League can boast players from 56 ancestries. The Socceroos, the national team, is populated by players with names like Schwarzer, Aloisi, Ognenovski, Bresciano. Its star player, Tim Cahill, was born in Sydney of a Samoan mother and an English father of Irish descent. In a settler nation, it is the migrant game.
Interesting article, the rest here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22213218
What are the lingering stereotypes and "changing face" of where you live?
Originally posted by FMF "[A]fter mulling over the most up-to-date census data, the country's Bureau of Statistics has come up with its own stereotype-busting definition of the so-called average Aussie."
[quote]Suffice to say, we are not dealing with some ocker on the veranda of an outback watering hole, raising a schooner of ice-cold beer with one hand and swatting away flies with t ...[text shortened]... 213218
What are the lingering stereotypes and "changing face" of where you live?
The "average Australian" is evidently a 37-year-old woman, married with two children, who lives in a three-bedroom house in a suburb of one of Australia's capital cities. Its average Australian is a wholly different character from the imagined Australian.
This came from a description of an imaginary person who would be our 23rd millionth citizen, and is just a string of unconnected averages. More boys are born than girls, but in our cities the women outnumber the men; 37 is an average age of the entire population; more adults are married than single; the average number of children in a household is just under 2; the most popular apartment size has 2 bedrooms and the most popular new house has 4 bedrooms, they're not building 3-bedrooms much so it's an average again. More than 90% of us live in one of the capital cities.
We're way too mixed a population for averages to mean anything at all. And we're not becoming "more female", we're just accepting immigrants of both genders and all ages, where a century ago most immigrants were males of working age.
Originally posted by Kewpie The "average Australian" is evidently a 37-year-old woman, married with two children, who lives in a three-bedroom house in a suburb of one of Australia's capital cities. Its average Australian is a wholly different character from the imagined Australian.
This came from a description of an imaginary person who would be our 23rd millionth citizen, and is j ...[text shortened]... h genders and all ages, where a century ago most immigrants were males of working age.
And two centuries ago, most men were convicts! The Brits screwed up putting some of the most creative people in jail in Australia. It gave Aussies their character.
Originally posted by FMF "[A]fter mulling over the most up-to-date census data, the country's Bureau of Statistics has come up with its own stereotype-busting definition of the so-called average Aussie."
[quote]Suffice to say, we are not dealing with some ocker on the veranda of an outback watering hole, raising a schooner of ice-cold beer with one hand and swatting away flies with t ...[text shortened]... 213218
What are the lingering stereotypes and "changing face" of where you live?
Look on the bright side, the average Aussie is a lot better educated than the average American. Maybe you folks should continue to let the women run things. Everything is big in America...Big weapons, big appetites, big wastelines and big ego's. (Franlky I like the Aussie model better!)🙂
Originally posted by kmax87 close but no stubbie of VB for you mate. A pragmatist still gives a flying duck.
Well yeah, that's what I'm saying - some rednecks seem to give a rats.
Like when hitch-hiking in Australia. You can often be in the middle of no where with virtually no traffic when some ocker will pick you up. They wont make conversation or drive even 200m out of their way, but hey, they've given you a lift. I call that 'redneck pragmatism'.
Even the 'average aussie' can often be unaware of many other aussies. There is the east coast population (and mentality), which Adelaide and Tasmania seem to be a part of... there's Perth in WA, which is like another country really, then there's the outback, which is referred to as the 'country' in the states and elsewhere.
The outback suffers from lack of population which makes for some interesting situations. The only common factors in these outback, one horse towns - beer,petrol and martial law.
Even most Aussies dont realize that the so-called aussie wineries, for example, are tended to by migrant workers. When I was at one such winery some 400kms west of Sydney, 90% of the workers there were from South Korea and Romania. The other 10% were a bizarre mix. I was one of the few out of about a hundred workers who actually spoke English!
Australia has always been multi-cultural, it is only in recent decades that this has been officially recognized and the white australia laws repealed.
The Australian aboriginies have always accepted the whities - it was always the whities that tried to kill and later assimilate the indegenous folk.
Fortunately the whities were unsuccesful and saner heads have prevailed. It seems the average aussie was one of the last in the developed world to realize what a treasure the peaceful aborigines are for this country. After all their culture(s) are said to be 40 000 years old, with at least 300 different dialects and an intimate knowledge of the land, flora and fauna.
They are also said to be the most 'green' culture on Earth.
The changing face of the average Aussie
24 Apr '13 02:321 edit
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