In my travels through Australia I was able to learn to about the culture first hand. Last semester, we learned about some cultural themes in film like the mistreatment of aboriginal people and mateship. These films set my expectations for the trips. Through first-hand observation, I noticed many similarities and differences in my cultural expectations vs what I saw in reality.
The first difference was the deep respect for aboriginal culture. I expected Australian citizens of foreign descent to be respectful of the aboriginal people. What I found was that those citizens respect the aboriginal culture so much they have what is called an acknowledgment to country. An acknowledgment to country is paying thanks to the aboriginal land where parts of the city stand and to what tribe. During our Sydney city tour, we actually did an acknowledgment to country with our tour guides. It was an incredible experience to see Australians for European descent pay their respects to those who lived on the land originally.
Another difference I found between my cultural expectation vs cultural reality was the sharp contrast between the Maori people and the aboriginal people. Of course I did not expect the two cultures to be carbon copies of each other but I did not expect the eye-popping differences. For example, the aboriginal culture is the oldest in the world. Some experts say that the aboriginal culture is at least 60,000 years old. The Maori culture, however, dates back to indigenous settlement somewhere in the 13th century. Before the Maori people, New Zealand was a virgin land covered in native forests. Another key difference between the two is the polarity in language. Not only are the languages completely different but the aboriginal culture has over 300 different languages within it. All over Australia, there were tribes that spoke completely separate languages that were distinguishable from each other. The Maori culture had one core language with some differences in dialect but those of Maori descent can understand other Pacific Island languages as well. Maori people can comprehend the words of a Fijian individual and vice versa.
A key similarity I saw between what I retained from Australian film and its reality was the strength of mateship. Mateship is alive and well in Australian as expected. Everywhere we went the central idea of mateship could be found. Our Sydney city tour guides were a prime example of this. Throughout their guided tour they would constantly engage each other in a friendly way and ask questions like “do you want to explain this one mate?” From my observation, the Australian men have a respect for one another and it can be seen in their friendliness. Mateship was seen in almost all of the Australian films we watched for class.
The final similarity I took away from this experience was the progressive nature of the country. A lot of the movies we watched were based on previous Australian injustices like in Mabo and Rabbit Proof Fence. This acknowledgment of injustice told me that Australia was moving on from its dark past and trying to move forward progressively. Films like Muriel’s Wedding had strong feministic messages and tones which also amplified my expectation. When in the Australian city of Melbourne I experienced this progressive culture. The residents of Melbourne have deep respect for all people. While on our city tour we were informed about this soup restaurant that will ask for a $3 donation to later provide a meal for a homeless person. Institutions like that resturant could be found all over the city. This proved to me that the progressive culture I expected really was a reality.
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