[Buddha-l] ?????

[Kate Marshall]

> >.... I had supposed that Aussies were proud of their criminal 
> >heritage....
>
> Those that are descended from them are. Especially the "First Fleeters."
>
> For the rest of us, or at least me, we aren't proud or ashamed.  It's just
> the way things happened.
______

Just to give a clearer picture of what most Aussies think of their convict 
and crim. heritage, in the 1970s it was decided that Australia should have 
its own National Anthem to replace 'God Save the Queen'. The two main 
suggestions were 'Advance Australia Fair', a particularly boring, 
pretentious, unloved patriotic song always fostered onto primary school 
children to sing, and 'Waltzing Matilda', a much loved iconic Australian 
song about a swagman who commits suicide rather than face punishment for 
stealing a sheep.

Much as Australians like Waltzing Matilda, most (including myself) decided 
that it didn't really represent how we wished to be portrayed as a nation 
and voted for 'Advance Australia Fair', and have mumbled our way through our 
National Anthem ever since.