downunder update

The title of this blog is a dead set giveaway, no prize for guessing, it’s about Australia.

Despite a number of drawbacks in the form of some grisly people, not all of them politicians, newspaper magnates or drunken film stars, we’re a pretty easy going bunch and we like a good yarn.

In here I publish some bits and pieces from a former site, All Info About Australia, dibs and dabs about various characters from across the continent, insights into our much maligned ‘culture’ and updates of what’s going down downunder. Plus some yarns of my own.

Irregular Features

The Weekend Read : Review of a book or film about, by, or from, Australia

Tucker on Tuesday : A recipe peculiarly Australian

Culture on Friday : An aspect of Australian culture (yes, we have some)

About me

My family was packed off in chains to Australia back in 1842, and although it was an unpleasant experience at the time, all of us are pretty content with the result. We now enjoy the most peculiar wildlife to be found on the planet, clean, safe cities, cold beer and constant sunshine. Australia is an immense and fortunate land.

It’s a long way back to the Land Enclosures and to eating kelp on South Uist. It’s a long journey back to the Great Hunger as well, and to the dreadful deaths in County Cork. A long way, a long time, I can almost forgive those who treated my family so .. though it’s very hard to forget. But, as the song says, “Those days are past now, and in the past they shall remain“, and my family has thrived here in the sun. And so has the Brownie who traveled with us.

Drop any notions you may have of us as wiry rugged types in the Outback, most of us live in cities very little different from cities anywhere. We’re just like you. I live in Melbourne, our most European city, where the meandering waters of the Yarra finally reach the sea.