(or anyone else who thinks they might know the answers. Especially since I suspect my mother doesn't read this blog any more)
1. In the Olden Days (ie. the 1950s-ish), did people who were of UK descent but who had lived all their lives in Australia, refer to England (or Scotland or wherever) as "home"? As in, "I am planning a trip home in September", or "My uncle lived to be 93 but he never went home. No, he stayed all his life here in Melbourne"; and
2. In the Olden Days (ie. the 1950s-ish) was "a tray of tea and buttered scones and cakes the universal signal in Australia that the party was coming to an end" and that everyone should therefore go home now?
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5 comments:
Here are my guesses:
1. No. They used to do that, but after federation and a couple of world wars Australians had found their own sense of identity. As this delevloped further it led to "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi" and people getting beaten up at the big day out for refusing to kiss the flag.
2. No. Why would you give someone such a substantial snack if you wanted them to leave? And were you keeping them hungry for the rest of their visit? Unless it is because in the Olden Days the travel time involved in visiting someone was so huge that you needed the extra energy.
1. No; and
2. No
(she didn't elaborate)
i reckon the "home" stuff lasted long after federation. when robert menzies made his first trip to england in 1938ish, didn't he make some comment along the lines of going "home" or was it something to do with the motherland? i would say it lasted until about gough's day, but that's a stab in the dark. i should know this, having spent a long time studying australian history.
To quote an article I found about it
"We suffered the ever-present "British mind-set" (especially prevalent 1788 to 1950s, but still existing today) which thought of Britain as "home" or "the mother country", and which viewed anything British as being vastly superior to anything that was Australian or "colonial" (the "cultural cringe");"
The Fight For Australian Culture - Andrew Patterson
He's got lots of references, so it seems fairly legitimate.
But having a British mind-set doesn't mean people actually talked about Britain as 'home' when they had never been there. There is a big difference between thinking of Britain as the mother country and calling it home.
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