A good Australian read
In his award-winning novel, The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas writes in the authentic voices of Australia's new polyglot surburbia, the home of Greek-Australians, Italian-Australians, Indian-Australians and other relatively newly-arrived immigrants. It also features an indigenous Australian, Bilal, who has converted to Islam.
The book takes its title from the punishment meted out at a suburban barbeque when a particularly irritating child, the offspring of Anglo-Australian parents, is disciplined by someone other than his parents. Given its iconic setting, it reads like "a satanic version of Neighbours", according to the blog Reeling and Writhing. It has fast become the most talked about book in Australia.
But don't judge this book by its title, for it is not primarily about the rights and wrongs of smacking errant children. Nor do I necessarily agree with the publisher's blurb that it is about "love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity" - a discourse on the "modern family". Instead, it is Tsiolkas' closely-observed take on race and multi-culturalism in modern day Australia.
Told from the conflicting viewpoints of eight protagonists, none of whom are portrayed as Aussie archetypes, the book provides insights into the tensions, anger, frailties and prejudices of an inner suburb of Melbourne in the Howard era - although it could just have easily been written in the present. As George Megalogenis wrote in a brilliant essay in the Australian Literary Review, its central observation is that "middle Australia is becoming more brown than white". You can read Megalogenis here.
Launching into the novel with high expectations, I was disappointed with The Slap. The writing is deliberately harsh and confronting, but arguably gratuitously so in parts. In its rendering of the tensions of suburbia, whether familial, generational or racial, I did not find it particularly artful or subtle.
Yet as the discussion in my book club revealed (there's an admission), the solitary member whose family hails from a Mediterranean country (there's another admission) thought it was brilliant. I've spoken to other first generation Australians who loved it, because they instantly recognised the voices. Perhaps for the first time, an Australian novel spoke to them and of them. In it, they heard a literary voice which they have not necessarily been exposed to before.
Certainly, it's instructive to read and reflect on the novel in the context of the Hey Hey blackface row. For one, racial attitudes are inverted. It is the Anglo-Australian family which is portrayed as the social outcasts, and widely viewed as the second-class citizens. Uncouth vulgarians, scoff their friends, colleagues and neighbours.
To use a word that I would never utter at home, but which is part of everyday speech in Australia, this is a book where the "wogs" end up on top. To give voice to that word in Britain, of course, is to immediately identity yourself as a racist. Yet in Australia, it has come to carry little, if any, malevolence - and certainly not for Australians who happily describe themselves as "wogs". For sure, it started out as a derogatory slur directed at immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. Before their arrival, "wog" was more commonly used to describe a medical ailment or germ. But now the term has been embraced by many Australians who can trace their bloodline to southern and eastern Europe as an expression of their identity. Indeed, For some, it has become a proud boast.
The commenter, irisav, was onto to this when she or he noted: "The [racist] perception also relates to the cultural sub-text of words. For instance in Australia the term 'w-g' can be used derogatorily, affectionately or as part of cultural ownership/pride."
It's interesting to ponder on how a term of derision came to be adopted by those being derided. I do not know the answer. Perhaps you can help? But I dare say humour was part of it. Part of the Australian way is to not take yourself too seriously. And perhaps part of the assimilation process for southern and eastern Europeans was to show Anglo-Celtic workmates and neighbours that they were prepared to embrace that side of national life. What better way to demonstrate their own sense of humour and self-deprecation, what better way to show they belonged, than to turn a slur on themselves?
If there is a high level of low-level racism in Australia, as Waleed Aly suggests, I often think it stems from the kind of "humour" that does not necessarily have a high degree of malevolence but does suffer from a high degree of insensitivity and flippancy. It is the kind of "it-was-only-meant-as-a-joke" racial slur, easily brushed away with a laugh or a friendly punch to the upper arm. JP Wallace put it really well: "[I]t is a very mild kind of racism, more a patronising ignorance than any kind of virulent, potentially violent xenophobia..." Rosco 737 touches on the same theme: "The blog has the wrong title. It should be 'Is Australia un-ashamedly un PC?'. To which the answer is a resounding YES."
Thanks for all your comments. I read every one. I loved parragirl picking me up on the use of the adverb "unusually" in the title of the blog; I take on board Wallsy's observation that new arrivals can be racist, too; surtr catches me out on the claim that the Hey Hey skit was a "testament to the changing face of modern Australia" (because of the "performers" mixed ethnicities), since the same doctors performed much the same skit on the show 20 years ago. Wollemi is helpful, as ever, on the history. More deserve to be quoted again, but I'm running out of space, and I dare say you are running out of time and patience.
As for a final word on The Slap? For me, it was not the great Australian novel. But to many, it was the new Australian novel, and I suspect that explains much of its commercial and critical success.
PS: I've blogged before on how Australian polticians often try to out-hardline each other when it comes to boat people heading this way. That has been the big running story this week, of course, and it's an off-shoot of the same debate. A number of you commented on that in the Afghanistan blog, so feel fee to weigh in again.
I'm 
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Nick what is the most commonly remembered aspect of the Irish? The ability not only to laugh at themselves, but to turn adversity into humour. Combine that with the Aboriginal dry humour...'Jeeze b'rudder ya house is burnin'....and didn't I see ya missis runnin off with the head stock man?....only kiddin brudder, only kiddin'
That is the underlying basis of Australians...true Australians...not the new 'pommy Aussies' who don't want to know about Australia before say the 1970's...who blindly followed Pauleen Hanson...and still do....who call for 'One Nation'...and want to forget our true history....not the rot peddled by British based academics.
Australians, true Australians, mock but don't do so hurtfully, intentionally. Sure, they'll take the 'mickey' out of you, and they'll make some funny jokes at your expense, but they don't shun you for it...quite the contrary...they accept and honour you for it....and will shout you to the pub, and their mates are your mates.
It is hard enough for migrants, coming from non British/European countries, getting used to this 'Their A Weird Mob' type Australian, its something else to confront someone calling themselves Australian, who have had their mandatory 12 months here before 'nationalising' themselves as an Aussie.
Its within this new Aussie that 'the mickey' becomes real, that the insults are intended to hurt. It's this 'new Aussie' or as I call them, paper Aussies, who hold stronly to an assumed elitism. Assumes superiority over anyone that is not 'white' and therefore and not an 'ex Brit'.
"This place started with our convicts, not yours." Was one comment I heard in one brawl I witnessed between some Vietnam students and some ex Brits.
And politically there is a huge battle raging. The Labor party has been behind the levelling of this British control, by introducing legislation to remove the White Australia policy, to introduce non Europeans and to encourage Asian migration.
It is the Liberal National party that...even now...pushes for a preference for British migrants...and usually those with money...who naturally want 'commerce' as their god...not human dignity.
I love my country, and I love the diversification of migrants we bring. I have nothing against ANY race, including Brits, that come here, so long as they ALL get to know us first BEFORE they come here, not after they have inadvertently carried over a race war from their own country.
I am now just waiting for us to get a more ballanced migrant imput into such institutions as our ABC TV and Radio, which is currently stacked with ex Brits...er...paper Australians, and who feed the racism more than most, in a very clever way.
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I've only started the book, which seemed particularly Melbourne-ish to me, rather than about Australia all over (it mentions my local gym in the first chapter, woo hoo!), but the blog seems fair enough. Me, I'm biassed towards Tsiolkas because I'm sick of Tim Winton.
But...."the book provides insights into the tensions, anger, frailties and prejudices of an inner suburb of Melbourne in the Howard era - although it could just have easily been written in the present" - is sloppy - the Howard era isn't that long ago, but you're writing about it as if it were the 1950s.
ps to get a feeling for how attitudes towards 'wogs' have changed, get out the old Aunty Jack series on dvd
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Nick said "It has fast become the most talked about book in Australia."
Well that is news to many I have been talking to since I read this. This may be the case in literary circles, or among the 'writer's fraternitiy,' but certainly not among the majority of Aussies.
I could say, in a similar fashion, the most popular Aussie book at the moment is Thomas Keneally's History of Australia, but it is only popular amongst those interested in such matters.
Race based books are a dime a dozen throughout Australia, and particularly around the major cities....but they die out very quickly...never to be heard of again.
I would guess this book would be popular amongst a certain ethnic group within Australian, but certainly not the majority.
I do wish it well, but don't see it being anything more than a one hit wonder...it that.
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While I have not read "The Slap", it appears from what you have stated to finally illustrate what it is to be Australian. The belief that I have and what many Australians is quite simple. It is not about the colour of your skin or your ethnic background, but your state of mind. The ability to laugh at one self and not take yourself too seriously, the wanting of allowing everyone "a fair go" and not to have a class system that places people in categories. But to simply allow people who have chosen to become Australian a sense of belief in themselves, their future and their families future.
I currently work in the town of Griffith in south-western New South Wales, where there is a large Samoan, Italian, and Indian population. I see the kids all speaking in a similar manner, wear the same clothes, have the same piercings (!!!!) and generally have a tolerant approach to each others ethnic heritages.
I guess thats the key word, tolerance with maybe respect and decency thrown into the mix.
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Nick, I often read your posts but rarely comment these days. I used to comment on blogs a bit, but grew disheartened with fixed attitudes, and a lack of civility, which often degenerated into outright crude abuse on some blogs.
Plus I heard a comment about blogging on BBC Radio 4's "The Now Show" about 'people shouting blindly at the internet' which struck a chord with me.
Thanks for the Megalogenis link, as it was a good, thoughtful article. I was particularly taken with this paragraph:-
"The dissonance in The Slap and The Marriage Club has very Anglo origins. It is the outrage of talkback radio, the banality of fame, the vicious certainty of the blogosphere. Australians are learning to bark like Americans. To my Greek-Australian ears, the joke is that the mass media conversation sounds no different from what I would hear in a cafe in a Greek village. Conspiracy, paranoia and mind-numbing self-regard; it's the dialogue of the know-it-all. In the village, at least, the locals understand big mouths are harmless. In a city nation such as Australia, there is no way of knowing if the person who is screaming at you means it or just wants attention."
The 'vicious certainty of the blogosphere' matched my thoughts from above - in that few who are 'shouting blindly at the internet' are wanting a dialogue, a civil conversation.
Very few show any sense of humour, or bit of give and take, or any of the lightness / deftness of touch that you would find in, for example, a chat with a stranger down the pub.
I love living in Australia, and the vast majority of people I meet are the self-deprecating Aussies you describe, whatever their background.
On the net though, it is a different story, with the very anonymity of the medium allowing the worst and darkest sides of a persons viewpoint to be published.
Does anyone have thoughts on this?
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When I was in my mid teens (in the mid 1980's) living in Melbourne I believed the term 'w_g' was an insult directed at, as you put it, people of southern and eastern European descent. It's meaning may have been changing beneath the surface for a while but I distinctly remember a comedy troupe called 'W_gs out of Work' suddenly appearing at the top of the comedy circuit tree. This was a group of Australians of southern and eastern European descent who took the Micky out of the stereotypes that Australians associated with these people. From then on, being a 'w_g' could always be cool if you had a sense of humour. Quarter of a century later I now feel (as an Anglo-Australian - living in London - and married to an Italian) that these people have become a distinct and important part of the fabric of Australia's culture and history.
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Nick Bryant: "In his award-winning novel, The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas writes in the authentic voices of Australia's new polyglot surburbia, the home of Greek-Australians, Italian-Australians, Indian-Australians and other relatively newly-arrived immigrants."
bondifireman: "I see the kids all speaking in a similar manner, wear the same clothes, have the same piercings (!!!!) and generally have a tolerant approach to each others ethnic heritages."
Petesyc: "the new 'pommy Aussies' who don't want to know about Australia before say the 1970's."
Nick I can't wait to buy and read "The Slap" but I am feeling that I live in a time warp. Or is the wheel being re-invented?
(Writing from the UK)I lived in South Australia in 1958 - 1960 as the young teenage child of an RAF officer posted to RAAF Edinburgh Fields just outside Adelaide. I went to Gawler High School and met many young UK immigrants on the £10 scheme, plus Greek/Italian/Polish etc children, as well as local children from the commercial and farming (incl vineyards) community. My friends were from all these groups indicated, though not any asians, presumably due to the policy of the time.
Racist epithets were very current and widely used including 'pom/pommie' for recently arrived Brits including me, although simply a visitor. None of us took much notice, just accepted it as the Australian way. But after one particular run-in with a teacher (who were incredibly anti-British), my father (having also suffered as an immigrant to the USA in the 1930s) gave me a riposte which I shall not repeat here but shut them all up. In fact one teacher later described me as " the only POM I can stand". There lies the lesson and their story. Immigrants to any country or society have to stand up and be judged by the land they hope to live in, and as Petesyc quotes - don't carry over a race war from your own country. But make use of a great Aussie proviso - humour! I would hate to see that demolished by a political correctness that unfortunately seems to emanate from the sadly very racist USA which seems to have far too great an influence on Australian culture.
As for myself I loved the place and still do. My father wanted us to return as migrants after his RAF career ended but family circumstances prevented that. Happily my own children have travelled there as moths to the flame and I now have an Australian grand-child. Result.
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As a child in the 60s uttering the word "w_g" would have immediately prompted a slap on the legs and if nana could run fast enough, a mouth bubble bath. At the local Catholic school I was an oddity (already a 7th generation born Aussie) amongst the Irish, Polish, Italian, Russian, Maltese et al who filled my universe with exotic experiences (like a precocious love of soccer), great tucker and friendships that have lasted a lifetime. How I cherish that these "new Australians" took me in and made my formative years so happy. When young Aussies visit me in Europe they inform me very solemnly that Australia is a multicultural country now, you know. Australia has been multicultural from day 1 when Europeans faced 600 distinct indigenous languages on the continent; it's not a construct that arrived a mere thirty years ago. It's just a natural progression that Australian writers would delve deeper into the complexities of what it means to be Australian. Just as I reflect on my "slap" and thank god for a wise nana and have relegated the other to a not a bad read.
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@petesyc
"It's this 'new Aussie' or as I call them, paper Aussies..."
Wooah glad you're not our Immigration Minister, welcome to @Petesyc's bitter and paranoid world
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Petesyc says "I have nothing against ANY race, including Brits, that come here, so long as they ALL get to know us first BEFORE they come here"
I think it's fair to say that it's impossible for anyone to get to know Australia (as Nick is finding out) before they get here, especially when Australian exports to the UK when I was growing up included Neighbours and Home & Away, Kylie, and Crocodile Dundee... You could certainly be forgiven for thinking Australia was a white Anglo monoculture based on this kind of cultural publicity. I remember an Asian family moved into Ramsay St once, but they didn't last long! I can't say I've watched it in the last 15 years, so here's hoping things have changed...
It's obvious to everyone *in* Australia that the country is made up of people from many cultures, but that is much harder to see from overseas. Probably not helped by the Tourism Australia's reliance on stereotypes over the years?
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9 = Anything taken out of context will naturally slant what was originally intended. If you wish to express an opinion on what I said, then I can possibly reply to you, otherwise I'm just wasting time...and bandwidth.
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10 waterloosydney: And therein lays the problem. America is nothing like it's movies and TV shows, nor is Britain. Australian entertainment media, like British and American, simply feed to a market that they think will sell in that particular country...otherwise Skippy would have ended up on the cuttingroom floor after its first showing.
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@Petesyc... That raises an interesting question about what the producers of Neighbours or Home & Away think of their original (domestic) market. Wouldn't a few Lebanese/Greek/Italian families hold up a more representative mirror to the population? Or do they think Aussies are only interested in watching white anglo families?
On a slightly tangential point, I once read an article about the difference between soaps in the UK, US and Australia. American soaps tend to depict lifestyles that Americans aspire to (90210, the OC, the Bold & the Beautiful, etc.). Brits on the other hand prefer gritty, realistic scenarios (Eastenders, Coronation St). I wonder if Australian soaps unwittingly try to fit between these extremes (since I can't remember the conclusion of the article itself!)
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13 waterloosydney: If think that if Aussie producers were to aim their programs at Aussies, they would go broke. We only have 22 million people, many of them can't get decent TV reception and those that do aren't interested in seeing their back yard on their TV. So the programs are aimed at the unusual, and that which appeals to a larger, mostly overseas, market. I don't know of anywhere where you'd find a Neighbours or Home and Away situation in Aus. Even the police shows are copies of the American shows.
A good example of this is Kath and Kim, the extremely popular show here in Aussie, cause it reflected what a lot of Aussies see happening with the lower class elite, those that live outside of their means, basically. When it went to the US it bombed terribly, I don't know if it made the UK. The same with the Dame, and how she skyrocketed in the UK, but as far as I know has never even been to the US. Funny enough, she didn't do too well here till she was embraced by the UK.
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Speaking of Australian Citizenship, this is a current article concerning the news rules applying to anyone wishing to be an Aussie citizen:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/19/2718043.htm?section=justin
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#13 - my view is that the Americans go for aspirational soaps, the Brits revolve around class, and the Australian soaps are egalitarian. ie. in the Aussie soaps there are not usually rich/poor etc, everyone is just the same.
I'm reading The Slap at the moment and quite enjoying it.
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Nick Bryant wonders why people being derided often adopt the derisive name being used against them. There is an old tradition of doing this, probably as a way of promoting solidarity among the abused and defying the abuser. Back in the Great War, the Kaiser condemned British troops as "a contemptible little army", whereupon the Tommies proudly started calling themselves The Old Contemptibles. The French Impressionists adopted the name after a critic condemned Monet's painting Soleil Levant as being a mere impression rather than a proper painting. And in more recent times, homosexuals have taken to calling themselves queer, a description once considered offensive.
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I loved this book for the reasons Nick outlined - as a w.o.g.(how come i can't get this word past the profanity filter but the blogger can - rascist i say!), it is rare to see us in print.
I liked the dialogue but got lost with some of the caricatures.
i really enjoyed the chapter based on the father. he was very real to me.
Too melbourne? I didn't think so. Penshurst, matraville and Revesby all seemed like home to this book as much as St Kilda.
A very curious book. very flawed but in some ways a little triumph. we need more books like this.
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I'm an Australian who's lived for a number of years in the UK and the US and am constantly bemused by reports of Australian racism. I don't think Australians are racist so much as xenophobic. I'm white so perhaps I don't see the full picture, but I genuinely believe Australians are pretty colour blind - different ethnic features might be noticed, even joked about, but I think only very few truly take them seriously. What Australians *do* have difficulty adjusting to are Australian residents with different cultures / languages. I'd contrast that to the UK where there is a tendency to accept different cultures very quickly but by pigeon-holing - an immigrant is forever a foreigner, however much accepted they might be, and if they're of different ethnic features, this tends to also carry down to children in a way that doesn't happen in Australia. Also Brits tend to caricature other nationalities (French, Italians and yes Australians) in a way that's quite shockingly racist to Australian ears. In the US, the black-white racial divide is titanic, although it is mostly submerged out of sight of public discourse. I'm not convinced that the election of Obama is an accurate reflection in that he's not a descendant of west-african slaves. It would remain immeasurably more difficult for eg his wife to enter mainstream politics. The one area Australia does still have real problem with racism is to Aborigines but that is a different issue altogether.
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A pretty good piece you've done here Nick, I think on balance you've got it pretty right, at least made some very valid points. As an aussie, I find the perspective you're bringing to this issue is quite refreshing, certainly makes one think. Everyone's issues and questions need some illumination from outside (or something like that). I think there's some racism here, but as you say most is not overtly agressive...
One of my daughter's best friends calls herself (haha - BBC's website blocks the term as "profane"!! It's not, not here in Oz. Nick you used the word, for "western oriental gent") - in self-depreciation. She's "as aussie" in voice and attitudes as us (FYI I'm a skip. And a ginger too!! I cop loads of labelling with that mix).
p.s: also as an Aussie, I'm still getting over the shock of learning that we have a book club here!!?? I assume you meet at the pub or beach, with the TAB form guide a regular agenda item?
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Yeah, as a white Aussie of Irish background, I was always called a skippie or a convict.
Never took offense, because it was never meant that way.
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#16, Smuggler, Yawn! Please get over the notion that Brits are obsessed with class! Soaps tend to be more 'working class', mainly I beleive because this offers more opportunities for 'realsitic' dramas. We love our historical dramas (but then apparently, so too does the rest of the world) - doesn't mean we want to return to an Upstairs Downstairs world.
#14. My Mum loves Kath and Kim (shown on the BBC I believe), I had to stop her making comments about people who looked/sounded like the characters when she was here, I don't think it would have been taken as a compliment.
On the subject of getting to know Aus before you arrive, well you can only do so much research, best leave it for when your here, otherwise you could easily be misinformed! What's appaling for me is how little a lot of Aussies seem to know of their own country/peoples.
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It's not that British people are obsessed with class, just that they have a class system.
I was much more aware of class in England.
Basically I just noticed it, that there were different groups of people from different socio-economic backgrounds, and they seemed to keep to themselves for the most part.
Very weird for an Aussie.
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The UK hasn't been like that since the 1970s
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Obviously there's not the class difference there was in the 70s, but when I was there the difference between classes was apparent.
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Language is a big social leveller. It was totally baffling to me why British friends from Devon eradicated dialect traits from their speech when in mixed company. Imagine bunging on an "accent" in Australia; you'd never live it down. Australian English has grown even richer under the influences of indigenous and migrant home languages and "The Slap" would naturally make good use of this. It should also be noted that multiculturalism didn't enter our lexicon a mere 40 years ago-Australia was multicultural from day 1 when Europeans encountered hundreds of distinct Aboriginal languages. How lovely it must have been in the LaTrobe household speaking French or learning in Sorbian/German in little Lutheran schools before the White Australia policy raised its ugly head.
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Haven't read the book yet, but a comment on "Boat People"...Australia needs to quickly build to a population of 60 - 70 million for it to become a global economic powerhouse. It's not just a case of "Populate or Perish" as Chifley and Caldwell put it in the late 1940s, these days it is an economic reality, and Australia has the resources and the space to do it. So, let them land. Open the doors to all those dispossessed souls fleeing persecution and poverty in their countries of birth. We need more Aussies who recognise Australia is the land of the free and land of opportunity in this new and pregnant 21st Century - new Australians who can raise their families with pride as the latest in a wave of immigrants to this vast and wondrous land that began in 1788.
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Re class in the UK, I work for a UK law firm and I can tell as soon as someone starts speaking whether they are a lawyer or support staff. The UK universities seem to level out students accents, so they end up with an "educated" accent, rather than the yorkshire etc one they used to speak. On the whole the support staff have maintained their accents. It seems to help with placing people in the social structure. Its an interesting observation.
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28 = oldnewshound We don't have the resources to sustain the population we have currently, so how can we sustain twice that. Sure if we build more dams, if we spend more on infrastructure, if we build more roads and rail. But the problem is most migrants to Australia, no matter where they come from, gravitate to our over populated cities and in so doing, drain the resources that should be spent on expanding into the dry and arid areas.
This country has very poor rain fall, some places it just doesn't rain, very poor soil quality...I'm in an area of Queensland where you can't sustain one cow on 50 acres for a year...and very sparce distances where it can take up to an hour just to drive to the nearest supermarket.
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Every country has different social classes. The important thing is how you define them, and then how much note you take of those definitions.
For starters, don't confuse accent with class. There's a wealth of regional accents in the UK that just doesn't exist in Australia. That doesn't mean that there aren't differences here, and even as a newcomer I can tell the difference (or at least make assumptions about) people from different parts of Australia and those with differing levels of education.
So how do you define it? Mr Smuggler definitely is onto something with education levels. But speaking as someone who entered the Uni system more than ten years ago, I can certainly tell you that education is not the preserve of the rich any longer.
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W-g is actually an abreviation of golliwog from Enid Blyton books. I believe that people from southern europeans countries know that they have made a great contributed to Australia and their positive influence is undeniable. The Italians gave us fantastic coffee, floor tiles, and olive oil just to name a few. A Lebanese friend of mine told me that when his family came to Australia in the 1950's, they would go to the supermarket to try and buy olive oil and no one knew what it was. Now it would be hard to find an Aussie household without a bottle of olive oil in the kitchen. Historically, our main issue with migrants was that they would not speak English, which incidentally is Australia's de facto language but is not de jure. I never forget working with someone of Asian descent from Singapore, who lived in Australia, complaining about Australians who are europeans who could not speak English. Tt made me laugh.
I believe that it is reasonable for Australia to have a population of around 35 million people by 2050. We really do need to have this size population to be an economic powerhouse in our region. But I also believe that we need to ensure that the people who migrate to Australia respect our values. It is a country's citizens who influence its laws and policies. Look at some of the laws passed in Afghanistan regarding women in the last two years, what sort of people wanted those laws. If someone thinks that having a woman wear a burka is normal, then they do not belong here, give me naked midriff and bare legs any day, it is part of our culture.
The reason that some countries, such as Afghanistan, have failed to make it into the 18th century, let alone the 21st century, is largely because of its people, and some people just do not want to change.
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Indians, are much newer immigrants to Australia.
Greeks have inhabited Australia since the 1840's? also with the italians, the first Greeks and Italians were penal transportation.
But as i could imagine with the influx of indian and middle eastern is a totally different story as they haven't been accepted to the country till only recently.
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