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Celebrating the Australian spirit

Mick Neven

by Mick Neven

26 Jan 05:30am

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Filed under: Australia, Brisbane, Floods, Pride, Queensland Floods

16 comments

This summer of floods has been an incredible test of character for all the people who’ve faced it.  And through it all, amongst the tragedy, sadness and loss, our Aussie spirit has shone through, brighter than ever.

And a case to take away thanks, mate! Pic: Rob MacColl

Stories of bravery, sacrifice and mateship abound.  Friends drop everything to go and help their friends.  Total strangers put their lives at risk to save others.  People wade into floodwaters to save stranded dogs, cats and even kangaroos.

People who live on high ground offered their driveways, their yards and even their houses so total strangers can store their possessions and have somewhere to sleep. 

At the evacuation centres, piles of goods were stacked up, willing hands put sandwiches together and people with nothing to do but wait for the worst were met with kind words and a hot cuppa.

Once again, the emergency workers are in the thick of it.  Rescuing the stranded, plucking people from rooftops, putting their lives at risk.  The SES, the police, the chopper crews, firemen and everyone else deserve the highest of accolades.

From interstate, people are helping as best they can.  Donating money and organising fundraisers.  Feeling helpless, but driven to help in any way they possibly can.

In good times, we all go about our business without a second thought for the people across the road, or next door, or who just moved in up the street.  But in the hard times, that’s when we open our arms, open our hearts and start to help each other.  Why does it take a disaster like this to bring out the best in people?  Because that’s when we need to do it.  So we do.

And as always, Aussies face the toughest times with determination and and also with good humour.  Like the people surrounded by floodwater, sitting on their verandahs with beers in hand.  In the midst of all that water, they’ve still managed to find a beer, and drink it with a smile.  Or the guys in the background of the news shots, wading through waist deep water with a carton on their shoulder.  Or the teenagers paddling up and down their home streets in canoes and kayaks, and on surfboards. 

Or the lady on the ABC news who was interviewed amongst the devastation of Grantham.  Her home was gone, her neighbours and friends were dead and missing.  Her town was virtually destroyed.  One moment she was in tears, the next she was laughing out loud.  Why?  Because the pub was gone and she couldn’t even get a cold beer. 

And what she was saying, loud and clear, along with everyone else was this – ‘we can take it’.  Whatever you’ve got, we can take it, we can laugh at it, and then we can bounce back.

Most commented

16 comments

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    • BrewsterMac says:

      07:40am | 26/01/11

      There is no exclusive Australian Spirit, it is Human Spirit.  It may come as some surprise, but the magnificence of compassionate acts towards others in need when directly exposed, has nothing to do with a country, it is just us allowed to be human.

      Reply

    • TChong says:

      09:02am | 26/01/11

      Agree BM. All nationalities believe in “mateship”.
      The same as all countries have valiant, loyal, brave , “never let your mates down"defence forces.
      WE , somewhat myopically believe that a concerted effort during adversity, is our virtue alone.
      From what I have seen, all nations are jingoistic , all believing they have the trademark on sticking together, helping etc. Australia is no better, or worse than any where else.

    • Adam Diver says:

      11:20am | 26/01/11

      I agree as well, but it seems if we have something that unites us I think it must be alcohol, 3 references in that one piece alone.

    • Chucky says:

      12:03pm | 26/01/11

      Tall poppies eh who needs em.

      Good thing you were on the case to stop people feeling good about themselves when they need it the most.

    • TChong says:

      12:03pm | 26/01/11

      Adam :You may well be correct with your observation about the importance of alchohol in our national psyche

    • Chucky says:

      12:04pm | 26/01/11

      Tall poppies eh who needs em.

      Good thing you were on the case to stop people feeling good about themselves when they need it the most.

    • TChong says:

      12:21pm | 26/01/11

      Tall poppies Chucky ? What are you talking about?
      Acknowledging that people from all nations also see themselves as working for a common good , upsets you?
      Why?

    • Chucky says:

      12:43pm | 26/01/11

      Not that my comments were directed at you - interesting I hit a nerve though - but I am sure there are good and valuable reasons to knock people down a peg when their misplaced sense of superiority is one of the few things helping them keep it together in a time a crisis.

      Psychologists the world over recommend kicking people when they are down so they don’t get uppity.

    • BrewsterMac says:

      02:02pm | 26/01/11

      Chucky - and I suppose tall poppy syndrome is exclusively Australian as well.  oi oi oi eh chucky /* bashes beer can on head */.

    • Chucky says:

      02:26pm | 26/01/11

      @ BrewsterMac I will accept your ad hominem as an admission my point was correct. Thank you.

    • Steve S says:

      08:29am | 26/01/11

      Why are the TV news stories on the commercial networks only about people of Anglo extraction?
      I watched a story on SBS and found that there were some non Anglo people in Brisbane after all!
      I still haven’t seen any non anglo people helping out yet though. Are there any at all in the SES?

      Reply

    • Mr Pod says:

      10:22am | 26/01/11

      @Steve S That’s the media for you, ““where can we film and get a decent coffee?”.  The flood coverage of a whole state was represented by a few choice suburbs where media folk lived or frequented.  Brisbane I have found is as multicultural as any city (except Darwin) Mind you if you are expecting a representation of society in the media you’d better take that spaceship of yours back to which ever planet you’ came from.

    • xavier says:

      09:06am | 26/01/11

      Agree with Brewster. There is nothing Australian about it - it’s human. What about the people stealing sand bags? Is that a reflection of “The Australian Spirit?” No, we select what is that reflection. Did people in Pakistan not respond in the same way? Or did they just ditch everyone and head for the hills because they are not Australian? Australia needs to grow up and realise we are not Australians, we are humans. This kind of nationalism is almost exploitative in the face of a crisis.

      Reply

    • CJ says:

      04:05am | 27/01/11

      Xavier, I think that is a little unfair. Why not celebrate the good which has come out of a crisis like this? I think we need to make the distinction between what is unnecessary and nationalist, and what is simply a celebration of how we as a nation are at this moment responding to a crisis like this.

      You are right, it is the human spirit which is being talked about, but this article is in relation to what is at the moment a specifically Australian issue. It points out the little and endearing things which are a part of Australian culture. I am at the moment in France, and just like red wine and cheese is a part of their culture, beer and a good laugh is a part of ours, and that is just a part of how everyone at home is dealing with the floods.

      It’s easy to be critical, but just sit back and have a look at this article from a different point of view. The floods are close to home for all of us, and this article is simply a celebration of how our family and friends have reacted to something so life changing; with a smile and a get to it attitude. I for one really enjoyed this.

    • stephen says:

      10:35pm | 26/01/11

      No, I think there is something distinctly Australian, as much as we can describe a quality or an emotion. Maybe a combination (no 2, no MSG ?) of sentimentality - imperative, if we want no truck with european fascism, which, by the way, will return - and the physicality of clay-earth, (as distinct from the better dirt from the North.)
      The Whiteys didn’t make this nation ; we all did.
      I know Chinese in this country whos’ ancestors predate mine : 1820,( and they’re a damned sight more important then I am.) Plus the Lebanese - Steve bracks ? - Vietnamese - too many to mention - Greeks, Italians, (wogs and dagos to you under-earthers) and the Eastern Europeans, (tons of ‘em.)
      We’ve always been Multicultural, and to suggest otherwise, usurps our real tradition.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      11:07pm | 26/01/11

      It’d be hard to know how it was on the ground in Pakistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Indonesia or wherever in times of crisis, some that they have had being far worse than we have had, even earthquakes in Christchurch not to be sneezed at nor the far greater loss of life in Brazil and then who can forget the mess of New Orleans.
      I suppose each country and all humans will have their own ways of responding and people stealing sandbags aside though not as bad as looters, all the article is attempting to portray is that we can be a resilient lot of help oneanothers when we need to be.

      You do have some callous people about like a woman in a supermarket with three loaves of bread when there was a limit of two because of deliveries unable to get through and on being told that she drops one loaf on the floor and stomps on it to say if she cannot have it, nobody can!
      No spirit there and I wish I had been handy!

      Reply
 
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