Australian Mateship Culture: A Unique Identity Of Australians

The unique culture of Australian mateship

You are requires you to examine and discuss Australian identity via your personal experience of living in Australia.

Based on some calculation it has been found that Australians trace their lineage from more than 200 countries and they are found to be speaking in more than 300 languages. Australians belong to more than 100 different religious groups. This makes it a challenge to define an Australian. However, when someone is making an effort to define a prototypical Australian people are engaging in defining the typical Australian mateship as one of the most important aspects. Mateship has been strongly embedded in the Australian identities. It has found that Australians have the tendency to treat strangers with bonhomie and thereby building up a strong relationship with the people (Watson 2005). In Australian if you walk down the street especially in Perth people exhibit their warm attitude by greeting goodmorning to the strangers, although the person may not know. This demonstrates that Australian have an amiable nature. In Australia, transportation facilities are top notch and the train services are quite good. The train always arrives on time, therefore underlining the aspect of punctuality that is key to Australia. The train would arrive on the right time without any delay during the normal situations. All the trains in Australia are equipped with the wheelchair position (Minter 2012). This indicates that the society in Australia is concerned about the disable individuals and makes an effort to challenge the able-bodied orientation of the society. The buses that have been introduced by the Australian government is environment friendly and this is something that I appreciate about the present government. People who are dependent on the wheelchair find it convenient to access the bus. This is because all the new buses in addition to being environment friendly also have the lift system that makes it easier for the disabled people to access the bus. In this light, it can be stated that Australia has disabled friendly environment where the disabled people are accommodated within the society through inclusive ant able-bodied policies. The mateship in Australia is strongly is connected to all person on board the bus not just between the drivers and the passengers. The mateship ensures that all the persons are on boarding the bus and not just between the driver and the passenger. I have observed something unique about the millenials in Australia. In the bus or any other public transport, whenever they would encounter any elderly person they would leave their seat and stand up. Before coming to Australia, I had no idea that the driver and passenger could be so friendly to each other, considering the hierarchical dimension in their relationship (Li 2011). The driver and passenger relationship is premised on class and occupational stratification.

The importance of mateship in Australian society

Therefore, to witness such change in behaviour made me realize that there is hope in the world. Contrary to the conventional image of Australia as a racist country, I realized that the media sensationalism could be quite brutal in tarnishing the image of a nation based on certain isolated incidents. I have constantly compared this driver-passenger relationship in Australia to that of my home country, China. I have immense respect for my country and the glorious history it has weaved over the years, however there are certain aspects of my country that makes uncomfortable (Migrants Need to Learn Mateship 2012). The driver-passenger relationship is certainly one of them. In China, the passengers maintain a snooty attitude and prefer to keep away from the drivers. This highlights the class-stratified relationship of the driver and the passenger where the driver is deemed to be someone who is subordinate and engaged in the menial task. On the other hand, the passenger functions with a sense of ownership and authority and therefore, looks down upon the driver. On the aspect of disability in China, I read in the newspaper that 95 per cent of the orphans in China are in need of special needs. Similarly, the cities in China are not well –equipped to cater to the needs of the teeming disabled population (Bretherton 2012). This can be attributed to the lack of proper infrastructure, governmental institutions, and the transportation system that reeks of an able-bodied environment. Unlike, Australia where the disabled people are treated with respect and dignity, I am quite crestfallen looking at the plight of the disabled community in China. Some entrepreneurs in China are exploiting the exploiting the helplessness and misery of the disabled people by introducing shows such as China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe or The Kingdom of the Little People. This kind of ruthless marketing strategy I feel is a modern day slavery and I strongly oppose such endeavours. Another problem that I have observed in china is that the drivers would not treat the disabled passengers with due respect. However, this is not the situation in Australia where the disabled community is treated with dignity and respect. Therefore, it can be stated that there is no mateship in my home country. People will greet each other or wave to each other if they know each other. Strangers do not share bonhomie with each other unlike the culture in Australia.

Comparison of mateship in Australia and China

American culture is influenced by the ethos of individualism that has informed the long history of America (Guo 2002). However, at the same time mateship played an important role in Australian culture. Drawing from the arguments made in the first section, it is difficult to define an average Australian. Every individual is different despite from their shared nationality and citizenship, and Australians are no exception to it. However, in case people are interested to define the nature of Australian mateship, it is quite possible. Mateship is considered as one of the important attributes of the Australian society. Mateship is embedded in the Australian culture and would continue to remain a strong part of the strong part of the Australian culture. Mateship is unique to the Australian tradition and it can traced to the Aboriginal Australian Tradition that has become the foundation of the Australian identity during the movements at the end of the 19^th century (Guo 2002). According to Watson (2005) the essence of real mateship is not compatible with modern Australia. If someone wants to kill mateship then it would be a cliché. Mateship is considered as one of the most important values in Australia. However, this value was limited to the men in Australia. Mateship may be applied to the relationships between the miners or shearers during the lock-out or strike. Another argument regarding mateship emerged from Bernard Salt (2002). He was of the opinion that mates are great but it is not just Aussies who support the mateship culture. However, I would beg to differ with such an understanding. Based on my visit to different countries as part of student exchange program and drawing from my experience in my home country, I would assert that the mateship culture is unique to Australia. Australians maintain an amiable relationship with each other, it is reflected in their democracy and at the same time in their national independence. The essence of the term lies in a young helping another person without expecting anything in return. Mateship is connected with the diggers in Australia in World War I. Mateship is an integral part of the Australian culture and identity. John Howard, the former Prime Minister wanted to incorporate mateship into the preamble of the constitution in 1999 (Burin 2015). He argued that mateship is a unique Australian concept for everyone to assemble irrespective of their differences. Westpac conducted a survey on one thousand participants and inquired about the core national identity of the Australians. The survey revealed that 15 per cent of the Australians attributed mateship to the be the core of the national identity (Burin 2015).

Disability and public transport system in Australia and China

In the previous sections, I have elaborately discussed about the culture of mateship in Australia. Now I would compare and contrast the mateship culture in Australia to that of my home country. Recently, when I was walking the Black Pearl Lane in Perth, a tragedy unfolded before eyes-the car in front of me hit an elderly citizen. Initially I was too numb to react, however quickly I mustered my courage and went ahead to help the person. Another man who was standing across the street also came forward to help the person. A car that was passing by stopped and enquired whether we would require any help in taking the elderly person to the hospital. Another woman who was walking by along with her dog also stopped on the way to enquire whether we would require any help. The elderly person expressed his gratitude top each of us after he was taken to the hospital. This made extremely proud about the mateship culture in Australia, the reason for which people in Australia extend their help to the strangers and at the same time feel that it is their moral duty to help people in need irrespective of their identity. However, if I have to juxtapose this experience with my home country, the picture would be completely different. I remember news that cause sensation in the country. In Nanjing, three buses stopped at the station at the same time (Minter 2012). An elderly person whilst walking to the third bus fell down and a young man came forward to help the elderly person. The senior person was sent to the hospital, however nobody cam forward to help the senior citizen. Once the senior citizen was brought to the hospital, the senior citizen demanded from medical compensation from the young person saying that he was the one who have hit him. The young man was left with no other choice but to bear the entire compensation of 40 thousands. Although, the story have ended there but it has made me realize that I would think twice before helping someone. This is because if I go to help someone I might be asked to pay the compensation, which I feel, is unfair. Another incident that shook the people in China was the death of a young girl due to road accident. It was only after the intervention of the street cleaner that the young girl was sent to the hospital.

Learning about the Australian identity made me realize that Chinese people would rather keep silent if injustice happens before them calculating the impact of the incident. On the contrary, the Australian citizens would stand up for each other. I strongly feel the culture of mateship needs to promoted in China so that there is no death due to road accidents. People need to develop the culture of helping each other.

References

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