Alborg

Can't really explain what I'm asking in one word but have always been fascinated by the psyche and social nuances within countries and I'm aware of my own having grown up in the UK e.g.. North/South divide amongst others, so interested in the views and prejudices between people and areas WITHIN Australia. For example how do different states see each other.

To give you an example I read this earlier

"Never confuse Queensland with Australia"

And I've no idea what it means. Could be anything and random as you like and not just state prejudices but would appreciate some of the most well known to help me climatise before my move

astera

This is a straightforward one.

The term is primarily associated with residents of colder pastures within the country, who believe that the general perception of Australia is false and that it is in fact a cold, glum place.

You are most likely to find such an awkward philosophy amongst people who reside in such places and choose to detach themselves from the notion that Australia - in the general sense - stands for great beaches, lots of sun, hot summers, warm winters (20C+ on average), and being able to bbq outdoors all year round.

America has Alaska, Europe has Iceland, whereas Australia has... Melbourne/Tasmania. It doesn't mean that these places are very representative of the continent at large.

Beoz

OK. This is easy to explain. Have you ever seen the movie Deliverance? The one where the 4 blokes from Sydney go on a canoeing trip to Queensland?

GarryP

Everyone views Tasmania as made up of two headed (inbred) idiot bogans only one step up from a New Zealander.

Perth and Western Australia considers the 'East Coast' lot a bunch of effeminate townies.

Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland consider Western Australia a bunch of miners and cash up bogans.

Everyone thinks Northern Territory types 'tropo' or Crocodile Dundee.

NSW and Victoria think Queensland is full of nutters.

Everyone thinks ACT is full of overpaid crooks.

Nobody thinks of South Australia much.

Alborg

OK got it, so anyone who says "Never confuse Queensland with Australia" is likely to be jealous of the good weather in other states and/or from Melbourne.

Alborg

No never seen it, would the four effeminate Sydney Siders get eaten alive? Thought it had to do with weather?

Alborg

Cool, keep it coming. I can vouch for "NSW and Victoria think Queensland is full of nutters". I was chased out of a small country town once by an angry drunk native, I think it was Cooktown?. Anyway I was just minding my own business getting cash out of the ATM.

Beoz

Melbourne has better weather than Brisbane (lets pick somewhere. Queensland is a big place).

Except for 3 months of winter.

Depends what you like in weather though. If you like generally sunny and not too humid, but can get hot, for most of the year, then Melbourne is the place. If you like storms, humidity and aircon go Brisbane.

For 3 months Melbourne becomes scarfs and umbrellas while Brisbane looses the humidity and storms and can be a somewhat decent place to hangout, if you like looking at weather all day - there's not much else to see.

Beoz

No they just get raped and killed.

Alborg

That's unfortunate.

GarryP

OK, the view of aborigines varies inversely proportional with your distance from Canberra.

In the SE it's all 'traditional owners', heritage and implied guilt (even though many of them only immigrated themselves in the past few decades). Not coincidently, they don't get to meet many of them, and those that they do are usually the ones that 'got out' and sip a nice Shiraz at dinner parties.

Whereas those in the top end, Western Australia, etc. view them in the same way Europeans view gypsies; as sponging parasites, continually p*ssed up on cheap booze, fighting, thieving, and with a lethal radius on the smell. Again, not coincidently, they live side by side with them and the one's they meet are wasted on goon boxes, passed out by the side of the road.

Alborg

The guy that chased me out of Cooktown was a pissed up Aborigine.

DC10

You might be surprised to learn that the English (mostly, but also British to an extent) here are colloquially referred to as "whinging Poms", a label which conjures up images of constant complaining, workshyness and malingering. The degree of malice associated with the label varies from light-hearted to quite nasty.

Amazulu

But mainly light-hearted unless you have a massive chip on your should - which many UK immigrants have unfortunately

Buzzy--Bee

OK so as the chappie that coined "never confuse Queensland with Australia" I will attempt to explain my statement - and it has nothing to do with weather.

Many many English people live in Queensland. They write on here and other places about their poor experience of "Australia" about how there is nothing to do once you have exhausted the beach, the people are all inarticulate white trash bogans, there are no decent equivalents of Waitrose, nobody ever does any activities in there lives apart from driving to and from work yadda yadda yadda.

My point is that people shouldn't attribute these failings to "Australia". Because they are not the same experience that people who live in other parts of Australia have.

Similarly if I experience a shit cold rainy winters day in Melbourne I wouldn't say the weather in "Australia" was shit and cold. Someone in Sydney experiencing terrible traffic would not say the traffic in "Australia" was terrible, because someone in Hobart would not recognise that description.

Never confuse Queensland with Australia. Never confuse any other part of this massive country with the whole of Australia either.

BB