MetaFilter posts tagged with australia

What Bogan is that?

awfurby — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:23:14 -0800

Someone has started publishing a handy guide to the Australian bogan. One bogan is not amused. (Previously)

Softies for Mirabel

hecho de la basura — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:56:17 -0800

In its' third year, Softies for Mirabel is an appeal for handmade stuffed toys to benefit children supported by The Mirabel Foundation. The Mirabel Foundation is an Australian nonprofit organization whose aim is to support children who are abandoned or orphaned due to parental illicit drug use. Softies (also sometimes referred to as plushies or plush toys) are popular among crafters as making one can be as simple or as complicated as the maker desires. Take a look at the Softies for Mirabel Flickr group for inspiration and get cracking, but hurry, deadline is December 10.

Horrie the Wog Dog

web-goddess — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:50:09 -0800

Army Pack: Horrie the Wog Dog, 2/1Australian Machine Gun Battalion. An Australian soldier in WW2 befriended a puppy, and he went to great lengths to save him after the War. I saw it this morning on Letters of Note and thought it was great. Be sure to read to the end.

iSnack 2.0

moorooka — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:32:18 -0800

The billionth jar of Vegemite was sold in 2008. This nutritious yeast-based brown paste has been popular in Australia for decades, although its "distinctive" taste has limited its popularity in foreign markets. In July 2009, a competition was held by Kraft to come up with a name for the new cheesy variant. The result, chosen from 30,000 entries, sparked such a backlash that Kraft quickly backed down... but was iSnack 2.0 a marketing failure or a publicity coup? The obligatory "Downfall" clip

How to make a Jellystinian

moorooka — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:41:00 -0800

Jewish-Australian John Safran is (in)famous for his outrageous style of comedic television documentary, including the AFI award winning "Music Jamboree" and "John Safran vs God" (previously). His latest effort, "Race Relations" has already been described as the "lowest point in the history of Australian television". Including a "sniff test" comparison of Eurasian and Jewish panties and a scene involving a plastic cup and a copy of Obama's "Audacity of Hope" inside a Palestinian sperm-bank, episode one (of eight) aired last Wednesday to a buzz of controversy, and there's plenty worse to come.

Homelessness in Sydney

bystander — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:38:04 -0800

"I always had this picture in my head a homeless person is they're got torn dirty clothes, they're not shaven, they're, they're sort of sitting in the corner you know waiting for a handout and that was my and to think that - I'm not in that category - but I don't have a home for my family."
A report from Australia's Four Corners documentary TV show looking into homeless families in Western Sydney. Link has video and a transcript, plus background info.

Here lies a local culture

AmbroseChapel — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:07:42 -0800

It was one of the biggest riots in the nation's history. An estimated four thousand sailors and locals -- an unlikely alliance of the young and unemployed, the gay community, the rockers -- fought with police, threw rocks and burned cars. Echoes of Stonewall, or of similar riots in the UK and USA? It was immortalised in song, and the tale grew in the telling. The media coverage made international news ... maybe the free beer was a mistake? Thirty years later: a toast to the Star Hotel.

A sleek geek.

Megami — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:38:30 -0800

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki has done a lot in his life so far. A medical doctor (with degrees in a lot of other stuff as well), a broadcaster , a best-selling author of books with titles such as 'It Ain't Necessarily So...Bro' and 'Please Explain' (the humour of that last title may be lost on non-Australians) that make science understandable without dumbing it down too much, a wearer of rather bright shirts, a safety campaigner, one time political aspirant - he's done it all. He is probably Australia's best known, and best loved, geek.

George Julius' Mechanical Totalisator

Fiasco da Gama — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:41:29 -0800

Sir George Julius's Automatic Totalisator, first used by the public in New Zealand, and quickly taken up by racetracks throughout Australasia and North America (warning hideous HTML), automates parimutuel betting.

Putting a 14-year-old in a "lie detector" - what did you expect would happen?

divabat — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:54:17 -0800

Sydney radio station 2dayFM earned the ire and backlash of the Australian public - rape counsellors, Australian media, and Community Services ministers - after an on-air stunt by morning crew Kyle and Jackie O went horribly wrong. During their regular "lie detector" segment, a 14-year-old girl was interrogated by the hosts and her mother over her sexual history, against her will, and revealed that she had been raped at 12 on air (warning: possibly triggering audio clip embedded in news article). The hosts immediately offered to pay for counselling services, but questions such as "And did you have any other experiences?" led to widespread on Twitter, calls for sackings and shutdowns, and a major PR crisis for radio group Austereo. While the station and its hosts have released an official statement and Kyle Sandilands has stated he was "stunned" by the revelation, authorities are now seeking out the girl's mother for investigation. This is not the first time Kyle and Jackie O (mostly Kyle) have courted controversy.

Teach, Bundanoon, teach!

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:18:47 -0800

Australian town bans bottled water.

Thomas Ley, Hanging Minister

Fiasco da Gama — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:32:41 -0800

In 1947, Thomas Ley, a virulently sectarian, pro-hanging Australian politician, died in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he had been sent after being sentenced to death for murder. It was probably not his first.

Minty, fresh [CENSORED], or your money back!

cheaily — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:01:10 -0800

Internet nasties affecting network freshness? Try Censordyne! The latest campaign to shine a light on the Australian Government mandatory internet filtering initiative, supported by GetUp! See also: No Clean Feed and some background to the saga on Wikipedia

A tool for 20th-century Australian History

mattoxic — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:36:37 -0800

Even after some deliberation it is difficult to find reasons to support the appointment of women Trade Commissioners. The Virtual Reading Room of the National Archives of Australia is a mine of information about Australia, its relationships and past attitudes.

Upside down! Upside down!

Effigy2000 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:28:41 -0800

Mr Squiggle, the Man from 93 Crater Crescent, the Moon, turns 50 today. Created by cartoonist and puppeteer Norman Hetherington, who would take children's scribbles and then craft it into a drawing, Mr Squiggle, along with friends Gus the Snail, Bill the Steam Shovel and the ever grumpy Blackboard (whom Mr Squiggle would use as an easel, being told to "Hu-rry u-p, hu-rry u-p" as he did) has been something of an institution for generations of Australian kids. Relive some of the magic...

Healthy Country, Healthy People

ginky — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:54:22 -0800

An opinion piece in the Age states that the Northern Territory Government "plans to, in effect, close down indigenous outstations". Northern Territory government just announced the Working Future initiative. But this proposal to create 20 towns across the Territory may not be the healthiest option for indigenous Australians. The Healthy Country, Healthy People report concludes: "Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviours, multivariate regression revealed significant and substantial associations between caring for country and health outcomes...Conclusions: Greater Indigenous participation in caring for country activities is associated with significantly better health. Although the causal direction of these associations requires clarification, our findings suggest that investment in caring for country may be a means to foster sustainable economic development and gains for both ecological and Indigenous peoples’ health." Last year the AMJ published research about the Utopia community in the Territory that showed lower than expected morbidity and mortality for an Australian Aboriginal population. Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs states that "All Australians have the right to choose to live in extremely isolated regions but this inevitably involves a trade-off in access to both market and government provided services. Choosing to live in very remote areas must not be allowed to compromise the health, wellbeing and education of children." Some people suggest that certain aspects of government policy might be more about Uranium than the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Previously on the blue

Discrimination to Fight Discrimination?

Effigy2000 — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:42:12 -0800

"How do black women fight crime? They have abortions." "How do you stop a poofter from drowning? You take your foot off his head." These and other 'jokes' featured in an advertisement on The Gruen Transfer, an Australian television program focusing on advertising. The ad, part of a segment called 'The Pitch' which usually produces humorous ads, was banned by the ABC, but the national broadcaster has still allowed it to be viewed online, and hundreds have now seen it. The ad was designed to sell "fat pride", with creator Adam Hunt explaining his motivation behind the ad being to say "if you discriminate against somebody on the basis of their shape then you are no different to someone who is racist, homophobic or anti-Semitic." Debate has raged online if the ad is offensive and discriminatory, as the ABC has declared, and whether or not it was effective. Watch the ad and judge for yourself.

20 Years Of Supercilious Gits

Fiasco da Gama — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:59:17 -0800

Twenty years old this year, fifteen-minute long Australian television programme Media Watch criticises television and print journalism. (Previously).

Arachnid overlords

Chocolate Pickle — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:16:26 -0800

Be glad you don't live in Bowen, Queensland. The town is being overrun by giant bird-eating spiders, which are venomous and as big as a man's hand. They're the biggest spiders in Australia, a land known for monstrous creepy crawlies.

A Most Disgusting Song

msalt — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:00:00 -0800

Sixto Rodriguez aka Rod Riguez was a platinum-selling urban-poet folk-funk singer in South Africa, a hit across Australia and New Zealand -- and had no idea. He was working on a construction site in his home town of Detroit until his daughter Eva Alicia found a fansite called "The Great Rodriguez Hunt". Albums: "Cold Fact" (1970, 2008). 4 stars in Billboard (4/18/70); 8.0 on Pitchfork (9/17/08) "Coming From Reality (1973, 2009 - reissued today) Tour: May 8 - July 12, 2009 United States and Europe Songs: "Inner City Blues", "Sugarman", "Crucify Your Mind", "Forget It" - on Daytrotter "Heikki's Suburbia Bus Tour" "Sugarman", "Crucify Your Mind", and "Only Good For Conversation" on his Myspace page "Sugar man" - on David Holme's 2002 mix album "Come Get It, I Got It"; sampled by Nas on You're Da Man

You are about to enter the Gallipoli Peninsula at Z Beach

tellurian — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:21:14 -0800

Gallipoli: The First Day [flash] An ABC documentary site about the WW1 ANZAC landing at Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915.

We Are the Image Makers

netbros — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:00:02 -0800

WATIM [We Are the Image Makers] is an online publication that promotes Australian artists, illustrators, designers and photographers. Issue 19 is out this month. There have been more than 150 artist contributors in their four years online. [some art nsfw]

Pot Luck

vronsky — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:15:24 -0800

1980s Australian tv talent show Pot Luck, featuring -- Todd Rixon, Piffy the bell ringer, and Wenkyshafee.

Pictures of Australian War Memorials Online

Effigy2000 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:15:22 -0800

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, when Australia and New Zealand remembers its fallen diggers who gave their lives (video link) in defence of our freedoms in the major conflicts of the 20th century. If you can, you really should try and attend one of the many dawn services that will be held at numerous war memorials located all around both countries tomorrow. Many of these memorials to the fallen have been documented and are now viewable online. Check out the war memorial pages for Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria (The Shrine of Rememberance in Victoria has its own web page), South Australia and the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the big one in the ACT, the Australian War Memorial. New Zealand has documented many of theirs online as well. Lest we forget, there's also a memorial at ANZAC Cove itself.

Sharpies: expressing difference through a well-dressed thuggery

filthy light thief — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:35:50 -0800

"Normally subcultures in Australia are taken from other countries and just reproduced here. Sharps or sharpies are an Australian specific subculture, developed in Australian specific conditions." Sharpies were members of suburban youth gangs in Australia mainly from the 1960s to 1980s, particularly in Melbourne, but also in Sydney and Perth to a lesser extent. "Everybody was in a gang. Everybody. Every second street there was a gang. Um -- there was like you were either in a gang or you were the victim." The time of the sharpies is part of Melbourne folklore. Forget JFK. Where were you when Frankston erupted after the AC/DC concert in 1977? While the violence was legendary, so were the fashion and the music. Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls, Buster Brown, Skyhooks, Fat Daddy, Hush. And nobody danced like the sharpies (which resembles skanking of some sort). Anyone over forty who grew up in Melbourne has at least one story to tell about the sharpies (PDF). Some stories are about gang leaders with missing teeth and shit-eating grins, while others look back with some sort of fondness.