Your 2 Cents

It was a couple of years ago now, but this is how I remember the story. I went to Bill and Toni's restaurant one day. Ordered a latte and vegemite and tomato on Turkish bread. When I went outside the tables were all full. An elderly man at a table of aged gentlemen gestured to the empty chair beside him.

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Margaret Fulton was the first and greatest of the Australian celebrity cookery writers. Through her magazine columns and later her cookbooks, she showed the nation how to cook in new and exciting ways – with Margaret’s bold approach to food, our national cuisine was transformed.

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In 1994, the Darwin Symphony Orchestra gave a concert of my music in Kakadu National Park. It was conducted by my good friend Martin Jarvis and some of the works performed were inspired by the park itself. I felt that we were taking the music home. My guitar concerto is called Nourlangie. The work was lovingly performed by John Williams under the very shadow of Nourlangie Rock.

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I had every intention of writing a formal piece to you on my adoration for my homeland and the insights that travel has allowed me in regard to cultural identity...well, you can forget that now. I've just experienced a serendipitous moment at my local beach, that I just have to share with you, as I believe it sums up the simple joy of calling Australia home.

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As another Australia Day approaches I call to mind the challenges that face us in the year ahead and I ask myself: Have we the collective will to seriously tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions? Or will we be content with gestures and rhetoric?

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Australian identity and culture strike at the very heart of my being. I was only seven years old when my family were forced to flee Nazi-dominated Austria after the Anschluss in 1938. This rupture in my family’s life made an indelible mark on my young personality.

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The debate on Australian values, like the debate about national identity, comes and goes. While we might be ready to accept that our national identity is an evolving concept that can’t yet be articulated very precisely, some of us still cling to the idea that there must be some distinctive values ......

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Came the Dreamtime, came the Black Man, came the Serpent, came the Dingo Came the Tears down from the Moon to give the Life. Came the Emu, Kookaburra, came the love for one another Came the White Man, came the Heartbreak, came the Strife.

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Oh Bottlebrush you, When your fire-flowers enchant us, I know why the bush birds Are drawn to your branches.

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It’s December 22, 2008 and The Australia Day Council has asked me to for my take on Australia today. By coincidence the 22nd of December is my birthday and I turned 63. What a fantastic 63 years I’ve had to thanks to being born and living in Australia. For that I thank God.

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