THERE isn’t much I like about the Americanisation of our society.
Using a ‘z’ in words where an ‘s’ should be, saying ‘trash’ not ‘rubbish’ and the proliferation of fast-food outlets and warehouse-style shops are just some of the things that make me frown.
However, I’ve always admired their sense of patriotism.
While we Aussies are quietly proud of who we are and where we’ve come from, I don’t think we shout it from the rooftops enough.
So it was great to see lots of metaphorical shouting this Australia Day in Wyndham.
I liked the supermarket staff who, instead of their usual smart uniform, wore themed shorts, T-shirts and thongs with an Aussie flag superhero-style cape while stacking shelves and smiling at the check-outs.
A ute covered from bumper to tow-bar in Southern Cross stickers and little fluttering flags, driven by an Akubra-wearing farmer, was pretty impressive too.
Zinc cream across the nose was popular and I even spied a few canine friends with green and gold livery.
Online, my social media friends were changing their profile pictures to golden beaches, stubby holders or kangaroos, while the opening lines of Dorothea Mackellar’s famous poem — ‘I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains . . .’ — were being quoted.
Barbecues were lit, faces were painted and Acca-Dacca was played.
It’s just one day, but we Wyndhamites should take the opportunity to shout loud and proud, along with the rest of the nation, what it means to be Australian.
Emma Sutcliffe is a Little River-based freelance writer.
