My forebears came to this wide brown land from Scotland and Ireland around 150 years ago. They were tillers of the soil, who were being persecuted by wealthy landlords who controlled their every capacity to earn a fair living. They were oppressed and often left hungry when crops failed. They had no knowledge of the topography, the fertility or climatic conditions on the land in which they were going to start a new life. But when opportunity beckoned, they cast aside caution and took the chance.
Stoutly enthusiastic, they came and initially settled in central Victoria. With only meagre savings to live on they had to get jobs or get productive at land clearing and crop growing. They did both and despite an unreliable climate and often low soil fertility, they started producing wheat for bread manufacture and oats as food for both man and horses. Dairy cows were imported and soon milk, cream, cheese, and butter were available, mostly homemade.
From these meagre beginnings, adaptation made both man and nation and set us on the road to nationhood. We have prospered on the intelligent hard work of settlers who diligently did their best with what our wide brown land had to offer. What this demanding land offered was often heartbreak. But they recovered and we have not looked back until quite recently.
Sadly, it seems now that the nation-building era is behind us. What has changed? We are still the land of opportunity. We are still the land of abundant resources. We still live in a land where opportunity stretches to the horizon.
In the mind of this Old Bushy, what has changed is the attitude of our settlers. Indeed, I doubt I should call them settlers. More like ‘bludgers’, as defined in Australian slang as ‘one who leeches off the efforts of others’. Among those who have recently flocked to our shores, there are some who have not come to make their own way. These individuals seek out taxpayer welfare and are provided with all the basics of life, including shelter, food, medical services, and education.
They are, in my opinion, not settlers in the mould that made Australia great. Those who prefer welfare to work could and would not build the Snowy Scheme. We have a growing cohort of ‘bludgers’ living off the enterprise and hard work of others. Not everyone, of course, but certainly too many. That this trend has now been institutionalised to include a vocal army of politicians, bureaucrats, and public servants all on sinecures of plenty far beyond their worth, will make change very difficult.
But change we must … or our future will be dim and tedious.
Not only will it be unexciting it will be to live in fear of being taken over by more powerful neighbours. We must immediately sweep away all ‘Green Environmentalism’ and repeal all so-called land rights that have resulted in about 2 per cent of our population controlling around 60 per cent of our land mass. We must repeal all legislation, both state and federal that gives rights and riches to minority groups.
Every Australian should live under one set of rules and one flag.
Every Australia should equally share in the resources and obligations of this potentially great land.
Yes, to live here carries with it obligations. Obligations relating to self-sufficiency.
For Australia to compete with the rest of the world, we need again to be a nation of settlers, not bludgers.
