To me, this suddenly infamous event, provides a glimpse into the type of nation Australia is. Want to know what Aussie's are like? Here it is, in one short mobile phone video recording.
First of all we have the cricket test at the SCG. To understand Australians you first need to understand cricket, or more accurately, you need to understand the place that cricket has in Australia.
Cricket is synonymous with summer in this nation. The sounds of the game and commentary follow you through out the long hot days. The Christmas and New Year period are punctuated for the cricket fan by the two biggest tests of the calendar, the Boxing Day test in Melbourne and the New Year's test in Sydney. It was at the latter, Mr Hawke was filmed.
Secondly, we have the main character of this film being former Prime Minister Mr Bob Hawke. There are a couple of items to highlight here. One, the fact that a former PM is quite happy to mix with the ordinary people of the cricket "outer". I wonder how many US Presidents or British PM's will wander the grandstands of their national sports and casually (not for the camera's mind you) fraternise with the average person?
It strikes me as a part of the Australian way of life, that a former national leader could do this without anything being thought of it. It demonstrates the flat, non-hierarchical social structure of Australian culture, where differences of rank, responsibility, or any other distinguishing socio-economic mark are invisible.
Mr Hawke was the legendary recipient of a Guinness Book World Record, when in 1955 he set the fastest time for skolling a yard glass of beer. Mr Hawke was also once the most popular PM Australia has had, and judging my the video that sentiment has been rekindled. And I can't help but think the former contributed to latter becoming a reality.
The third point about Australia this video makes is the role that beer plays in it. Australia has a long standing and at times torrid relationship with beer. The fact that a long standing PM would hold a world drinking record is not something of a black mark in this nation, but a point of celebration. Such is the Australian emotional (and at times physical) attachment to the golden ale.
It is not without its problems however. As far back as the mid 70's Bob Hawke himself, then the President of the ACTU (Australia's Union peak body), spoke of Australia's drinking problem when he said:
Alcoholism is fast becoming the all-Australian nightmare for, in addition to creating thousands of sick workers, it has created a sick economy where the doctors in charge don't have a clue as to the conditions or the cause!
In the 35 years since, I don't think much has change or certainly not improved. Right now, that is Australia, in a youtube clip; take it or leave it. For good or for bad, Australia is still deeply rooted in a world of cricket, egalitarian attitudes, drinking records, and when that is not working for us, no "clue" as to how to make any change for the better.
