Identity a Question Of ?

[Guest autonursis]

I've been in Australia for 26 years, unfortunately, most of it in Brisbane. Since I've settled here, taken citizenship, had a family here. I've faced the problem of being 'British' in Australia. I say British, because for me, being British is the core of my identity. I'm a Briton by a conscious process of reconciling my Irish and Scottish parents' identity to being a 'Yorkshireman'. And as I'm sure if you are a fellow 'Brit', you will appreciate that coping with being a 'Yorkshireman' is a trial and tribulation in its own right! And add to that, the fact that I married an Asian I met in the Middle East and ended up on Australia's sunny shores, not by design but by the desire to please the woman I love(d). Yes, thats a complex in itself). But I'm sure you know where this conversation is going, especially, if you as I have had to reconcile a 'bucketful of contradiction' in a new world.

 

I'm 53, Yorkshire born and Yorkshire bred, strong in arm and weak in head! As the rhyme goes. Unfortunately for me, the last thing I'm is weak in the head! In fact I'm too intelligent and good looking for my own good !!!!!!!! Sorry, I've a typical Northern humour - no humility and **** all taste! I digress, the fact is I'm syncretic to these cultural challenges. Having no intrinsic identity for me to worry about, but I am a father by God's good graces and have to deal with that most prickly of questions 'colonial consciousness'. You all know what I mean, we take it for granted that we have come from an ancient and world changing culture. The problem is - how do we deal with the fact that our past is our present problem, as far as our colonial cousins are concerned. The very fact that, this association is called 'PerthPoms' highlights the dilemma of being 'British' in a culture that I would opine has not even begun to deal with being 'Australian', and seem to slough that off by the resentment that I'm a Pom! I'd be interested to hear commentary from other 'Poms', and see if I can gain some deeper insights into this essential 'colonial conundrum'. Just for your amusement, I tell the Australians 'POM' in my case means the 'Perfection of Man'. Bill McIntosh.