WILDLIFE campaigner Steve Irwin was arguably Queensland’s greatest cultural ambassador to the US, says Premier Peter Beattie.
It used to be argued that Queensland was “different” to the rest of Australia, and what the experts meant by that was Queensland was more cultured than the rest of the nation. Pete Beattie’s statement suggests that that still holds true today. RIP Steve Irwin for yesterday, and onya Pete. A bloke couldn’t get more cultured than Pete if he was in a film about Bazza McKenzie.
Was in Ireland this time last year, heading to a wedding. The taxi driver, noting my nationality, said “Isn’t it terrible about Steve Irwin?” Having been out of touch with reality for about six weeks at that point, I just thought it was an odd comment, but I agreed. Similar comments at the wedding. I couldn’t figure out why the Irish were so concerned about the Crocodile Hunter’s impact on Australia’s image overseas. It took the bride, a former Australian resident, to enlighten me.
Noticed a sudden burst of the Irwin’s Australia Zoo ads in my morning dose of Spiderman today, milkmaids take note.
“Having been out of touch with reality for about six weeks at that point, I just thought it was an odd comment, but I agreed.”
That made me chuckle. It’s always best just to agree, I think.
Spiderman is on again. Strewth, or is that Crikey.
One could argue that it’s a bit cynical of them to be trading so much on the anniversary of Steve’s passing. That is, using the anniversary as a marketing tool.
I read that opinion is swinging around against Bindi taking after her old dad and becoming Queen of the Wild and towards going to school.
Well, it’s my cultural duty as a Quincelander to follow these things!
Bindi’s not going to school?
Crikey, this is a post specially for Quincelanders.
I am not and never have been a fan of Steve Irwin and find this present regurgitation of his unfortunate death a bit distasteful.
However, I wonder if he does not fit into the tradition of C. J. Dennis, Steele Rudd, even bits of Lawson or Paterson. Was he in reality just another great Australian story teller who used the movies and TV as his medium, rather than the book?
Has QLD even had any other cultural ambassadors to the US? Can’t really think of anyone…
I think her learnin’ has been interrupted by her earnin’, Darlene.
I think it’s timely to nominate the stingray involved for the Order of Australia.
“Has QLD even had any other cultural ambassadors to the US? Can’t really think of anyone…”
Well, there was….ummm, errr, ummm….Pete’s kind of a cultural ambassador wherever he goes, I guess. Errr, and there was……………….
I moved to Melbourne so I guess I am a cultural ambassador for Queensland in another country.
Well, Bindi should be learnin’ and then she be earnin’, unless she can do the both.
Honestly, she really is TEH MOST ANNOYING KID EVAH. That’s harsh, but true.
Peter Beattie replaced the Joh Bjelke,and with hair cut short and no-one remembered,he now portrays himself as a Queenslander in entirety, a smart lawyer once with the mouth to match far distant from the anti-apartheid stance and rugby match. Along the way,because key words continue to be relayed in our biological construct called memory, the word apartheid and racism and match will catch a disease as like the edge feeling of the dragged along by the hair mismatch. Appeal to the watchers of the game who remember the bravery or was it the shame. So what are the key words of the smart lawyer that have played forever in his self-image and self-worth!? And to of found them and applied them will it be a curse!? Dwell we must on leaders like this because maybe not much is changing when all the mirrors of self disallow to see the sun come and go down. Irwin a participant in,a crocodile match, where now Bindi as charm has to sell… in the fashion houses of the American spell.And what a match it has been since Paul the Hogan and the yabbie on the barbie.
Somehow – maybe because my forays into Telly land are exceeding rare – I missed the whole Steve Irwin thing. Well, almost missed; I once saw 10 minutes of a show about snakes and decided he was a bit of a wanker but harmless. And that’s all I knew about him. Never heard of his zoo and wasn’t aware he had any significant profile anywhere.
Then he died and I was gobsmacked to discover he was apparently a much-loved Aussie icon, a great Australian, an environmental crusader, etc, etc. I still don’t get it and the thrusting of his young daughter into the media spotlight seems cruel and ludicrous.
But I guess that’s just me. Didn’t understand Tampa, $5000 plasma TVs, portable DVD players or $1500 coffee makers either. Or that the left hand side of my daughter’s wardrobe is completely stuffed with cosmetics or that friends will cheerfully pay an amount equivalent to the national debt of Bolivia for an eyedropper full of Chanel No 5. Neither do I understand the public’s fascination with Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Princess Diana, or the need to drop bombs on Iraqis.
Sometimes I think I should put in some serious commercial-television drill, until I’m in step with the people around me. But then I hear normally sane, intelligent people recounting the previous evening’s television fare at coffee break and I know I’m not quite ready for that yet.
I too am not happy with all the regurgitation. Will we get it every year like Diana? When will we find out he has a secret love child, or was a closet gay? Or worse – shot and killed a defenceless animal (was he vegan?)Seriously though, I was never an Irwin fan until I was dragged (almost by the hair) to Australia Zoo by some visiting Canadian/Australian friends. The place was spotless, all the staff seemed happy. The animals’ cages were spotless and they were all happy looking too – no mange or similar anywhere.
Then we went to the centre ‘stage’ area and watched his croc show, he really did have an affinity with animals. Another thing I noticed was the number of people in the croc zone with him, he was never in any danger. They were all wired for sound, so he knew exactly where the crocs were at any given time.
He also gave a lot (time and cash) to help preserve wildlife. Whilst I found him sometimes cringe worthy – he did a lot.
Yes his family are now v.rich, but I think they’ve worked for it.
As for Bindi, well, I’m not so sure about her lifestyle. Home-schooling is not good for socialising a child. But, she’s learning and she seems to be having fun, and to this Mum, she seems none the worse for wear. As long as she’s happy and well adjusted then she should carry on with her Dad’s (and her Mum’s) work. I wish my 7 year old was half as focussed on something other than Bratz!
“Sometimes I think I should put in some serious commercial-television drill, until I’m in step with the people around me. But then I hear normally sane, intelligent people recounting the previous evening’s television fare at coffee break and I know I’m not quite ready for that yet.”
I know what you are saying. I don’t have a TV and it puts me right out of the loop. Also, it’s amazing to hear people on the tram spend a whole journey talking about Big Brother.
Interesting feedback about Australia Zoo.
Irwin wasn’t my thing, but a nephew of mine used to love him (“Crocodile man”, “Crocodile man”, “Crocodile man”, he’d say over and over and over and over).
Darlene, Jenny,
I watch the Today show every morning. Most of its boring, but it does tell me howv the other half lives. I have learnt that 10 News is more reliable than 9 – ie not as ideological and that its hard to live without the Bold and the Beautiful. But most of the time I prefer the ABC. Until he died I ignored Irwin, don’t mind Bindi or her Mum, at least she’s a well-looked after happy kid, and is presumably being well educated by home schooling. And she has lost a parent at a very young age,in a horrible way, which is a terrible trauma that will take a long while to get over. So basically,wouldn’t it be better to leave her be? Governments should concentrate on kids who aren’t being looked after.
“…not as ideological and that its hard to live without the Bold and the Beautiful.”
Oh my gosh, yes I agree with what you’ve said, but tell me what’s been happening on B & B. I need a dose of Brooke, Ridge and the rest.
I’ve made a lot of American friends via Internet forums, blogs etc. and I’ve been hugely surprised by just how much Irwin was admired, even loved, by so many Americans.
I was embarrassed though by how many of them also think that Irwin was a typical Australian (Queenslander, maybe
).
I’ll never wear shorts again.
Jeebus YES! Can we just quit being animal people. Not just Americans, I went up to Darwin for the first time last week for a wedding expecting crocodile town and found a young and swinging multiethnic town with a hot to trot food culture and a swag of bars.
We’ve just named our two new chooks Bindi and Terri.
That’s a great tribute, Laura.
“I was embarrassed though by how many of them also think that Irwin was a typical Australian (Queenslander, maybe
).”
Damn straight, he was a Queenslander (sorry, I think I’ve got something in my eye).
Well, America’s greatest cultural ambassador to Qld is the Cane Toad.
So, one good turn deserves another.
Of course, Steve was ex-Victorian.
Jenny:
]
I’m mystified by a lot of things that are supposed to be important, vital, fashionable, cool, fantastic, heroic, iconic, etc., etc., so don’t feel too lonely in having your own particular interests and priorities that suit you and in not going ga-ga over celebrities, top brands and so forth. [b.t.w., since SBS recently started treating its viewers like dirt, I've reduced my TV watching on ALL channels to a point where I'll become a social outcast
Darlene:
Steve Irwin’s style annoyed the daylights out of me but he really did stimulate interest in the natural world among young urban dwellers so I put him in the same league as Harry Butler [In The Wild], Les Hiddens [Bush Tucker Man] and Peter Cundall [Gardening Australia] …. all have enthusiasm that drives people outdoors to see our wonderful world for themselves.
Cultural? That’s debatable …. but I dislike the overly narrow definitions of “Culture” that exclude such artforms as quilt-making and embroidery, woodwork and gardening. Why is a mediocre installation superior to an excellent garden-bed? Besides, it may well be that Steve Irwin was a better “cultural ambassador” for Queensland than some of the artistique duds from inside the tight little orthodox circle..
Oh, and Don Henley thanks you for the hat tip in the title.
“but now those skies are threatening,
we’re beating ploughshares into swords,
for this tired old man we elected king.”
But that’s for another thread
Well said, Katz. A deep and insightful point. What, after all, are the hundreds of thousands of American soldiers who went through Queensland on their way to the war with Japan compared to the cane toad?
And you are SO right to compare Steve Irwin with a noxious pest while millions of people mourned him and thought him a pretty decent person. The cutting edge of sophistication there.
I must remember this when next Mark points out that this site isn’t anti-American, but just opposed to the policies of the Bush administration.
Happy to oblige GregM.
BTW, what cultural effects did all those US soldiers have on Qld?
We had more of them here in Melbourne than you did and for the life of me I must admit that it’s like they were never here.
Is their presence in Qld still more marked than all those cane toads?
(PS, we don’t have cane toads in here Melbourne, so I can’t make a direct comparison.)
Just one, Katz. English is the language spoken here. Not Japanese. That, though, would not be good enough for you.
They did give us the Brisbane Line and apparently the fisticuffs between the GI’s and diggers was full on in the streets of Brisbane.
See the Battle of Brisbane, makes APEC look like a picnic.
My favourite battle, Steve, and one that I pointed out should be on the question list for the citizenship test, just so that our prospective citizens are up to speed with our glorious military history.
In case they aren’t I’m sure they will enjoy this.
But GregM, according to everything I’ve read English was spoken, even in Qld, before the US soldiers arrived.
So as far as I can see, no US soldier needed to import English to Qld. It was already here.
And quite apart from that, in what sense were US soldiers imports?
US entrepreneurs imported Steve Irwin and his shows to the US.
Qld scientists and government officials imported cane toads into Qld.
But so far as I can see no one in Qld imported US soldiers.
So let’s review.
Your US soldiers weren’t imports. And your US soldiers didn’t import the English language.
Seems to me that my cane toads stand up pretty well according to Darlene’s criteria against your US soldiers.
Jus’ sayin’.
Here’s the guilty party, Katz. http://john.curtin.edu.au/education/nhchallenge2006.html
A national disgrace, isn’t he?
No GregM, Curtin invited them.
Here’s a cultural treat from Queensland.
Your criterion wasn’t whether they were imported or invited. It was this:
You must feel proud to place the cane toad above American soldiers who came to our country at the invitation of our wartime Prime Minister for the defence of our country.
If only I had your sophistication.
But GregM, you still haven’t shown the differential cultural effects of US soldiers and cane toads on Qld.
Until you demonstrate that the cultural effects of US soldiers on Qld were greater than cane toads, you are just making empty assertions.
And to forestall a particularly jejune argument, it is quite possible that the US could have saved Qld without ever landing a single US soldier in Qld.
For example, I’d be surprised if a single US soldier ever landed on Heard Island, yet Heard Island was saved from the Japanese despite that oversight on the part of the US military. So mere physical presence is not an argument for cultural effect.
What cultural effect have cane toads had on Queensland? Since you are silly enough to pursue your silly argument I look forward to your silly reply.
Yes, “this site”, GregM, is just one big hivemind as we know.
I’ve been reading a lot of Queensland and Brisbane history lately for a project of mine, and in many ways the American presence had a very positive effect on this town – including culturally, which might surprise some people. Things are rarely as simple as in the dichotomies beloved of blog commenters.
Shorter me: I’m disagreeing with Katz.
Sorry to destroy the theme of “everyone at the purple blog endlessly agrees with the standard lefty line and each other”…
Qld culture
Qld culture (again).
You see, GregM, we lefties can disagree with each other civilly.
Now Mark, I won’t dispute that there was a beneficial effect of the US soldiers’ presence during WWII.
But how do you decide whether this influence was greater (which is not a synonym for “beneficial”) than that of cane toads?
(Note that just because I would argue that the effect of cane toads was greater is not the same as arguing that US soldiers had zero cultural effect on Qld.)
Katz:
There was quite a lot of American cultural influence in Queensland well before the Second World War, way beyond just American magazines and films, machinery and music. American cultural influence here was probably the most important non-British one, even more than the German/Austro-Hungarian cultural one.
The two most important influences of having so many American troops here – apart from avoiding the necessity of speaking subservient Japanese – were: [1] Changed attitudes to women and women’s changed expectations of how they would be treated, [2] The destruction of the gradually emerging acceptance of Aborigines by the wider community …. and its replacement by virulent nigger-bashing racism fully imported from the southern states of the USA.
That’s about right from what I’ve read, Graham, and I’d add the overnight tripling of Brisbane’s population and the social upheaval caused by that and wartime liberated a lot of creative energy. There’s a reason why Meanjin was founded in Brisbane during the war.
Kim:
.So now my age is out].
Yes. And there were other increases in population too; pity the old midwives went to their graves with all that interseting oral history unrecorded [me? I was born well before the Yanks arrived
One of the American cultural influences overlooked was that of servicemen, missionaries, Old China Hands, miners and mariners – all Americans – who came here soon after the Second World War. When I was a kid there were Americans everywhere; we visted them, they visited us and it was fun listening to them join in discussions of everything from current affairs to the latest book [it was one of them who introduced me to the books of John Steinbeck].
There would have to be a social history PhD or two on their influence on Queensland cultural life.
I lived just outside of Ipswich for a couple of years as a kid. Some people might deride it as Pauline Handson country, but I never felt as free of class prejudice in my life. As a New South Welshman I can’t say enough good things about Qld!
…Handson?
Graham, have a look at Ray Evan’s new History of Queensland, out this year from Cambridge Uni Press.
I did hear that a fair truckload of them came out to the goldrush towns of Gympie and Charters Towers in the late 1860′s because these were soon after the Californian goldrushes.
These days there are a surprisingly large number of US students who come out for six months to study at the University of Queensland.
Oh no, Boynton has revealed the bitter truth.
Queensland’s a great place….cane toads and all.
Agreed Graham Bell. Such influences are often complex and contradictory.
The other major influence of Americans in Brisbane was the Utah Mining Company picket by an upset union movement.
The picket outside Utah Mining’s offices in Eagle Street lasted literally years. Utah Mining was a coal company much favoured by the Nationals during the Joh era.
Katz:
The Americans were seen as, sort of, prestigeous at the time so the racist attitudes of some were picked up locally as fast as chewing “Beechnut” gum and smoking cigarettes out of soft packets. It took decades to get over that.
Kim:
Thanks. I’ll check out the shire council library for that history; sounds good.
Steve:
Surely you’re not talking about a company that achieved Soviet levels of productivity by using Taylorist I.R. practices, are you? Decades later, old fellows were still sneering and laughing at a company that was said to have sacked a bulldozer driver who lit up a cigarette between loading one truck and the next – he cost 4 seconds productivity, he did, so he must have sent their stock price crashing. [There's a lesson somewhere in there for today's I.R. professionals].
Graham, before Utah went into mining it started out in the construction industry as Utah Construction. Its nickname in the industry, deserved apparently, was Utter Destruction.
GregM:
Ha-ha-ha.
Darlene:
Like your photo of Peter Beattie; excellent choice..
Graham, found a little history on Utah Development here.
This bit is a classic:
The Utah dispute intersected with a curious battle over taxes. Threats to apply fringe benefits tax to minersâ?? rent subsidies led to a six-day strike by all coal miners in Queensland during 1979. On a visit to Blackwater, Fraser assured the mining communities they could â??sleep tight at nightâ?? without worrying about the issue but he later backtracked, so that in 1980 the strike resumed. During a visit Doug Anthony and John Howard were bombarded with eggs, and one demonstrator got Howard in a headlock.
Page 19 of this document tells a similar story.
Darlene,
Missed Friday’s episode of B&B. Ridge is in gaol for murdering Shane. Taylor and Nick are married, and Taylor is having an IV baby, but the eggs are Brooke’s, mistakenly implanted by Brigid, etc., etc., … I’m sure you get it.
For those of you who followed the link to the Brisbane Line in Steve’s post, yes, I am the author of the book listed for reading, though I didn’t do the Wikipedia entry, which basically follows the argument in my book. It is out of print, but available in public and university libraries.
Yes, it’s a fab photo.
Very very Beattie.
Paul, that synopsis of B & B made me laugh. I love the IV bit. Unbelievable, but on B & B so believable.
Thanks heaps for that.
Have you seen this traffic signal box at the corner of Adelaide and Edward sts, Darlene?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulkidd/19587592/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asnightfollowsday/29563203/
Steve:
Thanks for the link …. some companies never learn.