ldarling (ldarling@thehub.com.au)
Sat, 27 Jun 1998 20:47:40 +1000
> ldarling wrote:
>
> > Much as I am loathe to start another nationalistic flame war but this
goes
> > too far!! IT IS MOST INSULTING THAT ANYONE WOULD EVER CALL WALTZING
> > MATILDA THE ANTHEM OF AUSTRALIA.
>
> Radio Australia uses Waltzing Matilda as its interval signal for
international
> listeners to find its broadcasts on shortwave. However some of you
locals feel
> about the song, in the minds of many people around the world, the two are
> linked.
>
> Kevin Nauta, who sat down with his World Radio and Television Handbook
this
> morning to confirm this little fact.
Like I said, Kevin, it's not anyone's fault but ours. It's a vicious
circle - people associate us with WM, so advertisers use it to signify
something Australian, so people associate us with it more and so on. It is
really a terrible situation for us.
However, that does not mean that we should do nothing about it. This list
allows us a chance to dispell some of the more insulting associations with
Australia around the world - so please, all non-Aussies, take listen, tell
your friends, and do everything you can to scotch this horrid myth -
Australians hate to be associated with Waltzing Matilda. If they play it
at the 2000 Olympics, you can rest assured that most aussies will be
retching, while the promoters are thinking "Gee, all the tourists love this
song! It is a great way to promote Australia!" They most likely will play
it, and it will be another dark day in Australian history.
Thank your lucky stars, foreigners, that you're country is not associated
with an Irish folk tune that rambles incoherently in an dead language about
some thieving bloody vagrant who mindlessly kills himself.
Steve
--
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