Saturday, January 26, 2008

I call Australia home, I am Australian

Today is Australia Day. I went to the park to celebrate it.



I like to share this Qantas ad that ran 1998. I am biased, my youngest daughter was in this ad. She is that brown skinned girl at the last portion of this video. Do watch carefully because we are spitting image of each other. She is 21 this year. She is very multi-talented and sharp wit. She did not get it from me.



This song gets me teary eyed... here is the lyrics but I highlighted the truth about us who migrated here...

(Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton)

I came from the dream time, from the dusty red soil plains,
I am the ancient heart - the keeper of the flame,
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come,
For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.

I came upon the prison ship bound down by iron chains
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.
I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.


I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, and I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian.
I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.




Lord, thank you this nation and for its culture, these are your gifts too. Thank you for the peace we still have in this great land. May we all know how much you have blessed her, and may we too bless others the same way you have blessed our land.

11 comments:

Doorman-Priest said...

Advance Australia Fair.

And all power to you!

LPC said...

Thanks DP.

Best wishes mate.

LPC

J. K. Jones said...

Happy Australia Day, LP.

LPC said...

Hi JK,

Thanks bro.

You know I have my dad there in SF and my uncle there in LA, in CA. My uncle is a US Vietnam Veteran, he exited the Army as Major (Special Forces - Green Beret).

I was supposed to have migrated in USA, I was offered a job in Pasadena, CA. For some reason, I could not take it and so turned it down.

It must have been providential that God has led me down under.


LPC

Past Elder said...

It's interesting that the vision expressed of a place where many have come to become one and follow a vision for a better life is similar to the way many regard the US.

I often wonder what it would have been like had our history unfolded in a way that would have left us within what is now the Commonwealth.

I wonder how many here in Nebraska know that where we are flew under the flag of Spain for much longer than it has flown under the US flag even counting from the Louisiana Purchase!

Both the US and Australia seem to have the tension of on the one hand being a land of opportunity for many who came to it, but largely at the expense of those who were already there.

As you know, this is now part of my family story too, as my wife was part Cherokee and so therefore are my kids.

LPC said...

Good points P.E.

The Aboriginee has not been really liberated to a higher level, I must agree. I can tell you that in Tasmania, there are no Aboriginees anymore. They were exterminated i.e. shot. Sad part of history.

Here the Aboriginee is hidden, you do not see them around, not like in NZ, the Maoris are all over the place, they are in unis and schools etc

I have yet to think very very hard to recall if I ever saw an Aboriginee studying in uni. That is horrible!

Our LCA I am quite proud to say have good outreach, we have Aboriginee pastors and quite a number of them.

LPC

jim cronfel said...

AC/DC is one of the greatest rock bands of all time!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9LJiwk7QyHI

LPC said...

I see their posters here but I did not realize so much that they are Aussies, until you pointed that out. I always thought by the way the kids here carry on that they were Americans.

I always thought -- they must be Americans, that is why the kids here like them...No one is famous unless one is American ;-)

LPC

Past Elder said...

When I was best man at "Crocodile Dundee's" wedding -- she, btw, was Lutheran, from when we had an LCA too, Lutheran Church of America, which is now part of the ELCA, or as some put it, E?CA -- his present to me for that was a (and I am sure I am about to completely mis-spell it) digereedo. He, though English in descent like myself, was quite an advocate for what he called the Abos, and spoke often and highly of them. I still have it, and still also, when apparently not on track with what what is going on but off into something else, say I'm on walkabout.

Which, btw, reminds me of the American Indian practice called "vision quest".

We lived next to a hall named after a man named Slater. I remember him working hard to say "slay-dur" instead of "sligh-tuh".

Having been around for the entire history of Rock, it seems to me to have started as bad covers of black music by white people to make money, and gone downhill from there. But I don't doubt what you say, American Rock is kind of like the Quarter Pounder, found the world over instead of good music and food. What amazes me is that so many Americans expect it to be that way. When I was in Europe that's all they looked for! Why would I go halfway round the world to find the same junk music and food I can get right here!

Which reminds me, I heard a Mexican comedian joke, back when Taco Bell had the slogan "Run for the border", that in Mexico they had to change it to "Stay where you are"!

LPC said...

P.E.

Hahahaha! You know some Aussie cultural stuff real well. Did he give you our national food - the Vegemite?

I still do not know what it is made from but my daughtah (LOL) loves it.

My wife is into post-colonial theory, she is in education, you and her will have good conversation I am sure. She is applying Filipino colonial mentality into her research (she is research fellow in Melbourne Uni). It is quite a struggle for her because she does not buy some of these post-structuralist philosophy in education, she is a bit affected because it does not sit well with her objective view of truth -- Christian world view that is. But she mentioned Derida and Foucault of which I heard from you one time so you two will have quite a conversation. The struggle for her is to keep her Christian world-view in all of these.

The didgerido (spell too), is a fascination for me, since I can play some tunes in the trumpet, I have not had much time yet, I need to just to see if I can blow an interesting sound.

On Big Macs and Quarter Pounders. Several years ago I was in PI and was working for this American computer company. One of our area staff happened to become my buddy - a real kosher American Jewish guy.

He came to Manila, and he said to him if he would like to eat something safe like the Macs. He said to me the same thing - why would I travel half way around the world just to get a Big Mac?

So I brought him to our local but famous restaurant - he ate one local delicacy-- deep fried pork knuckles -- called "crispy pata" . "Pata" is Spanish for ham. But it was our secret. His parents never knew.

LPC

LPC said...

P.E.

Hahahaha! You know some Aussie cultural stuff real well. Did he give you our national food - the Vegemite?

I still do not know what it is made from but my daughtah (LOL) loves it.

My wife is into post-colonial theory, she is in education, you and her will have good conversation I am sure. She is applying Filipino colonial mentality into her research (she is research fellow in Melbourne Uni). It is quite a struggle for her because she does not buy some of these post-structuralist philosophy in education, she is a bit affected because it does not sit well with her objective view of truth -- Christian world view that is. But she mentioned Derida and Foucault of which I heard from you one time so you two will have quite a conversation. The struggle for her is to keep her Christian world-view in all of these.

The didgerido (spell too), is a fascination for me, since I can play some tunes in the trumpet, I have not had much time yet, I need to just to see if I can blow an interesting sound.

On Big Macs and Quarter Pounders. Several years ago I was in PI and was working for this American computer company. One of our area staff happened to become my buddy - a real kosher American Jewish guy.

He came to Manila, and he said to him if he would like to eat something safe like the Macs. He said to me the same thing - why would I travel half way around the world just to get a Big Mac?

So I brought him to our local but famous restaurant - he ate one local delicacy-- deep fried pork knuckles -- called "crispy pata" . "Pata" is Spanish for ham. But it was our secret. His parents never knew.

LPC