Tracking the Jack: a Retracing of the Antipodes

By Tara Brabazon, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2000, 214 pages, paperback, $34.95. Reviewed by James Jupp in the September 2001 issue.

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Cultural studies had not been invented when I was being educated at the London School of Economics. It would not have appealed to the school's founders, Sidney and (especially) Beatrice Webb, as it does not seem to be grounded in fact. It would not have been attractive to the then influential communists, because it denies the class struggle and the superiority of the Soviet model. Economists, of course, reject the whole enterprise because it does not seem to be about money. I have problems in coming to grips with new ideologies, having seen so many of the old ones crumble. Still -- this is an interesting read, it's about English influence on Australia and how Americanism has yet to eradicate it, and it told me a lot about our largest ethnic minority and their obsession with football in their stronghold of Perth.

There is no evidence from the text that Tara Brabazon has ever been to England. But she has been to Dunedin, Rockhampton and Perth and presumably passed through some larger antipodean cities on the way. What I find remarkably odd about her analysis is that it ignores the distinctly multicultural and un-British character of such places as Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne -- muted though their multiculturalism is compared with London, New York or Los Angeles. There is a lot about indigenous Maoris and Aborigines and, of course, Pauline Hanson gets a passing reference. But you would hardly know that Auckland is the biggest Polynesian city in the world, or that there are more Chinese than Aborigines in Australia, or that one-in-eight of the world's Maltese live here, or that German has been consistently spoken in South Australia since the 1830s or that Melbourne is (or is not) the third most Greek city in the world. Perhaps because of her New Zealand interlude, Tara Brabazon tends to think in bicultural terms -- settlers and indigenes, Aussies/Kiwis and Poms. Or so it seems to me.

The trouble with Dunedin andRockhampton (though less true of Perth) is that they are stuck in a time warp, being very Scottish and very English respectively. Perth is easily the 'most British' city in Australia due to massive immigration from the UK. One of the best chapters in this book looks at the maintenance of English culture in Perth, particularly through the soccer team Perth Glory. Elsewhere the English rarely develop as an 'ethnic group' because it is too easy to assimilate. They have difficulty in thinking of themselves as 'ethnic' rather than 'normal'. In Perth there are so many English that a distinctive sub-culture has developed comparable to that for larger European and Asian groups in eastern Australia. But this is hardly an imperial hangover, as the main text seems to suggest. The Britishness of the Victoria League or the Liberal Party or the Weld Club has little to do with this assertion of modern working class culture by British immigrants. The social bases are quite different and, indeed, antipathetic.

Cultural studies, we are told in chapter three, emerged from disillusioned Marxists and 'proletcult' worshippers of the common Pom in Birmingham University. Many of England's provincial universities (Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield or Manchester for example) are close to large proletarian neighbourhoods -- unlike their Oxbridge counterparts or some more recent creations such as Sussex, Essex or York. The culture of the masses cannot be avoided, especially the three manifestations detailed here -- pop music, clothing and soccer. The chapter on Doc Martens is sheer joy -- but does it prove anything? These imitation 'bovver boy' boots (not heavy enough for kicking Pakistanis) are taken as symbolic of the lingering Britishness of Australia. But look around, even in Dunedin, and count how many youths are wearing reversed baseballcaps as against how many are in Doc Martens. Then modify the theory that English culture is 'deep' while American is only 'superficial'.

Basically this is a selection of well written, provocative and thought-provoking vignettes. The conclusion does not necessarily follow from any of them. Tara Brabazon wants us to develop a distinctly 'antipodean' culture because we are not British, nor American, nor Asian. Her book was released just months before the Australian government began talking publicly about ending free movement across the Tasman. Too many Kiwis were not Kiwis at all but 'back door entrants'. The basic argument was about money, as might be expected from our present government. But lurking behind it is the suspicion that too many Kiwis are no longer 'white' -- which is indeed the case when compared with Australia. With this sort of public policy approach the concept of a common antipodean culture seems quite utopian. I enjoyed reading this book and it is full of good things. But what does it all add up to?

Citation

• James Jupp. 'Review: Tracking the Jack: a Retracing of the Antipodes by Tara Brabazon' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), September 2001. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 10 September 2010].

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