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regardless of actual demographic breakdown , australia certainly has quite a ( bolshie ) irish spirit about it , a fondness for poking fun at authority and pomposity , commitment to having a laugh
much like canada , new zealand is very clearly scottish in charechter , i know irish people emmigrated to new zealand but they were in the main protestant irish in the early days , loyal to the crown and more conformist in nature
both nations ( oz and nz ) were of course institutionally english but im refering to the underlying charechter of the people
Irish bob: 'regardless of actual demographic breakdown , australia certainly has quite a ( bolshie ) irish spirit about it , a fondness for poking fun at authority and pomposity , commitment to having a laugh
much like canada , new zealand is very clearly scottish in charechter , i know irish people emmigrated to new zealand but they were in the main protestant irish in the early days , loyal to the crown and more conformist in nature
both nations ( oz and nz ) were of course institutionally english but im refering to the underlying charechter of the people'
A lot of that comes from the Cockneys and working class folk of London, many of whom were sent as convicts to Australia.
A lot of that comes from the Cockneys and working class folk of London, many of whom were sent as convicts to Australia.
They were absolute conformists compared to the Irish...
A lot of the Irish convicts were transported simply because of their role in or association with the nationalist movement in what is now the Irish Republic. Today people would probably classify them as political exiles.
They were absolute conformists compared to the Irish...
A lot of the Irish convicts were transported simply because of their role in or association with the nationalist groups in what is now the Irish Republic. Today people would probably classify them as political exiles.
Well they were criminals. The Irish element was definitely strong in Australia, but let's not act like the English were all compliant and law-abiding, they were criminals after all.
Do I, as a Commonwealth citizen, have an easier time moving to Australia (a Commonwealth state) than an American does? No. Australia is an independent country, as Canada is, and as such, it makes its own rules for immigration. To Australians, I am a foreigner just as much as an American is.
Commonwealth citizens generally have no more rights moving to another Commonwealth nation than an American (i.e. not a member of the Commonwealth) does. Commonwealth citizens trying to immigrate to another Commonwealth country have to jump through the same hoops, answer the same questions, fill out the same forms, etc., as a non-Commonwealth citizen.
Americans who perpetuate the "well, all Commonwealth citizens are ultimately British and can move around freely within the Empire" myth would do well to educate themselves on modern geopolitics. To start with, the British Empire is long dead.
i would think you are correct yet many in my own country are giving a lot of thought to the idea of ireland rejoining the commonwealth , you seem to think it has no tangible benefits economically etc ?
Well, technically the American revolutionaries were "criminals" prior to the declaration of independence, and the USSR considered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn a "criminal".
I see it as more of an alumni association, of sorts. While I wouldn't say I'm a huge admirer of the British Empire, it wasn't all bad, and being 'Singaporean-Australian' I feel I've lived in the 'shadow' of the British Empire. The Indian Ocean could be considered the 'British' Ocean because if you look at a map of the British Empire at it's peak you can see it 'owned' most of the nations ringing it:
In a way it's no surprise Perth is possibly the most British city outside Europe by population.
I guess the shared familiarity of the English language and tropes like cricket form a sort of kinship between people from say the UK, Australia, India, Jamaica.etc.
very few empires were all bad ( objectively speaking )
the romans introduced many useful things to britain etc yet some say " what did they ever do for us "
They were absolute conformists compared to the Irish...
A lot of the Irish convicts were transported simply because of their role in or association with the nationalist movement in what is now the Irish Republic. Today people would probably classify them as political exiles.
hold on a minute now , while the republican movement in ireland is centuries old , australia wasnt founded yesterday either , around the time huge numbers of irish convicts were shipped to australia , all of ireland was firmly under british rule and the rebellion was in its infancy so i doubt a majority who ended up on the convict ships headed for down under were wolf tone style revolutionaries
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